Snail porridge is possibly chef Heston Blumenthal’s most famous dish, and one that cemented his reputation as a kind of mad professor of British gastronomy, even though, watching him make it below, it’s fairly straightforward and no way near as complicated a dish as some on the menu at the height of The Fat Duck’s pomp.
As Blumenthal explains, the challenge was to make two “grey and gloopy” sounding foodstuffs – snails and porridge – sound appealing to the diner. As you can see, the end result, which brings together a vibrant green parsley, ham and almond-infused porridge, snails, more ham, and shaved and dressed fennel, is anything but.
It’s a dish that went on to seal Blumenthal and The Fat Duck’s reputation at the forefront of Modernist cuisine. The Fat Duck recently regained its three Michelin star status after closing for extensive refurbishment; watch Ashley Palmer-Watts, Executive Chef of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal hilariously describe totally messing up right under the nose of Blumenthal on his first few weeks on the job at The Fat Duck, as part of our Chefs Mistakes series.
