BOTM: Jan 2012 – Heston Blumenthal at Home by Heston Blumenthal Bloomsbury Publishing £30

Until now, home cooking has remained stubbornly out of touch with technological development but Heston Blumenthal, champion of the scientific kitchen, is set to change all that with his radical new book. With meticulous precision, he explains what the most effective techniques are and why they work. The first part of the book maps out the new techniques in 15 sections, including taste and flavour, seasoning and the five tastes, stocks and infusing and tarts, doughs and pastries. Taking control of the kitchen in the second part, there are 150 specially created recipes. Here at last is the secret to irrefutably perfect fish and chips, as well as a few more unconventional dishes like salmon with liquorice, or lardy cake with whisky ice cream. Heston Blumenthal at Home will change the way you think about cooking forever.