Celebrity Chef Heston Blumenthal

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has thrown open the doors of his kitchen - to reveal what guests will eat at the Jubilee picnic at Buckingham Palace.

Up to 12,000 guests will tuck into the menu drawn by the TV ched and royal cook Mark Flanagan, on June 4.

The regal occasion of the Queen’s 60th anniversary celebrations and the number of diners mean that Blumenthal has curbed his imagination.

Gone are eccentric classics like snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream.

Staples including country garden soup, tea smoked Scottish Salmon, Diamond Jubilee Chicken and Sandringham strawberry crumble crunch are in their place.

But some of Heston trademark originality is found in the spicing for the chicken. He spent two months developing the flavour.

Blumenthal explained how he created his Jubilee picnic for the Buckingham Palace garden at the launch today of the hamper.

“The dishes were chosen for several reasons.

“There’s a practical side, they had to be served to 10 to 15,000 people, so they had to be cold.

“We also wanted dishes that are tied into the last 60 years - iconic British dishes - so that includes coronation chicken.

“The garden soup is chilled plum tomato soup, there’s a cucumber in there and it’s finished off with garden mint oil, that’s a British twist, and finished off with a touch of vinegar.

“And what the vinegar does it makes it really mouth watery, whenever we talk about your mouth watering, you need to generate saliva.

“The strawberry dessert has fresh strawberries and freeze dried strawberries and they’re from Sandringham (the Queen’s estate).”