Radio Times: Review by:; David Butcher

What a slick, watchable, intriguing series this is. Yes, there are times when Heston Blumenthal’s attempts to joke around fall a little flat, but the rest of the time, when he’s sharing his stupendous cookery techniques with us, he’s brilliant.

Here he focuses on cheese and provides the usual combination of counter-intuitive tips (don’t use flour in cheese sauce) and mind-boggling flavour combinations (gruyere + peach + dusting of ground clove, say). There are lessons on cold-smoking and how to make super-stringy fondue and it all looks mildly nuts, but perfectly do-able. He also irons cheese, which I don’t believe has been seen on television before.

About this programme

5/6. Chef Heston Blumenthal challenges traditional methods of using cheese in cooking. He reveals what he sees as the key ingredient in a fondue, transforms the way toasties are cooked, and explains how a block of Cheddar can be turned into a 4m-long cheese string.