In Search of Perfection by Heston Blumenthal (Cookbook Spotlight)

In Search of Perfection is a two book series that follows a BBC television series of the same name. Heston Blumenthal, executive chef of the Fat Duck in England and a well known pioneer of cooking, picks 8 dishes in each book, and delves into how to make the perfect version of that dish. He researches the history of the dish, where to source the best ingredients, and experiments with different cooking techniques to arrive at the best version of the dish.

However, the most important takeaway from In Search of Perfection is that cooking is an iterative process. Blumenthal shows what this process looks like at its most detailed, but that does not mean that you can’t follow the same process. Pick a dish, research recipes, source ingredients, make it, analyze it, research more, source more ingredients, make it again, analyze it again, and on and on. Just like any science experiment, it may have worked best on the first of 100 tries, or the 50th, or the 100th. The process, the excitement to try again to see if you can improve just a little bit, is the magic of cooking.

After seeing the process of creating great food, it's almost easy to overlook the detail of the recipes. Each component of the dish is carefully crafted. Not only that, but each component contributes to the whole of the dish so that the whole is greater than just the sum of the parts.

But, does every Home Chef need this level of detail? No, but imagine how much better food could be with just a little bit of that extra attention paid to it.