Heston Blumenthal ‘Realised the Solution Was a Sandwich’

The chef famous for dishes like bacon and egg ice cream at the seminal three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, has teamed up with long-time collaborators Waitrose, the supermarket, to put bacon and eggs inside a “Full English” breakfast sandwich.

Heston Blumenthal, whose name sits above restaurant Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge, does almost everything apart from cook in a professional kitchen these days. In a stunning profile in Esquire magazine at the start of this year, he said he’d divested from all his restaurants 11 years ago. Before that interview, news of a wage theft scandal broke at his Melbourne restaurant. More recently, he came out with a load of sexist codswallop about women struggling in professional kitchens.

The truth is that Heston Blumenthal is more of a brand name than a chef in 2020. His Everdure by Heston Blumenthal gas barbecue recently received an endorsement from former White House press secretary (and truth launderer) Sean Spicer. A sponsored Instagram post on 6 July announced the “[Everdure] Furnace grill - ready to go in less than 10 min, is very durable and portable - perfect for the beach. Check it out on amazon #ad.” Elsewhere in the badged range, there’s “precision” Salter weighing scales, and a range of electrical appliances, such as a “smart kettle” with Sage.

Waitrose [Official Photo]

And then, “Heston from Waitrose”, the quirky luxe product range he’s lent his name to for a decade, which today introduced the new sandwich, retailing at three pounds and eighty pence — and which looks horrific.

First, the bread: “Baked bean flavoured.”

Then, the filling: smokey crumbed sausage, smoked bacon, sliced egg, cold-pressed (?) mayonnaise, tomatoes and cannellini beans, and coffee-flavoured mushroom ketchup.

“There are many reasons why some dishes become our favourites, they can be complicated masterpieces of culinary delights,” Blumenthal commented. “But there are times when all you want is a Full English. So I looked at how to satisfy that craving, any time, anywhere and I realised the solution was a sandwich.”

Heston Blumenthal realised the solution was a sandwich.