Ordinary Gweilo

According to the SCMP, tonight on ATV World you can watch chef Heston Blumenthal cooking Chicken Tikka & Masala. 

Call me old fashioned, but I think it’s usually called “Chicken Tikka Masala”, and that is indeed how Heston Blumenthal describes it in the programme. 

As ever, it’s entertainingly bizarre – Heston heads off to Delhi to find out how to cook the dish, but of course he knows that it’s not really an Indian dish at all.  He also tries building a tandoor, but admits that this may not be practical for most people. 

But, ATV and SCMP please note, the dish is definitely Chicken Tikka Masala.  In search of perfection, indeed.

As luck would have it, I caught part of an episode from the first series on BBC Lifestyle yesterday.  He was making fish and chips, and in true Heston style, he added beer to the batter, put it in the fridge – and then put it into a soda syphon. 

Well, OK, but what on earth do you do with a soda syphon after you’ve used it to spray batter on your fish?