CCU Undercover: Heston For Coles Launch

CCU was just feeling… dandy… honestly she didn’t know any other way of saying ‘utterly excited beyond actual words’ in a single word! After all, dandy should not even be considered a word, it is just that… jolly.

Making it perfectly natural for her to use it. But… anyways (gosh, CCU has an awful habit of going off on tangents), she had recently been invited to the launch for an incredible, incredible chef’s new range of take-home meals. 

Thus said feeling of dandy. She didn’t even bother grabbing her trench for this event, it would just slow her down…

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If you are my Facebook friend, or follow my Facebook page, then you probably saw a photo come up – that is from the launch for Heston Blumenthal, one of the most creative and successful chefs in the existence of all chefs!!! 😀

I love you guys, you know I do, but I am not going to lie. if you have not heard of Heston, I believe you may be living under a rock.

A rather large rock at that. But I suppose you could always toss it aside and go stalk his career on the internet 😛

Why is such a success? Heston Blumenthal (I’m sorry, it’s just… his name is so cool!) has a mind that works with food like no other. He has studied molecular gastronomy, has worked with Oxford psychologists to understand the psychological aspect of eating, and, is a self-taught chef yet, who has interned at some stage with some of the biggest names in the industry.

Is it any wonder that Heston is the name to remember when it comes to multi-sensory dining?

People in Australia, I think were initially introduced to him (unless you were a hardcore fan since the beginning) after he came on Masterchef, presenting items like meat fruit and what not. Oh, sorry, did I just say meat fruit?

That was not a typo. Look it up.

He literally opened up a whole new world of dining pleasure, and his absolutely booked-out-solid-for-the-rest-of-my-life restaurant, The Fat Duck, is of course, 3 Michelin Stars. He actually just opened one up in Melbourne, which literally sent all us Australian foodies into a coma. It was pretty awesome 😛

Although, I don’t mean to pry, but… WHY NOT SYDNEY?

Sorry, sorry, sore spot 😛 (jokes, I would travel halfway across the world to try his restaurant!)

So, now that you have a little background, perhaps I could take you on a journey through the launch? As my photos have probably already shown you (warning, a few to come may be a bit dark, the sun was right behind making shadows!), this launch was done in a beautiful park, known as the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Now, confession time, I was actually a little sick, but there was no way I was missing this event. So I wrapped myself up, taxi-ed it from uni, and BAM. Got lost in the gardens… they were massive. After a bit of map looking and pretend-happy-strolling, I finally made it to my location – Bennelong Lawn.

Can you blame them for choosing this lawn. Opposite the harbour bridge, neighbours to the Opera House. The view of the water, the light bit of sun shining on it, surrounded by greenery. Quite magnificent 🙂

This launch was actual for Heston Blumenthal’s new line of home-cook meals. ‘Cook like Heston’, but in twenty minutes if you have a decent oven 😉
Available exclusive to Coles, one our most prominent supermarket stores in Australia, But I promise, more information on that later 😀

The launch was definitely not an exclusive affair, it was very… welcoming. Two people part of the group serving for the event, were handing out pamphlets to walkers in the area (believe me, the park is full of fit people!), picnic-area, inviting them to the barbecue about to start. They were so nice, directing people and everything.

I, obviously, had to take a photo of them 🙂

Now, on the lawn, it was set up pretty great. To one side, the barbecuing dishes were underway, the smell from the smoke wafting all around. In the centre, was a beautiful table, adorned with plants, sauces, where Heston would be speaking. To the side was a gazebo style tent, for media photos and questions later on 🙂

The whole set up was not overly done, very classy, and very fitting with the greenery surrounding it. Although a little late in starting, the event began with a boys choir singing traditional Australian songs, like ‘Waltzing Matilda’, ‘We Are One’ and  ‘Still Call Australia Home’. They were SO cute, with there little Heston glasses and mini chefs uniforms!

And their voices – dayummm! Actually so well done! Also brought back memories of kindergarten… *sniff*

Of course, as this was happening, the food started going around. I couldn’t get shots of everything on the menu, but I promise you I did try! This is not a list of all the take-home meals available, believe me 🙂

Now you may have just noticed – everything on this menu is meat right? And I had no trusty brother sidekick of a steed to chow down and give me his report… I actually was not sure if there would be any vegetarian on the menu, but I guess life happens sometime 😛

Plus, it is Heston, all is forgiven no?

One of the first dishes to come out were the Beef Ribs. I could not get a shot of that as everyone was just crowding around the barbecue table, and the servers could not go half a meter before their trays were empty again. I actually met a lovely woman doing an article for her magazine, and thanks to her, I was able to get information on taste of the dishes to come 🙂

I did however, get a couple of shots of the Asian Pork Roast Sandwich. From basic, not eavesdropping… natural murmurs around me, the general consensus was that this was one of the more popular items. I heard one man say he thought the ‘pork meat was the best he had in a while’. 🙂

The most popular dish definitely, more so probably because it looked so gorgeous was the Remarkable Cheeseburger. This featured Heston’s Remarkable Tomato Sauce, and Beef Burgers, part of his new line. It was so cute, the buns were toasted to perfection. Everyone wanted more and more!

This sauce, the Remarkable Sweet & Sticky BBQ Sauce, and the Remarkable Spicy Honey & Mustard Sauce were also served alongside sausages which were half pork (very English), and half Beef (very Australian) 🙂

These were going super quickly as well, so I am definitely sure the BBQ try-out of some of Heston’s various dishes were quite a success. Though I know some people wished the servers had moved around a bit more, people just started walking to them!

Amidst the eating, photo-taking, singing and general chatter, a big black van arrived with the man himself! You could just tell he was happy, looking at people eating his creations 🙂

After the formal introduction, up on the cool mini stage, Heston began to tell us all about his products. Wouldn’t you like to know how he was inspired too? 🙂

This is not exact quoting 😛

“We have been working on the concepts part of this range for approximately a year. The process we go through covers not just the recipe, but the dish presentation, the manufacturing and the packaging etc. etc.”

I missed a little, but moving onto his thoughts about the food 🙂

“Texture of the burger patties is quite delicate, the binding element is purely salt. Acts as a glue, and gives better structure. The burger buns are brioche. In making these burgers today (which are not part of the range, but feature products from it), you may find this a little rude (Cover your eyes if you are innocent) but, we follow the three finger rule.

“Large or small, your three fingers in your mouth is the most comfortable width you can eat. You don’t want a hamburger which is so big it forces the filling out. The texture of the brioche means it does not fall of the filling, and the structure of the bread is strong enough to absorb the flavour, without being tough.

“The sausages in Australia are huge! And after looking into it, most were beef while in the UK, they are pork. Sometimes, these premium sausages can be a bit dry though, regardless, so in these sausages, the process of making them involves mincing both meats until smooth, and adding in chunkier pieces later.

“Another very exciting thing is that there is no other supermarket in the world which has been able to sous-vide meat for up to 30 hours (WOW, go Coles!) as part of the range. (This is in reference to the Ribs)

“In reference to the sauces, they all try and hit on the umami flavour of your tastebuds, spicy and perfect.”

Since this launch was quite a short one, the remaining guests enjoyed the barbecue and ambled through many a burgers, while the media (OMG, I am a media :P) moved to the side of the area for a bit of informal Q&A and a LOT of photography!

I wasn’t able to ask my questions, due to the time limit, but I was able to record some of the awesome questions asked by other bloggers and writers! 🙂

Q: What is your favourite product of the range?

A: The slow roast because it took 30 hours for it flavour and simmer, the burgers were just beautiful with them. Have them with tomato, softened sliced onion and a mix of the sauces from the range.

Q: Are you going to do a sweet range? (YES!!!)

A: Coming out with it in the future, the world’s best DUNKING biscuit – A biscuit that can withstand dunking. After all you dunk and dunk and dunk and then it does not come back out.

Q: Where there any native Australian ingredients that were hard to balance the flavours with it?

A: The bush tomatoes were quite stringent, they have endured such tough conditions. But the pepperberries and lemon myrtle were quite good to work with. And the sausages, having two meats to work with in them was quite difficult.

And then photo, photo, photo, snap, snap, snap, snap 😀

Again, I know I may not have tried them, but the atmosphere and just listening to THE man talk, was experience enough! The launch was well executed, there was lots of food and napkins as well as bin service. I just wish the servers had moved around the lawn more and that it hadn’t been so short!

I guess, the question of success comes in, if I ask you – would you try Heston’s new range for Coles?

For coming to the event, we each received a wonderful bag of goodies. A freezer bag mind you, complete with the cutest little ice… ice… cold-keeper (can’t think of the name!) I have ever seen 🙂

Although carrying this bag all the way home was quite a feat 😛

Inside, I got a water bottle, a package of Heston’s Potato Topped Lamb & Rosemary Pies, as well as his Beef, Onion & Shiraz Pies.

Yet to try the latter, my brother scarfed down the former very soon after it was brought home 🙂

There were also two of his remarkable sauces inside, including the tomato (with chunky bits) and spicy, honey mustard and BBQ sauce. At least I tried those 😀

I may be a bit biased in liking this brand due to my admiration for Heston, I can’t deny that. But I also think, despite being a bit more expensive than your average bring-home meals, you do get a more gourmet dish in the end. Definitely worth it… or at least according to everyone else at the launch 🙂

Furthermore, Australians themselves do not focus enough on our indigenous ingredients, so to see an Englishman celebrate the initial Aussie flavours in his creations was quite… refreshing, is the word.

To find more information about Heston’s range for Coles, click here asap!

And here is a list of his entire, diverse range, found in selected Coles stores nationwide: #hestonforcoles