How to Cook Meat

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Want to learn about meat? Really learn? Then How to Cook Meat is your book. In great and enjoyable detail it explores beef, veal, lamb, and pork--which cuts to buy, what cooking methods suit each, how to judge doneness, and much, much more. Authors Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, responsible for the bestselling Thrill of the Grill, also provide more than 200 explicit recipes that comprise a wide range of dishes, from prime-rib roasts to hearty stews, lamb-shoulder braises to grilled pork fillets--and they even cover innards and specialty cuts such as ham hocks. It's hard to imagine a meat lover who wouldn't benefit from this comprehensive yet approachable investigation.

Staring with illuminating notes on butchering and meat grading, the supermarket versus butcher meat-buying issue, and other related matters, the book then provides ample notes on cooking techniques. Recipes for the major meat types follow, organized usefully by cut size and tenderness; these treat the most melting cuts, which can stand quick cooking, to the tougher (though often more flavorful) ones that demand braising or stewing. Particularly attractive recipes include Sage-Rubbed Roasted Loin of Beef with Shallot-Bourbon Sauce; Veal, Sausage, and Fava Bean Stew with Lemony Greens; and Traditional Dry-Rubbed Saint Louis-Style Pork Spareribs. With additional recipes for the likes of hash browns and rice, beans, and vegetable sides, plus useful tips, nomenclature, and substitution notes, the book is a real addition to the kitchen library, though it won't remain shelved for long. --Arthur Boehm


From Publishers Weekly
Here is a well-rounded and wonderfully thought out bible of beefsteak. Schlesinger and Willoughby (The Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill, etc.) begin with a single premise: that it is imperative to match the method of cooking to the cut of meat you have at hand. Dry heat, like grilling, is choice for the more tender cuts while moist heat, like stewing, is best for the tougher stuff. This holds true for beef, veal, lamb and pork, all of which are represented in their own in-depth sections. With this dictum, the authors go off on a fascinating tour of all things carnivorous. The lengthy and highly instructional introduction delves into such minutiae as how fat stimulates our salivary glands to produce the sensation of juiciness. Then come the more than 200 recipes. The beef chapters run the gamut from a joy-of-gnawing dish called Flintstone-Style BBQ Beef Ribs with Hot, Sweet, and Sour Bone Sauce to a Kuala Lumpur-inspired Gingered Beef Stew with Red Onion-Lime Sambal. And the lamb section includes not only the domesticated Double-Thick Lamb Rib Chops with Slicked-Up Store-Bought Mint Jelly Sauce but also North African-Style Braised Lamb Shanks. Nothing goes to waste since the authors employ a surprisingly large number of offal recipes. There are, of course, a basic sweetbread and calf brains, but these shy in comparison to Lamb Tongues on Toast and the virtually unmentionable Head Cheese Reuben. Most every recipe is accompanied by useful sidebars that detail the cut of meat to use, offer alternative cuts and even tell you how the dish holds up as a leftover. With humor, clarity and expertise, these two renowned food writers have created a requisite text for any serious meat lover. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


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Here is a well-rounded and wonderfully thought out bible of beefsteak. Schlesinger and Willoughby (The Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill, etc.) begin with a single premise: that it is imperative to match the method of cooking to the cut of meat you have at hand. Dry heat, like grilling, is choice for the more tender cuts while moist heat, like stewing, is best for the tougher stuff. This holds true for beef, veal, lamb and pork, all of which are represented in their own in-depth sections. With this dictum, the authors go off on a fascinating tour of all things carnivorous. The lengthy and highly instructional introduction delves into such minutiae as how fat stimulates our salivary glands to produce the sensation of juiciness. Then come the more than 200 recipes. The beef chapters run the gamut from a joy-of-gnawing dish called Flintstone-Style BBQ Beef Ribs with Hot, Sweet, and Sour Bone Sauce to a Kuala Lumpur-inspired Gingered Beef Stew with Red Onion-Lime Sambal. And the lamb section includes not only the domesticated Double-Thick Lamb Rib Chops with Slicked-Up Store-Bought Mint Jelly Sauce but also North African-Style Braised Lamb Shanks. Nothing goes to waste since the authors employ a surprisingly large number of offal recipes. There are, of course, a basic sweetbread and calf brains, but these shy in comparison to Lamb Tongues on Toast and the virtually unmentionable Head Cheese Reuben. Most every recipe is accompanied by useful sidebars that detail the cut of meat to use, offer alternative cuts and even tell you how the dish holds up as a leftover. With humor, clarity and expertise, these two renowned food writers have created a requisite text for any serious meat lover. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.| Read all 7 "From The Critics" >


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