'How to cook like Heston' challenge: Kym Morris

Another entry for our `How to cook like Heston' challenge (where you can win a tour of Heston's lab!), this time, the chicken pie.

So who's watching ‘How to cook like Heston’ on Channel 4? Well we are, and found ourselves thinking 'would anyone actually try to cook these recipes?' So we put the challenge out to our Twitter followers to see if the delightful Mr B’s techniques are achievable in a normal domestic kitchen by an average person. 

Fiona Maclean bravely accepted the challenge to cook chilli con carne with cornbread muffins 'like Heston' which you can read about here. Qin Xie attempted Heston's steak technique, as did Neil-Hennessy-Vass, which you can read about here. Erik Jensen, opted for the oxtail pudding, here’s how he got on. But Kym Morris picked the chicken and mushroom pie,  which invloves agar jelly - brave man. 

Kym Morris

I am a 35 year old married man who is forced by his wife to do the cooking Sunday through Thursday every week (despite her being a trained chef!). Despite doing all this cooking every week, I am not a fan of cooking shows of any shape or form. Or at least I wasn't until I started watching Heston. I think the guy is absolutely fantastic with his wild ideas. He particularly appeals to my senses through his use of science as I am actually an engineer by trade.

Inspired

Watching every episode of the current series, I have finally been inspired to try out one of his dishes and went for the chicken and ham pie recipe. Partly because My wife won't eat pies usually but I thought she may try this as it's been on TV, partly because I love chicken pie, and finally because I loved the look of the gelatinous sauce! This is also the first time I have followed a recipe for a very long time, normally just adding ingredients that I feel like as I go along!

Anyone got any agar?

I bought the ingredients from Waitrose (also unusual for me, but the only place I could find Agar) on Saturday and in the evening started on my culinary delight, by skinning and boning the meat and soaking it in brine over night, ready to prepare the pie for dinner on Sunday. So far so good.

Sunday arrived and, after lunch I started working, following the recipe through each stage. I found that the whole recipe was very simple and methodical and at each stage, the food I had prepared looked like the food on the TV (see picture of me holding a piece of the sauce). As for the end result… Well, I’ve no idea if it was as Heston would have made, but it tasted fantastic and my wife did indeed eat it (apart from the pastry which she passed to me).

Worth the effort

I thoroughly enjoyed making this meal, with the only downside being the length of time it took to cook – leaving the meat to soak in brine and at every stage having to stop to let everything cool down. No wonder the Fat Duck is so exclusive!

Want to join in? 

Thank you Kym. If you want to join in and potentially win a tour of Heston's lab!, just register with lovefood, pick a recipe from the show, attempt it properly, and let us know how you got on by sending some pics and a few hundred words by email to contactus@lovefood.com

Terms

Our standard competition terms are here. You must be a registered user of Lovefood.com to enter. The editor's decision is final. Closing date is one week after the last episode of the show airs.

More Heston goodies

'How to cook like Heston' challenge: Erik Jensen

'How to cook like Heston' challenge: Qin Xie

'How to cook like Heston' challenge: Fiona Maclean

'How to cook like Heston' challenge: Neil Hennessy-Vass

Heston triumphs in mince pie test

Best of three: Smoked salmon

Ashley Palmer-Watts: Heston's protégé's life in food