WILTSHIRE Times columnist Dr Stuart Farrimond's first foray into writing is proving to be hugely successful after his book, The Science of Cooking, soared to number one on Amazon's Best Seller list.

For much of the last year, the 35-year-old, who has specialised in food science for more than five years, has spent many long days and nights putting together this practical cook book after DK Publishing came to him with the idea.

In The Science of Cooking: Every question answered to give you the edge, fundamental culinary concepts sit side-by-side with practical advice and step-by-step techniques, bringing food science out of the lab and into people's kitchens.

The former doctor, who had to give up his profession after discovering a brain tumour in March 2008 which left him with epilepsy, is delighted and slightly surprised with how well the book has been received.

"I am just delighted with how it has all turned out and how well it is doing. It was a behemoth of a project, having 160 questions answered but it has been hugely rewarding," he said.

"Although I have written on this sort of thing for around seven years for websites, magazines and done bits for TV and radio, I have never actually written a book. Now that I have, I am thrilled with the final product. There is something very special about writing a book ann seeing it on shelves, it is an immense source of pride.

"Some of the questions involve cooking the perfect steak, the trick to the perfect souffle and busting myths like you need to throw away muscles that have not opened. Interestingly with the muscles, that was put forward in the 1970s and it has not really gone away but it is simply false, it just means that the tendons that hold the shell together are stronger so it would open later. It was a lot of fun to do but also it took a lot of hard work."

This week Dr Farrimond, who is looking to write more books on the science behind food in the future, appeared on ITV show This Morning to promote the book and on Radio 2 with Chris Evans.

"Things have really fallen into place in a way I could not have imagined. Getting the diagnosis for a brain tumour was horrible but since then things have opened up for me and I am really enjoying it," he said.

To buy the book visit http://amzn.to/2xRhQz0