Art of Cooking

”The Art of Cooking” is a book by H. Gyllensköld (1956/1982) Stockholm: W&W (223 p. ISBN 91-46-14131-6) with illustrations by Eric Lilius. This is a nature science and positivistic inspired piece examining cooking as a science. Dinning, food and cooking, one of lifes most frequent reccuring enjoyable fields, is here treated, not in an ignorant infantilistic way, but in a calm, careful, methodical and knowledgeable way.

Gyllensköld presents us wtih practical results from his research like how to: understand how the taste sense works and could be synthesized, manage salt and how it affects the taste in different ways, weight and maximize quality to get the best proteins for fewest bucks, use new tools like an inejction needles to infuse steaks with spices from the inside.

The author has done a comparison with medicine, and claims that the science of medicine has developed very rapid in one or two centuries, but the science of cooking has barely developed at all. Gyllensköld gives good examples and advice for both the amateur and people in the restaurant business.