Is this it?

After four years of trying, Heston Blumenthal has cracked the secret to making 'hot ice cream'. But does the sci-fi chef know who got the funk?

What's new, pussycat?

The idea, next year, is to run two tasting menus at the Fat Duck: one based on historic British cooking and the classic one. Currently, we're working on our interpretation of Beef Royal, an 18th-century recipe which was a centrepiece at one of the largest banquets ever served, for King George and his anorexic wife. It was 173 courses, including puffin cooked 10 different ways. After four years, I've also just cracked "hot ice cream".

Who do you think you are?

I'm a chef. If I use a lab-grade centrifuge designed for splitting amino acids, it's just another piece of kit. If you're not going to embrace modern technology you should only cook with fire.

Do fries go with that shake?

I had three bites of a McDonald's for the TV series. Other than that it's 10 years since I've been in. However, I have an uncontrollable penchant for supermarket prawn cocktail: cotton-wool prawns in a tub with ketchup and mayonnaise.

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Up until two years ago the Fat Duck was in a precarious position financially. If money had been a driving force the restaurant would never have got to where it is. When we got our third Michelin star, in 2004, we were in such a bad situation that on the Monday I didn't have the money to pay Friday's wages. Staffing is the big issue. We've got 35 chefs now and when you've got a wage bill of £40,000 a week, if you have one quiet day then that's the week's profits lost. Even when you're charging £200 a head. On the night we got the third star we had two tables in. But, from there, it went ballistic.

Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?

Eventually, but it'll keep its flavour for at least three hours. Nottingham University created a machine called Affirm where you put a tube up your nose, link it to a computer, chew the gum, and it measures the flavour released. After half an hour, when the minty flavour seems to go, it's there as strong as ever. Pop some sugar in your mouth and it comes straight back. The theory is that from growing up cleaning your teeth, your memory remembers menthol and sweetness together in toothpaste. So, as you chew, the sugar in the gum dissolves and because your memory is checking for sweetness and not menthol, as the sweetness goes down the minty-ness goes down with it. That research led to all gums having little granules in them that release sweetness more slowly.

Who got the funk?

I was a big Joy Division fan, then Afrika Bambaataa and when house music came through I was into Marshall Jefferson and all that. William Orbit's Strange Cargo Hinterland is the sort of music I've been listening to since, and I've just got a cracking Ethiopian compilation, Ethiopiques. I'm really excited about combining sound and food. We serve a dish, Sound Of The Sea, with an iPod Nano. You pop the headphones in and listen to the sea while you eat.

What difference does it make?

Some restaurants solely satisfy hunger, but a restaurant can be a place of entertainment. "Fun" is a corny word, but it's important.

Is this it?

There's a danger that if your dream is three Michelin stars, and that's it, what do you do next? I've always been inquisitive. It's my nature. Learning, creating and passing that excitement on to the customer, that's what gets me up in the morning.

· Heston Blumenthal - In Search Of Perfection, Tue, 8.30pm, BBC2