Heston's Mission Impossible: BA's On Board Food

[VintageKrug]

Worth a watch:

Heston's Mission Impossible - 4oD - Channel 4 (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hestons-mission-impossible/4od)

[west lakes]

Being discussed here
http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/444737-fat-duck-coming-galley-near-you.html

[binsleepen]

25 minutes into the show.

What is the chance of BASSA allowing BA CC to cook fresh food on board considering they will not even allow them to hand out hot towels?

regards

[Dawdler]

If there was one thing which would deter me from booking a LH flight, it would be Heston Blumenthal doing the catering.

[Entaxei]

1. Can't see why BASSA has any relevance to this or any other matter.

2. Totally agree re Bluemethanol - you'd never keep the snails still on
board - aside from any other factor such as taste. :hmm:

Just realised that I may have completely misunderstood the reference, do they mean Heston, as in Middlesex and Fairey Aviation??

[radeng]

If BA raised the standard for their SH business class food to that of Iberia, it would be a good start.

[PAXboy]

The worst news in a long time. How I hate these foodie people trying to make food 'interesting' and 'fascinating' and 'new' and 'fun' blah blah blah. So many restaurants these days ruin perfectly good food in this pathetic macho competition to see who can add the most ridiculous ingredients to a perfectly good plate of meat. Then they have to play with the food to make it look all arty on the plate and leave their fingerprints all over it as it goes cold.

Vegetables are no longer able to be gently cooked and presented but must have a glaze of this or a ganesh of that, not to mention a coulis or a drizzle. STOP THIS NONSENSE RIGHT NOW. :yuk:

Serve regular, wholesome food without all this pretentious poppycock behaviour. Stop messing about with ordinary food. I am not going to like my airline more if it attempts to feed me food I cannot eat. :mad:

This is NOT the end of the rant. It will continue at any opportunity that this wretched obsession of being trendy and trying to make innovation where none is to be had. Good food, served quietly and sensibly, whilst still at the temperature it was intended to be at. Then a reasonable selection of wine and other beverages. It's not difficult - because they've been doing it for many years.

[Chuchinchow]

Can I have a glass of whatever Paxboy has been drinking, please?

[strake]

All they really have to do is re-install the Club and First menu's circa 1994.

To begin, a wide selection of aperitifs with canapes and then, depending on cabin, four to six courses (possibly lobster tails or a Chateaubriand carved by your seat) each accompanied by a fine wine specific to the meal. Finally, in First, an XO Cognac and a couple of Kennedys chocs with a nice Java coffee. Add some professional and friendly service from a time-served SCSO/D and perhaps, a visit to the flight deck....

Halcyon days...

[Load Toad]

Can I get a bacon sandwich or two, maybe with a fried egg & a big mug of strong breakfast tea; that'd keep me happy.

And lots of wine obviously.

[crewmeal]

Don't these celeb chefs understand that the food for hygiene and health reasons has to be chilled and stowed into ovens. When required the crew switch on a chilled oven and it slowly but surely heats the food to the required temp. When ready the food is prepared and served and looks like a soggy mess. It's always been the same especially when it's wrapped. Chilled roast potatoes will not be crisp cooked this way. Steaks will be bland and grey. Fish will be dull and colourless. The list goes on. That Yorkshire pud that was described as a soggy biscuit is just one example.

My advice would be to go and see Aunt Bessy and see how their products are made.

[G-BPED]

If BA raised the standard for their SH business class food to that of Iberia, it would be a good start.

Have to agree radeng. IB's short haul business food has raised its level of quality over the last year and puts BA to shame.

Regards,

G-BPED

[pax britanica]

In past years I often found BA Y class entrees (mains for the antipodeans) better than the J class. Best illustrated a couple fo years back when outbound LHR to HK in Yplus had a simple but tasty dinner of chilli prawns and sticky rice , easy to chill and reheat. Returning, upgraded to J and had a 'signature dish' lovingly and inventively described in the menu and attributed to a well know celeb chef . The result was just a mush of cod and mashed potatoes like a fishcake without form or texture or taste.

To me the answer is keep it simple and Heston B has to be the complete opposite of that but no doubt suits the aspirations or pretentions of managers at 'Great British Airlines' (and those crew members who resemble the wonderful Penny (Walliams) of the same airline) .

The other point of view that occured to me reading an earlier post and remembering F/J food from years back is that those simple ingredients like steak and lobster are expensive so substitute style for substance with a 'menu personally researched and crafted by....' that uses cheap ingredients with a fancy name and which dont cook at all well within the confines and environement of an airliner galley.
PB

[PAXboy]

Whilst I do appreciate the need to keep the brand having new things to post over excited press releases about - slow, steady development of what used to be a leading menu might serve them better. :*

Anyone who had worked for [insert name of any major airline here!] across more then ten years would KNOW how the food system works. They would KNOW that you cannot get innovative when trying to feed 200~400 at FL390 and a cabin pressure of 8,000ft. They would KNOW that you can develop slightly more interesting things and that range of choice is valued more than what it actually is - I think.

I also think that this 'innovation' is driven by Marketing. If you ask the client what they want - they are always going to ask for more. The knack is to ask the right question.

[StoneyBridge Radar]

To begin, a wide selection of aperitifs with canapes and then, depending on cabin, four to six courses (possibly lobster tails or a Chateaubriand carved by your seat) each accompanied by a fine wine specific to the meal. Finally, in First, an XO Cognac and a couple of Kennedys chocs with a nice Java coffee. Add some professional and friendly service from a time-served SCSO/D and perhaps, a visit to the flight deck....

Halcyon days...

Steady on, Halcyon Days was a rat-bag of a Courtline Bac 1-11 :}

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/7/0/0/1809007.jpg

As for the rest, this is a good read about how it used to be:

Gourmet & Glamour (http://www.british-caledonian.com/Gourmet_&_Glamour.html)

Rgds