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Pot Noodle Inspires Top Chef Heston Blumenthal of Fat Duck Bray

by Paul Conneally | March 21, 2010 at 11:32 am

528 views | 4 Recommendations | 4 comments

Heston Blumenthal and Pot Noodle are not things that most people would think of together but the Michelin starred chef reveals in The Times that the humble Pot Noodle has inspired one of his latest creations.

The chef who owns and runs The Fat Duck restaurant in the village of Bray in Berkshire which was voted Best Restaurant in the UK by The Good Food Guide 2007 and 2009, and voted Best Restaurant in the World by fellow chefs in 2005, explains how memories of his first encounter with Pot Noodles as a boy excited him.

Blumenthal who has three Michelin stars is associated with the finest and most expensive dining whereas Pot Noodle is seen by many as the amongst the poorest and and cheapest of instant food.

It is perhaps his childlike excitement with all food from high cuisine to high street take away that gives Heston Blumenthal the ability to create conconctions that at once shock in their audacity and thrill the palate at the same time. From bacon and egg ice-cream and snail porridge to new age pot noodle all is fair game to the Berkshire chef who has been described as a culinary alchemist due to his scientific approach to cooking.

One wonders what next from the innovative Mr. Blumenthal. He'll keep us guessing as he keeps himself amused and while ever he's amused his reputation for innovative cooking of the highest order is assured. Anyone for caviar chewing gum?

Watch Heston Blumenthal make snail porridge.

Recently I’ve been looking at Pot Noodle. Like many convenience foods, it’s easy to dismiss as the last resort of the time-poor and teenagers with erratic appetites and little interest in the kitchen beyond flicking on the kettle switch. But I can still remember how exciting Pot Noodle seemed when it appeared in the late Seventies. It wasn’t the taste that got us going, it was the prospect of pouring hot water into a pot and magically transforming the contents into a soup. We’d never seen anything like it!