The Cook’s Kitchen

At some point during the retail holiday season crush at work, an acquaintance and good customer handed me a small gift. Unable to stop what I was doing to properly inspect it, (people were four deep at the cheese counter, and their wine glasses were rapidly draining) I set it aside until later. This week I have finally had a chance to sit down and take a look at this gift, and I have to say it is a gem. I realized after a few minutes perusal that I would have to share it with as many people as I could, and that is what I am about to do now.

My friend handed me a copy of a very small but information packed book called Field Guide To Meat: How to identify, select, and prepare virtually every meat, poultry and game cut by Aliza Green. (Published by Quirk Books) Now I must say that, having been a professional butcher a while back, at first glance I dismissed this diminutive tome as possibly not having much value to me. After all, I have dealt with all sorts of meat and poultry, and feel that with my culinary training I know how to prepare most any product reasonably well. Because of this snap judgment, I set this the book aside on my pile of food reference books and didn’t think about it for a while.

Recently, I was doing some thinking about cured meats and salami, as I have had some customers at the cheese shop asking for some specific items, a few of which I had not heard of before. While I was looking for information in my usual go to books – Larousse Gastomonique and the Culinaria: European Specialties set of coffee table books*– I remembered my little pocket guide to meat. Upon cracking the spine, I was thoroughly impressed from the get go.

This 4.5”x6” little volume is cram packed with useful information. Broken down into seven chapters (Beef, Veal, Pork, Lamb, Poultry and Game birds, Game and Other Domesticated Meats, Sausage and Other Cured Meats), each subject is covered in detail, from the primal cuts, to sub-primal and on down to specific small cuts of meat. Each entry is broken down into sub-headings starting with the Name (including alternate names, foreign language names, names for the whole cut of meat and any smaller cuts that can be made from that cut), a General Description of the cut, the Part of the Animal the cut come from, Characteristics (Is it tough or tender? Is it lean or fatty? What does it look like visually, etc.), How to Choose, Amount to Buy, Storage, and Preparation (one or two recipes per item).

I’m not kidding when I say that I wish I had this book as a textbook in culinary school, or as a quick reference behind the counter when I was a butcher and a customer asked a stumper of a question. This is an indispensable guide for anyone looking to understand any kind of meat product and how to use it, for the professional chef or the adventurous amateur; there is a treasure trove of facts here at your fingertips. This book is small enough to carry around in a purse or a backpack for those times in the market when you want to try something new at the meat counter, but are afraid to ask too many questions.
I was pleased to find that along with all the written information there were illustrations of each animal with primal cuts labeled, as well as 112 color photos of individual items for visual reference. The recipes are also helpfully labeled with a series of icons ranging from utensils needed, length of cooking time, cooking method used, as well as the temperature used for cooking. Granted, these icons take some getting used to, but once you know what they each mean, it is easy to asses a recipe at a glance without reading the whole thing through.

I was surprised at the variety of animals covered in the Game and Other Domesticated Meats chapter. There are entries on everything from alligator to wild boar. There is even a recipe for possum, which may come in handy for me someday if I ever manage to trap the family of the creepy looking critters that live under my back deck! (Of course my wife and daughter are none too keen on this plan of action). For you city dwellers, a recipe for squirrel is included as well. I bet some of you with bird feeders wouldn’t mind a new way to deal with those thieving buggers!

Of course, my favorite chapter these days is the one covering Sausage and Cured Meats. This is always my favorite category of meaty comestibles, mainly due to the fact that I am a huge fan of a good hearty sandwich. (I believe that almost anything can be improved by putting it between two slices of good bread). This is the chapter I was looking for when trying to find answers to my customer’s queries, and I must tell you that I found my answers and then some. There are descriptions of over 80 types of sausages from many different ethnic traditions. My little town is home to a large population of Russian immigrants, and I am anxious to search out some of the Russian sausages I read about here.

I had no idea there were so many varieties of Bacon and Ham either. One I am particularly interested in finding is a Hungarian bacon called Ciganyszalonna (sometimes known as Gypsy Bacon). It is described in the book as being “A Hungarian specialty consisting of a double thick firm slab of bacon that’s roasted and seasoned with paprika and cured so that it may be eaten without cooking.” Mmmm, sign me up for some of that! It goes on to say that it can be prepared “Gypsy Style”, cut into squares, skewered, and cooked over an open fire, topped with sweet onion and served with rye bread. Oh my goodness, I have got to have some NOW!

Though my family and I are not big meat eaters in general, I feel I will get a lot of use out of this book as it contains so much information that is pertinent to my work as a chef and specialty food retailer. It has already earned a spot on my bookshelf with weightier reference books, and I know I will be seeking out Ms. Greens other field guides, especially the seafood one, if they are as fact packed as this one is they are a must have for any serious cook’s library, and at $15.95 each, a real bargain.

*(More on these amazing books in a future post)