Food, Glorious Food.

I'm not a very specific cook. I experiment, measure inaccurately and substitute frequently. It's all part of the creative process for me. I'll consult a recipe and then go ahead and embellish till my hearts content. Even though I employ these erratic cooking methods I'm fortunate that my experiments usually yield decent results. 

Cooking for engineers is a site for the more analytical cook but I find it fascinating - subjects including egg plant taste tests and the best way to cook bacon. Another wonderful series of analytical cooking is Heston Blumenthals 'In Search of Perfection' where he explores many classic dishes. I'm a great fan of his molecular gastronomy but am not sure I'd be a fan of his snail porridge or bacon and egg ice cream.

Heston has captured the multi sensory food experience in his restaurant in inventive ways - one example is by playing patrons the sound of waves crashing to accentuate their seafood meal. By creating the right environment the dish becomes more enjoyable. Find some of his recipes here if you have the time or inclination to devote to this type of cooking.

I think the next dinner party I host should be 'Seven Sins'. Here's an example of one such dinner. The courses are supposed to be representative of the vices of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. The best idea I heard was that for the envy course you should find out each guests favourite meal and serve that to the person next to them! Wrath would have to be something spicy and hot and pride brings to mind a stuffed bird.

Another interesting dinner idea could be a recreation of the last meal aboard the Titanic. I little macabre maybe, but there is something that appeals to me about the recreation of a historical meal. I'll post the results after I've decided the next gastronomic experience!

I simply fell in love with the above image by Béatrice Peltre of La Tartine gourmande.