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| Field Guide to Meat: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Meat, Poultry, and Game Cut | 
 enlarge | Author: Aliza Green
Publisher: Quirk Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $5.84
You Save: $10.11 (63%)
New (31) Used (10) from $5.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 41970
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 4.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 1594740178
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.36
EAN: 9781594740176
ASIN: 1594740178
Publication Date: March 3, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New - Has remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 14 | | NEXT » |
 Yes, a good quick reference November 3, 2008
I like the short, to the point explainations she gives. Moreover, she gives, not only the common names of meat cuts, but also the less common/antique names that you sometimes find given in old recipes, or secret cuts offered by the best butchers that if you did not have this guide, you would be lost. I did not know what the beef "butterball" roast was, but when I ended up with a portion of this suculent cut in a side of beef I purchased, and loved it, it was this book that educated me as to what cut I had enjoyed (I now regularly go to my buthcher and request a Butterball). She also gives, what I have come to trust as some solid, culinary sound, recipe recomendations on how the meats can be prepared. This may not be a 1st buy reference guide for the novice cook, but if you are a new chef, or if you are a "back yard chef" looking for the knowledge to empress your friends, get this book. Get it.
good book August 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
great book, nice pictures, good instructional wording. of course this book would not help you open a butcher shop, but for the average consumer, its a great book.. this seller delivers what they promise...
 It's OK July 16, 2007
If I would have seen its content in a book store I would have not bought it. It works OK as reference. Not worth returning it.
 Please Understand Before You Write a Cookbook April 26, 2007
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
It makes my heart heavy to suspect a cookbook author of lacking veracity, but here, J'ACCUSE. If you are looking for a book that will educate you how to choose a good piece of meat or learn how the cuts of meat differ, you must look elsewhere. Please do not buy this book. To answer your next question, this is a lousy book that should have been rejected out of hand by the editor and never seen the light of day.
NAMP (North American Meat Producers) has its official guide The Meat Buyers Guide : Meat, Lamb, Veal, Pork and Poultry to meat that is often used by professional chefs. It is quite informative, but also costs a Ulysses Grant. I applaud the effort to produce a similar, less expensive handbook for consumers that costs only an Andrew Jackson (or small enough to toss into your chef's bag), but this book ain't it.
The author genuinely does not seem to understand the subject of which he/she speaks. It would not surprise me to learn that the author is close to being a vegan (I would like to know how many nights a week the author features a huge chunk of meat as the main course for dinner). It is lacking in practical particulars and spectacularly unhelpful to the meat buyer puzzling over the meat case in a grocery store; the `how to choose' section is especially worthless if you are holding a Styrofoam and cellophane wrapped package in your hand at the supermarket. It seems to be one of those books `invented' in front of the word processor. I suggest you save your shekels and buy the NAMP if you must. Perhaps I am being overly critical because I have worked professionally as a retail butcher (I wonder if the author can say the same thing), but there is so much wrong here that I cannot be charitable.
I have serious issues with much of what the author states. Take, for example, the beef chapter (chapters on veal, pork, lamb, poultry, game, and sausage are equally questionable).
The grades of beef are mentioned, but the basis on which this is determined or what the relevance is to the cook is not mentioned. Aging beef is covered, yet the reasons why this is done is likewise not mentioned. The section `beef primal cuts' is surprising about how much practical information it does not have. In (Beef.2) the author inexplicably and confusingly combines marrow and knuckle; these have nothing to do with each other, except that they both come from a cow. In `Bottom Round' (`Description'), the statements about `stew meat' and `kabob meat' are simply not true. `Well marbled whole brisket'? Ain't no such thing unless you are thinking of the fat cap that separates the point from the flat. Ground beef and cube steak have absolutely nothing to do with each other except the author's laziness or never having eaten either one (there are tremendous differences at the retail store level, and each should have an important mini essay of its own to educate and warn the consumer). One of the few sections I think are correct are `Hanging Tender' and `Oxtail'. The `Rib' (as in prime rib) section is hopelessly confused, parroting other cookbooks without complete understanding, and partially wrong. The `Rump' section is questionable; it might be a regional thing. In SF, a `rump roast' is a chunk of meat from the bottom round, and is especially tough and flavorless and unworthy of your carnivore dollars even if on sale; yet, the author implies that it comes partially from the sirloin. Note that here, the author does not list the NAMP number, so who knows what cut of meat the author is referring to; I note that the publishers, and presumable the author, are both from New England (Philadelphia actually, but from my vantage on the `left coast', it is all the same thing). In the `Shank' section, the author eschews traditional uses of this cut for an obscure Korean recipe (which is, I can say, delicious, but not acceptable as a basic of this cut of beef for people who are trying to learn what this cut of meat is about). The recipe for New York Steak (`strip loin') is only for the whole roast (rather unusual) instead of the almost ubiquitous individual NY steak (again, I suspect this is a New England sort of preference). Some of the more expensive cuts of beef (top sirloin, flatiron, filet mignon, porterhouse) receive more coherent treatments, perhaps because the author has actually eaten/cooked them. In the offal section, the author clearly has never prepared or eaten any of them, and seems to be parroting other cookbooks.
Each cut of meat has a recipe, which I applaud. However, the recipes are remarkably generic and unhelpful unless you already know how to cook that particular piece of meat. The recipes are so generic and vague that they are sometimes laughable and usually useless unless you are a foodservice professional.
It has a system of graphic symbols; however, they serve only to categorize the various steps in the rather questionable recipes. It would have been more useful to come up with a system of symbols that tells the reader what the best preparation methods are for each cut of meat.
Each meat has a `Flavor Affinities' section; forgive me for doubting that the author has tested all of these flavor combinations. I wonder where the author cribbed these lists from. There is also a `how to choose' section for each cut; they are consistently off-target and unhelpful.
Not Perfect but Still a Good Value March 26, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you end up buying hamburger every time because it is the only meat you know how to cook, or can't figure out why one cut of beef makes a tender steak while another cooks up like a bus tire, do yourself a favor and buy this book.
First, what I didn't like: I often wished for better illustrations showing where on the animal cut resides. The one diagram in the front of each section was not as detailed as I would have liked and it was a bit of a pain to turn back to it all the time.
Now, what I did like: The description of each cut includes cooking method and flavor affinities. If you know some basic techniques and have some common herbs and spices in your cupboard you have enough of a recipe right there to turn your meat into a meal.
There is also great coverage of charcuterie and game.
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