Nuevo arte de la cocina Española, de Juan Altamiras

Nuevo arte de la cocina Española, by Juan Altamiras.

Winner of the Jane Grigson Award, the most important cultural gastronomy prize in the United Kingdom.

The book that revolutionised Spanish cooking: Juan Altamiras was the Ferran Adrià of 18th-century kitchens. In 1745, Juan Altamiras, a Franciscan friar from Aragón, published a recipe book titled Nuevo arte de cocina, which unexpectedly became a bestseller.

Its success was due in part to the simplicity of the recipes; unlike many other books of the time, they were designed for just a single pair of hands and a modest kitchen. Juan Altamiras left us numerous recipes of great originality and, thanks to his emphasis on healthy food and natural flavours, surprisingly suited to modern tastes and the most current culinary trends.

This edition, annotated and updated, is the fruit of more than ten years of research by the distinguished Hispanist Vicky Hayward and not only gathers Altamiras's classic recipes but places them in their cultural context and reframes them with the 21st-century reader and cook in mind. It is much more than a practical cookbook; it is also a social and gastronomic history of Spain.