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Molecular gastronomist' Heston Blumenthal at work in his kitchen lab.

With snail porridge and whisky wine gums on the menu, you half expect the owner of three-starred Michelin restaurant The Fat Duck to be an eight-year-old boy But although Heston Blumenthal's add liquid nitrogen and see what happens' approach to cooking may smack of schoolboy high spirits, it's precisely this innocent enthusiasm which has established his reputation as one of Britain's top chefs.

Convinced that eating is a multi-sensory' experience, Heston spends months in his kitchen/laboratory perfecting new ways to tickle our eyes, ears and noses.

"We've got a new idea which I think we'll have done in three months' time," he says excitedly from his kitchen in Bray, Berkshire.

"It's a soup which can be savoury or sweet. It will change flavour half way through, so I'll put it down on the table and say to customers, Drink it before it changes flavour!'"

It's as if Willy Wonka is back in business.

Heston encourages diners to eat with all their senses. His Sounds of the Sea dish, involves listening to an iPod Nano tucked inside a sea shell, while eating Colchester oysters, crystallised seaweed, sea urchin, samphire and razor clams, all presented on a bed of sand.

Shooting to fame after presenting two series of Heston Blumenthal: A Search For Perfection for the BBC, the chef has made a living out of finding out exactly what makes our mouths water.

"Growing up in London in the early 70s, the basket meal was the most popular dining experience," he remembers.

"Then when I was 15, my family went on holiday to France for the first time. I remember sitting outside in a restaurant, hearing the noise of the feet crunching on gravel, the chink of the glasses and seeing a sommelier with a massive handlebar moustache and a cheese trolley the size of a chariot. That was the point I thought, This is what I want to do'. I wanted to cook but also to recreate that experience."

But in order to conjure up this ultimate food-based rollercoaster ride, he needed to understand how food worked. And such has been his dedication to the learning, he was the first chef to be awarded a fellowship by the the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2006.

You expect to be overwhelmed by bubbling test tubes and children disappearing up pipes when you walk through his kitchen, but aside from a few heavyweight freezers (at minus 80C), it all seems remarkably straightforward.

A big fan of the pressure cooker and boil-in-the-bag - as well as liquid nitrogen, paint guns, blowtorches, protective gloves and goggles - his methods, very often, come down to the simple idea of making things very hot or very cold.

He says: "I came across liquid nitrogen in a book written in 1890 by Mrs Marshall called Fancy Ices. She called it liquid air and suggested it would be wonderful for picnics, because you could use it to make ice cream outside."

Grabbing a Fat Duck Egg, filled with pre-prepared custard instead of yolk, Heston cracks it into a bowl and adds liquid nitrogen (at about minus 197C). The kitchen fills with white condensed vapour and scrambled egg-flavoured ice cream appears. But although the effect is dramatic, Heston insists that anybody can do it.

"The science of everyday life has always fascinated me. You can try lots of these things at home. Creating vapour dry ice is great. Buy an essential oil like jasmine or rose, add it to hot water, then pour the mixture over crushed dry ice. The vapour that billows out will have the most amazing smell."

He also encourages people to think about the way they prepare food.

"I love vacuum packing. Get some produce and marinade, put them in a bag and suck the air out. This will open up all the tissues. You can also cook things while vacuum packed and that works really well."

Heston's love of everything from liquid nitrogen to boil-in-the-bag is endearing. This great chef will try anything to get the best out of his food. And that's the real secret of his success.

Here he shares his recipe for Jersey Milk Ice Cream - lab not required.

Put on the safety gloves and protective goggles and open the packet of dry ice. Wrap it in tea towel and then a hand towel and smash it into a powder with a rolling pin. (Make sure that there are no large lumps of dry ice as these will remain as lumps in the ice cream.) Unfold the towels and shake the powdered dry ice into a glass bowl.

Pour the milk and glucose into the bowl of a food mixer.

From now on, you need to work reasonably rapidly to avoid freezing up the equipment.

Shake a little of the dry ice into the mixing bowl and, using the mixer's paddle, mix on the first (lowest) speed until the dry ice dissolves and its vapour clears.

Continue to add dry ice a little at a time until the ice cream has absorbed all of it. (It may be easier to do this in two batches. It's important to add the dry ice in small quantities to prevent the ice cream going grainy). Once the dry ice is absorbed, beat the ice cream on the second speed until smooth.

Quickly scrape the ice cream out of the mixer and into a container. Store in the freezer until required. It is best eaten within 24 hours.

10:59am Friday 11th April 2008

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