back to article Potato in SPAAAAACE: LOHAN chap cooks up stratospud with Heston Blumenthal

Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team member Dave Akerman confirmed his status as one of the UK's go-to guys* for high-altitude ballooning (HAB) launches when he popped up on Channel 4 last week in Heston Blumenthal's Great British Food series. Dave Akerman and Heston Blumenthal The celebrity food-botherer wanted …

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  1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Brilliant stuff

    Great read over breakfast

  2. Roger Greenwood

    In case you missed it elsewhere . . .

    . . this was operation spudnik.

    1. Annihilator
      Coat

      Re: In case you missed it elsewhere . . .

      That was the Irish space programme you're thinking of. It explored the Mariana Trench.

      1. TheRealRoland
        Happy

        Re: In case you missed it elsewhere . . .

        Marinara Trench? Sounds like a buffet at a cheap italian restaurant ;-)

        1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

          Re: Re: In case you missed it elsewhere . . .

          No, you're thinking of the Marinara Trough. The Marinara Trench is where the leftovers from the Trough get dumped.

  3. JDX Gold badge

    Serious errata

    "Dave's missus Julie, seen here as the filling in a Dave-Heston sandwich"

    I'm seriously concerned that El Reg do not know that a sandwich has the filling on the inside, especially given the importance of bacon sandwiches to space research.

    1. NoOnions
      FAIL

      Re: Serious errata - err, do what?

      Am I missing something here? I do not understand the point you are trying to make...

      Julie is the filling (bacon, if you will) - she is in between Dave (slice of bread) and Heston (slice of bread).

      What is wrong with what El Reg wrote?

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge

        Re: Serious errata - err, do what? @NoOnions

        Does a ham&lettuce sandwich have the ham and the lettuce on the outside? No, they are in the middle. So a Dave&Heston sandwich would have the Dave and the Heston in the middle.

        I won't ask you what a cheese&onion sandwich would be like as I suspect you'd prefer just cheese.

        1. John Bailey

          Re: Serious errata - err, do what? @NoOnions

          "Does a ham&lettuce sandwich have the ham and the lettuce on the outside? No, they are in the middle. So a Dave&Heston sandwich would have the Dave and the Heston in the middle."

          Whereas a wholegrain, ham, and lettuce sandwich has the wholegrain bread where exactly?

          Sometimes the type of bread is mentioned too. Before or after the filling. Or in this case, both.

          Just can't get quality pedants these days. Even in a sandwich.

          Mines the one with a pitta pocket.

        2. NoOnions
          Mushroom

          Re: Serious errata - err, do what? @MB

          Hmm - only when talking about a 'real' sandwich - when it is a shot like this you wouldn't say 'Julie is in the middle of a Julie sandwich' would you? But I suspect you already know this! ;-)

  4. MJI Silver badge
    Linux

    Would you eat anything of his?

    Uses some strange ingredients.

    Then there are the news articles about his restuaurant.

    Last night saw a clip of Joe 90 making a bollock pie.

    As to icon - they need to keep away from Heston or may end up as a meal

    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Would you eat anything of his?

      Sure, no worries! I have had alligator on pizza (seriously) in Quebec City which was very nice, and sheep's brain (rarely used, always fresh) in Indonesia, so bollock pie sounds fine to me

      1. Roo
        Windows

        Re: Would you eat anything of his?

        Some of my Quebecois acquaintances enjoy various dishes that feature pig-bollocks, apparently they are tasty but I couldn't find them on the menu in Montreal, although there were a hell of a lot of very tasty menus to go through in Montreal - so perhaps I missed them. :P

        1. EddieD

          Re: Would you eat anything of his?

          My dad was brought up on boiled brains, and sheep's testicles were quite a treat...can't get them nowadays for many reasons. Offal though needs to become acceptable again (although up here is Scotland it's hard to find as it's used for haggis)

          I've eaten stir-fried locusts (delicious - pork scratchings with legs) and a few other invertebrates - and why not, they're just landbound shrimps!

          We seriously need to change our attitude to oddities, and possibly explain to kosher/halal enthusiasts that it's a bit outmoded now that we're no longer nomadic, and we do have fridges.

  5. David_H

    Julie / Heston

    In the photograph he appears to be unzipping her top - is this where the 'Red Top' papers would start their story?

    1. daveake

      Re: Julie / Heston

      You're not the first to notice this!

      He's actually holding a piece of bacon. It would have been a bacon muffin (standard HAB fayre of course) but he arrived an hour late and all he wanted was the cold bacon.

      Jokes about bacon and baps have also already been made ...

      1. Evil Auditor Silver badge
        Gimp

        Re: Julie / Heston

        Dave, that only raises another question. What is Heston doing with the bacon there? Is that some sort of chefs' fetish? ;-)

  6. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    I can't help feeling

    That a chap who considers a JCB and liquid nitrogen to be normal kitchen equipment could find an easier way of doing this experiment at ground level!

    Nonetheless, nice one, guys!

    1. Elmer Phud

      Re: I can't help feeling

      "That a chap who considers a JCB and liquid nitrogen to be normal kitchen equipment "

      I can't see aything wrong with that.

      No innovation without experimentation.

  7. ukgnome
    Joke

    He's quite weird isn't he?

    No wonder he's part of SPB

    *obvs this is a joke, I would never, NEVER, disrespect anyone in SPB. They can build drones and stuff.

  8. sabroni Silver badge

    Well....

    I for one welcome our new starch based, cosmic ray enhanced, creamy mash overlords!

    1. Euripides Pants
      Thumb Up

      Re: Well....

      "creamy mash"

      Should make it easier to convert them to Vodka:)

  9. Aggrajag

    It's not the first time potatoes have been in space, or have an alien connection...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SAbJjktk7E

    "They peel them with their metal knives"

  10. Billa Bong

    For those searching 4od...

    25 minutes in, just after the 2nd advert break. The rest of it is about pies which I'm trying to avoid due to waist line problem...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There must be something to this method.

    Apple just applied to patent it.

  12. khisanth

    Yet more precious helium wasted to send a potato into the sky.

    1. Islander

      I think you'll find that that bright red cylinder was full of hydrogen...

      1. Ian 62

        citation needed?

        http://www.boconline.co.uk/en/sheq/gas-safety/identifying-gas-cylinders/industrial-gas-cylinder-colours/industrial-cylinder-colours.html

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