Entirely self-taught, Heston Blumenthal is the most progressive chef of his generation. In 2004 he won the coveted three Michelin stars in near-record time for his restaurant The Fat Duck. It has repeatedly been voted into the top ten of the World's Best Restaurants by an international panel of 800 experts, as has his second restaurant, the double-Michelin-starred Dinner. In 2006 he was awarded an OBE.

This glorious tome gives a unique insight into the way that Heston works, with signature dishes from both the double Michelin-starred Dinner and triple Michelin-starred The Fat Duck. With a clothbound slipcase, luxurious gold foil, patterned edges, and illustrations from the genius that is Dave McKean, this special edition of Historic Heston is a book to treasure.

British gastronomy has a grand old tradition that has been lost over time. Now our most inventive chef is out to reclaim it. Heston Blumenthal, whose name is synonymous with cutting-edge cuisine, still finds his greatest source of inspiration in the unique and delicious food that our sceptered isle once produced. This has been the secret to his success at world-famous restaurants The Fat Duck and Dinner, where a contrast between old and new, modern and historic, is key.

Historic Heston charts a quest for identity through the best of British cooking that stretches from medieval to late-Victorian recipes. Start with twenty-eight historic dishes, take them apart, put them together again and what have you got? A sublime twenty-first-century take on delicacies including meat fruit (1500), quaking pudding (1660) and mock turtle soup (1892). Heston examines the history behind each one's invention and the science that makes it work. Ferreting out such curious sources as The Queen-like Closet from 1672 (which offers an excellent method for drying goose, he puts these dishes in their social context and follows obscure culinary trails. What all this adds up to is a colourful, idiosyncratic culinary history of Britain. You think you know about British cooking? Think again.

What fun it is to follow in this gastro-wizard's footsteps

His latest and most remarkable book ... breathtaking

Presented in the ponderous manner of a sacred text, full of gold paint, sumptuous drawings and leering photography

Incredible ... a massive must-have

A beautiful book, part-recipe book and part brilliantly interesting history of food

Gorgeous ... Beautifully designed, bound, slip-cased and illustrated ... Blumenthal is a genius

The Willy Wonka of the culinary world ... With photography that brings to mind a Tim Walker shoot, this is so much more than a cookbook

A gourmand's grimoire

Both appetising and interesting, Historic Heston is for curious cooks

Beautiful

Stunning

A luxuriously illustrated, recipe-studded meditation on culinary history

Steam-punk splendour

The most desirable restaurant book ever published, now in a smaller format edition