Cookbook designed for trainee surgeons, and cooks, sharpens knife skills and challenges physical dexterity
- The Heart Surgeon’s Cookbook tests the knife skills and dexterity of cooks and doubles as an instruction manual for trainee surgeons
- Swedish chef Fredrik Berselius collaborated with New York surgeon Dr Nirav Patel, and found many similarities between the skills needed for their jobs
To access the recipes in The Heart Surgeon’s Cookbook, you first have to cut the front cover open with a knife – or a scalpel, if you just happen to have one lying around.
Making the incision and drawing the blade down the paper cover is visceral and satisfying.
The act of slicing also gives an idea of what to expect within the pages: recipes that call for the finest of blades for laser-sharp cuts, syringes for injecting tissue with fat or saline, tweezers for precise grip and exact placement of materials, and needle and thread for suturing skin and flesh.
But rather than being a collection of recipes for heart health or post-operative care, this book has been specifically created for trainee surgeons to improve their dexterity.
Of course, it is not only surgeons who can enjoy the recipes, which have been developed by Swedish chef Fredrik Berselius, of two-Michelin-star Aska, in New York. The nine complex and intricate dishes could be followed by any home cook up for a challenge.
Recipes include a beautifully presented “rose” of kingfish with green gooseberry; langoustine tail and claw with blackcurrant; and ice cream and meringue with lavender cream and honey.
