30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASEStefan Ekengren is known as the world’s oldest chef. The nickname is not about his age but about what he most likes to cook: Swedish home cooking taken completely seriously. His first job after compulsory school was at an inn in Vällingby, where four dishes a day had to be enough for 350 guests.
Since 2017 he has been head chef at Hantverket in Östermalm, Stockholm. He has received the Karin Fransson Mentorship Award, given to chefs who promote women in the profession, and the Swedish Gastronomic Academy’s gold medal for his contribution to Swedish food culture.
The book follows a day in the kitchen, from six in the morning when he switches on the fluorescent lights to the staff meal late at night after the final guest has left. In between, you meet the sous-chef, maître d’, sommelier and dishwasher, and see how a dish comes together and how the prep never quite ends.
The recipes comprise around 40 house classics, such as chopped beef with Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnut, and doughnuts with almond paste and cardamom ice cream, plus the staff food: plankstek and pork pancake. Roland Persson photographed the kitchen over the course of an entire year.
It is a restaurant book about the work just as much as the food, and the dishwasher gets a place in it too.
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 221
Number of recipes: Around 40
Photography: Roland Persson
Publisher: Natur & Kultur
ISBN: 9789127187320
Language: Swedish
First published: 25 September 2026
