Smash hit

Third was an Amontillado sherry accompanied by pata negra ham, peaches, balsamic vinegar, rocket and marcona almonds. The spicy aroma and fruity taste of the sherry highlighted the sweet flavour of the peaches creating a naturally well-combined dish

After the second fish dish of the evening (smoked mackerel rilettes combined with an Oloroso), the sweeter sherries came out in the form of the Pale Cream. After a long (and well worth-it) wait, came one of the highlights of the evening – beautifully cooked quails’ eggs wrapped in a caramelised pork casing, aka posh scotch eggs.

Hopeful that Blumenthal could end on a high, next up was an even sweeter sherry – Harvey’s Cream. Presented with mini Eccles cakes and a stilton and sherry butter it was my personal favourite of the night as the sherry complemented the stilton perfectly.

Finally came a dish that Blumenthal had become famous for from his “In Search of Perfection” series – the sherry trifle. Accompanied by the intensely sweet flavour of the PX (Pedro Ximinex) sherry, the trifle, was delicious and the sherry incredibly indulgent.

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So what is it about sherry that the super chef finds so appealing? Blumenthal says: “There are just so many varieties. The great thing about sherry is you can go to the supermarket and buy inexpensive, good quality half bottles for around £3 and unlike a bottle of wine which oxidises and you have to drink pretty quickly, you can keep a bottle of sherry open for several weeks and it keeps fine.”

A popular drink at The Fat Duck, Blumenthal has more than 20 sherries on the drinks list and uses it in an array of dishes from syllabub (a mousse with sherry, cider, syrup, spices and cream), caramelised scallops and cauliflower puree, tart tatin, sweet breads, and of course the popular favourite, sherry trifle.

Blumenthal is a busy man. As well as promoting the book, he’s in the middle of filming two television series for Channel 4 including one where he’s completely changing the food, image and interior of all Little Chef restaurants in the UK. He says of the project: “I naively thought we could get some chefs in, do some cooking but you can’t because they get through 30 million sausages a year so anything we make is not in the hundreds or the thousands, it’s in the millions, so whatever we do has to be replicable across the country.

“We’re also making a programme on my interpretation of historical feasts including Tudor, Victorian and Medieval where we cooked a whole pig in a Jacuzzi which was pretty strange but went really well.”

Once filming is finished Blumenthal vows to return to his restaurant in Bray to create some new dishes: “I’m going to lock myself away and focus on a new a la carte menu which will be historic British recipes like those in the TV series.”

However, when it comes to sherry this is just the start for Blumenthal: “We’ve kept all the food pairings really simple at the moment because it’s just a work in progress but it’s really exciting as this is just the tip of the iceberg and there’s so much more research that I want to do.”

Blumenthal’s recommendations to try at home

Try a slice of gruyere or parmesan cheese with ground cloves on French bread or in a fondue with a glass of Fino.

The peaches salad with balsamic vinegar and ham work beautifully with the Amontillado but if you can’t be bothered, a glass of Amontillado with a peach is fantastic.

Oloroso and a blue cheese with a bit of crusty bread works brilliantly. Oloroso also works really well with smoked fish pate, such as mackerel or smoked salmon.

Cream sherries always work well with trifles or beautifully with blue cheese or a fruit chutney.

A pale cream sherry and warm scotch eggs do go well as there’s the same taste in cloves that is found in sage that we put in the caramelised pork.

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook is released on 20 October published by Bloomsbury priced at £100

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