Blumenthal brewing up new products for Australia

The things you do when you're a celebrity chef. British star Heston Blumenthal has announced the latest in a string of commercial partnerships – a range of Australian supermarket products created and sold under the Heston brand.

The creative force behind Britain's The Fat Duck restaurant says he will be using indigenous ingredients and his own brand of science-based food to create items for Coles from 2014.

Blumenthal, who's also filming an ad with small appliance manufacturer Breville, says it's this kind of commercial deal that allows him to run the labour-intensive flagship Fat Duck – Britain's most expensive restaurant, which has three Michelin stars – while indulging his “mad scientist” fascination with improving techniques and recipes, such as a fish and chips batter (beer, vodka, honey, wheat and rice flours mixed and served from a siphon) that retains its crunch far longer than a more traditional version.

His other commercial partners include Britain's Waitrose, a range of trademark spectacles/glasses and Japanese knives and kitchen instruments.

Then there are the TV and book deals, the other eateries – Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and a pub, the Hind's Head, also in Bray.

Blumenthal was in Australia for a Starlight Foundation charity dinner in Sydney.

His other obsession is with history, culminating in his new book, Historic Heston, a hefty tome exploring the origins of famous British dishes from the Middle Ages onwards, which sells for $199.

History is the premise behind Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, the London restaurant last week awarded its second Michelin star. It's a model most likely to be franchised abroad, says Blumenthal: “Let's just say the next Dinner could definitely be in either Australia or America,” he said coyly.