Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1580088430
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
Average Customer Review: 
(From 15 total reviews)
List Price: $40.00
Amazon Price: $94.99 (1 new available)
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Editorial Reviews
Book Description:
First published in the United Kingdom, THE RIVER COTTAGE MEAT BOOK quickly became an underground hit among food cognoscenti around the world. Now tailored for American cooks, this loving, authoritative, and galvanizing ode to good meat is one part manifesto on high-quality, local, and sustainable meat production; two parts guide to choosing and storing meats and fowl; and three parts techniques and recipes for roasting, cooking, barbecuing, preserving, and processing meats and getting the most out of leftovers. With this thought-provoking and practical guide, meat eaters can knowledgeably buy and prepare meat for better health and better living, while supporting the environment, vibrant local economies, and respectful treatment of animals.
Customer Reviews
A heartfelt ODE to Prime MEAT and good ANIMAL HUSBANDRY by Brad
This book was my first exposure to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and it was long overdue. After having read it, I hope to eventually acquire ALL of the author’s other books. I’ve reviewed more than my fair share of culinary offerings, but this one easily elbowed it’s way into my tight list of top favorites.
I felt an immediate connection with the author, who clearly resonates to the reality that FOOD is LIFE. How we raise it, how we harvest it, how we prepare and consume it, and how we respect and revere the ENTIRE process as a whole, is a microcosm for how we revere, and partake of, the entire experience of life itself. Food *IS* Life. Our earliest prehistoric hunter-gatherer ancestors understood this implicitly, and documented their awe and reverence of that sublime truth in their sacred places (re: cave art), in much the same way that many modern religions still use the apt metaphor of sacramental food and wine as a metaphor, and vehicle, for communing with the divine. In other words, to me, this book is essentially a modern-day cave painting ode to our animal companions, upon whom we rely for our sustenance … and who have not been getting the respect and reverence they deserve in these fast paced modern times of disposable convenience food. I have little doubt that the author’s other books address their respective subject matter in the same reverential spirit.
What I liked:
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INTRODUCTION: The author opens this book with a philosophical fusillade on the subject of commercial “intensive farming” practices … not only from the standpoint of being inhumane, but also because it results in meat of vastly inferior quality, and of poorer nutritional value to the soul. For many idyllic culinary daytrippers who’ve never before been privy to the sad realities of beakless `battery chickens’, turkeys unable to walk because they were bred for overdeveloped breasts, diseased `downer’ cattle pushed into slaughter pens with forklifts, and hogs driven insane by chronic overcrowding, this book will come as an eye-opening gut shot. He also goes on to wax poetically, and at erudite length, on both sides of the equally heated vegetarian vs carnivorian debate, and then dives headlong into a personal vision of more compassionate and sustainable animal husbandry practices, more educated consumerism, and of everyone eating less meat, but of much higher quality … raised compassionately, slaughtered humanely, matured properly, and then prepared with proper reverence, skill, and minimal waste. Personally, I don’t think this book stands much chance of putting a serious fiscal dent in the harsh fiscal reality of “intensive farming” and our society’s increasing reliance on food that’s fast, cheap and convenient … but despite that, I admire the author, and I adore this book. If I could afford to leave the rat race behind, and live someplace a bit more bucolic, with a garden and a few animals of my own, and close friends with whom to make and share simple old world fare worthy of divine visitation, I would do so in a heartbeat. In any case, the introductory chapters alone are worth the entire cover price of this book.
RECIPES: Everything I like is in there … educational information about meat quality and proper maturation, food philosophy, techniques for slow cooking, nose-to-tail eating, informative headnotes, etc.
What I Disliked: I only have a few nits, all of them fairly minor.
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PHOTOS: Some of the photos are wonderful, but part of me wishes that all the rest of the photos within were of higher overall quality, and (in particular) that there were more and better procedural photos (ex: p.308 calls for trimming out the coarse ventricles of a pig’s heart and removing sinews from a liver … something less experienced culinary aspirants who’ve rarely, if ever, worked with offal before would doubtless appreciate pictures of). I also found myself pining for a few more photos of the pans and/or grills described in the various recipes, and more photos of finished dishes … esp of the ones that the author clearly mentions are his favorites. In other words, I wish the book were as well marbled with photos as the beautiful beef on the cover is with fat.
RECIPES: This is just a minor nit, but more than a few recipes have not been optimized for the most efficient sequencing of steps, or the number of pans used. They also frequently omit helpful information, like recommended pan sizes. Not a big deal. Some of his seasonings are extremely British in their conservativism … such has his wonderful braised trotters recipe, which I’ve found benefits from the addition of a little pineapple juice and star anise. Again, those are just minor nits.
SERVING SIZE: There are some minor inconsistencies with the stated number of servings a given recipe generates. For example, the Pot Au Feau recipe calls for 9-12 lbs of bone-in meat cuts, and serves 8-10, yet the Curried Goat recipe calls only ½ - 1/3 as much meat (4lbs) yet serves the same number. That’s the sort of thing a good editor should catch.
Chicken-Licken and the Good Cook Book by Barry Tighe
As Chicken-licken was going one day to the supermarket, whack! A book fell from a tree on to his head.
“Gracious goodness me!” said Chicken-licken, “it is a book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall explaining how we must treat farm animals if we want to get the best from them. I must go and tell the King.”
So Chicken-licken turned towards the palace, and met Hen-len.
“Well, Chicken-licken,” asked Hen-len, “where are you going?”
“I’m going to the king to explain that it is our moral duty to buy good meat,” said he.
“Oh Chicken-licken, don’t go!” said she, “for battery meat is far, far cheaper and it looks just as good when wrapped in plastic in the supermarket.”
But Chicken-licken explained, “Unless you care about the welfare of animals bred for food, like Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall, you will never eat a good meal dish.”
So Hen-len turned back with Chicken-licken, and both went their way to the palace, and met Cock-lock. “I’m going to the supermarket,” said he. Then Hen-len said: “Oh, Cock-lock, don’t go, for I was going, and I met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken has been reading The River Cottage Meat Book, about how farm animals should be treated, and how to select meat so that it tastes good, and we are going to tell the King.”
So Cock-lock turned back and all went their way to the palace, and they met Duck-luck. Well, to cut a long story short, also Drake-lake, Goose-loose, Gander-lander, Turkey-lurkey, Fox-lox. And Fox-lox said: “Where are you going?”
And they said: “Chicken-licken was going to the supermarket, when a book fell on her head. The book said it is ideologically sound, and most fully flavoursome as well, to buy our meat from butchers or the best farms and we are going to tell the King.”
And Fox-lox said: “Come along with me, and I will show you the way.”
But Fox-lox took them into the fox’s hole and he and his free-range cubs soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Hen-len, Cock-lock, Duck-luck, Drake-lake, Goose-loose, Gander-lander, and Turkey-lurkey; and they never saw the King to tell him that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall knows a thing or two about enlightened self-interest.
And the moral of the story is, treat animals fairly and they will repay you in taste, health and quality, but don’t, for goodness sake, go bragging about it to foxes.
Youth Market: Chickens or Television - Which Comes First? (Spawater Chronicles I) Stop the cruelty
Well written & enthusiastic, but a bit too much focus on the UK by O. Klepper
I found his analysis of the food industry original (why it is not necessary to be vegetarian) and inspiring. It is a tough and often depressing subject, but Fearnley-Whittingsall covers it in a very readable way, offsetting the bad news with an enthusiastic account on how things can be mended. I was a bit disappointed about his axclusively British focus. If we are only allowed to eat British produce, what should we as non-Brits do? Import everything? Surely there is excellent beef in other countries! But this is only a minor objection to an otherwise splendid book!
The Encyclopedia of Meat by Andrew Malone
Any and everything you need to know about meat in an easy to understand format.
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