Notorious Beam Team

Words and image from Chris Osburn from the Londonist:

"Oh Sherry, there’s no reason to be all alone anymore! “Culinary alchemist” Heston Blumenthal (of Fat Duck fame), with scientist Professor Don Mottram of Reading University, has discovered a group of compounds known as diketopiperazines (try saying that drunk without offending someone) in Sherry. Apparently, these diketopiperazines are thought to accentuate the taste and flavour of “umami-rich” foods. In case you haven’t caught the blurps, umami is a newly discovered fifth tasting sense beyond sweet, sour, bitter and salty.

Huh? All ya need to know is that Sherry is yummy and goes well with a variety of meats, fish, cheese and more. According Mr Blumenthal, “Here we have scientific evidence to suggest what foodies across the globe have always known: that Sherry is a perfect wine to accompany food. And quite simply, Sherry gives these kinds of food an extra dimension of pleasure.” More about diketopiperazines et al at tenstartapas.com.

So what’s this gotta do with London? Well, Heston and pals unveiled their findings at Shoreditch House last night and kindly invited Londonist along to sample the findings. We think Blumenthal might be onto something with this new fangled science as we learned last night that Scotch eggs (with a layer of caramelized pork) go swimmingly with Pale Cream Sherry and that Eccles cake (with Stilton and Sherry butter of course) and Cream Sherry is a winning combo. And a simple salad of peach, rocket, Balsamic vinegar and almonds with a little Amontillado is about as good as it gets! We also learned that we really really (really!) need to make it out to Fat Duck some time for a bite (or maybe a Sherry tasting expedition to Jerez?). Shoreditch House is a pretty happening spot to drink too."