From Publishers Weekly
Fearnley-Whittingstall (
The River Cottage Cookbook) runs a farm, on 60 acres of land in Dorset, England. His is a voice full of expertise and respect for nature. If it has walked on four legs, chances are the author has raised, slaughtered and/or eaten it. Thus, this densely constructed tome, first published in the U.K. in 2004, and now in a revised American edition, is worth most to those who know a good butcher. The sentiments are earnest, the mood a bit rainy and the recipes rustic. The first third of the book is dedicated to "Understanding Meat" and explores the different cuts of beef, lamb, pig and poultry. While the author abhors processed meats, he has nothing against offal and provides a comprehensive dissection of brains, lungs and stomach linings. The remaining pages are dedicated to the various ways of cooking meat, the copious rules to follow and hearty (at times primal) recipes that exemplify each technique. The fine section on roasting features a Loin of Lamb Stuffed with Apricots and Pine Nuts. For the brave slow cookers, there is Jugged Hare served in a sauce that contains bitter chocolate and the rabbit's blood. And the chapter on preserving covers not only bacon, but also Pigeon Pate and Preserved Goose Legs.
(July)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
James Beard Foundation 2008 Cookbook Awards: Cookbook of the Year Award!
James Beard Foundation 2008 Cookbook Awards: Single Subject Category Winner!
“Droll, learned Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has done the meat-eating world a big favor with
The River Cottage Meat Book . . . The perfect book for mindful carnivores.”—
Boston Globe “Fearnley-Whittingstall confronts both the moral and gustatory issues surrounding carnivorism and provides 150 excellent recipes.”—
New York Newsday “Fearnley-Whittingstall asks us to take grown-up moral responsibility for the act of eating meat—certainly enough responsibility to inquire about how the animal lived and died. All this is spelled out at fervent (and deserved) length before we get near a bit of cooking instruction. Luckily, Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall turns out to be as zealous a cook as he is a reformer, equally able to appreciate the simplicity of Irish stew or a good beefburger, or to lead people through the intricacies of pork pie or cider-cured ham.”—
New York Times “Those who find that calves' livers and pig's trotters are best contemplated at a distance should keep well away from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Those of us with the opposite problem worship him as a god. This is not a case of macho posturing over a barbecue pit: There is more cooking know-how in Fearnley-Whittingstall's little finger than you will find in the graduating class of any cooking school in the country. His book is stuffed with wit, erudition, and one slow-cooked, lovingly constructed recipe after another.”—NPR.org Holiday 2007
One of the Year's Best Cookbooks: “Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a brilliant, argumentative British cook and food writer . . . his recipes happen to be terrific.”—
Gourmet #1 Cookbook of the Year—Amazon Editor's Picks in Cooking—Food & Wine
100 to Taste List—
Food & Wine “This is one to read and cook from during barbecue season—and to get inspired by the rest of the year.”—
Bon Appetit “A book to help us truly understand the philosophical and pragmatic aspects of the meat on our table.”—
Boston Globe “The ultimate reference for the serious carnivore.”—
New York Daily News “This guy gets physical with meat . . . A trencherman's manual of meat that includes recipes—from down-home steak-and-kidney pie to more exalted fare like a salad of seared pigeon breast with pan-juice vinaigrette—and graphic how-tos on buying and butchering, plus answers to questions you maybe never asked . . . More than you can digest? No doubt. More than you want? No way. Fearnley-Whittingstall's down-in-the-trenches humor and tone of earthy authority keep you coming back for another slice.”
—
Forbes “His big, impressive meat book . . . has now been Americanized . . . Fearnley-Whittingstall is passionate and opinionated but not heavy-handed, and his sense of humor is evident throughout . . . A good companion to Fergus Henderson's
The Whole Beast, this unique title will be important as both a reference and a cookbook.”—
Library Journal Starred Review
“Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall believes that the animals we eat deserve respect, both for their sake and ours.”—
Conde Nast Traveler See all Editorial Reviews