Chicken in salt crust with hay

The blowtorch is used here to smoke the hay and so increase its flavour. Hay is available from pet shops and is sometimes known as meadowsweet. The salt-crust pastry can also be used for cooking other meats, notably lamb. Even certain vegetables, such as potatoes, fennel and celery, will benefit from being cooked in such a casing.
For the pastry
50g fresh thyme
50g fresh rosemary
1.5kg strong plain flour
700g salt
480g egg white
370g water
For the chicken
1 bag hay, soaked overnight in water - this will be more than you need, but use as much as possible to wrap the chicken
1 chicken, weighing about 1.5kg
1 lemon
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 egg, beaten
First, make the pastry: roughly chop the herbs and, using a machine with a dough hook, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the egg white and water, and continue kneading for at least 10 minutes. Wrap the dough tightly in clingfilm and leave to rest for at least two hours in the fridge.
Drain and pat dry the hay, and preheat the oven to 220C. Now for the fun part: lay the hay out on a work surface and flame it with the blowtorch - the idea is to smoke the hay and so develop its flavour.
Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to a thickness of about 0.5cm and place a large mound of hay in the centre.
Season the chicken generously inside and out, and stuff it with the lemon and thyme. Place the bird breast-side down on the hay. Cover with more hay, then carefully lift the edges of the dough together so that they overlap on top of the bird. Turn the whole assembly over into a roasting tray, so the bird is now sitting breast-side up.
Plug up any holes in the dough, then brush the surface with beaten egg, using no more than a third of it - it is vital that there are no holes in the casing, since the whole idea is to steam the chicken within the crust.
Roast for about 40 minutes. After five and then again after 10 minutes, brush the pastry with the remaining glaze. Remove from the oven and set aside for one hour. After half an hour, pierce the crust to allow any excess steam to escape. Transfer to the table, open the crust fully to great acclaim, carve and serve.
Jasmine crème brûlée

This is a version of the late, great Alain Chapel's petit pot de crème au thé de jasmin. I prefer the cream to remain cold after the top is caramelised - to do this, the sugar must be caramelised as quickly as possible. In commercial kitchens, there is a range of techniques to achieve this effect, from pouring the caramelised sugar over the cream to grinding the hard caramelised sugar into a powder, sprinkling it over the brûlée and then caramelising again. I use unrefined sugar which, thanks to its very low moisture content, caramelises very quickly, so preventing the cream from becoming warm.
I should point out that where, technically, a crème brûlée should remain less than 2.5cm deep, these pots are served in coffee or small teacups and are deeper, so they are a little trickier to cook. That said, the benefit is that the cream below will remain cooler when the sugar on top is being cooked.
I could go on for ever writing about the intricacies of crème brûlées; indeed, I could have written an article based solely on them - so I'd better stop now, before I get carried away.
3 vanilla pods
450ml whole milk
7 free-range egg yolks
60g unrefined caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for the topping
3 tsp jasmine tea leaves
Preheat the oven to 110C. Take an oven tray at least two thirds of the depth of the cups being used, and line it with a sheet of parchment paper pierced with a knife.
Split the vanilla pods in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Place seeds in a pan, along with the milk and a teaspoon of sugar. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile, using a wooden spoon, mix the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar. Do not beat them, otherwise too much air will be incorporated into the mix.
When the milk has cooled a little, add tea leaves and leave to infuse for five minutes. Strain this on to the egg/sugar mixture and stir gently. Have ready enough hot water to fill the baking tray, but before putting the brûlée cups in the tray, check that the mix has not cooled down too much, else the eggs might scramble on contact with the hot water (if it's too cool, reheat gently until hot but not too hot). Pour the mix into the cups, place in the roasting tray, then fill the tray with hot water and transfer to the oven. Cook until set - the surface of the creams should wobble gently when agitated - which will take 40 minutes to an hour.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool. Refrigerate for at least half a day, preferably overnight, before serving. To serve, generously sprinkle the surface with sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch as quickly as possible.
· Heston Blumenthal is chef/proprietor of the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire (www.fatduck.co.uk).