The ultimate guide to beef fundamentals and master cutting techniques An ideal training tool that’s perfect for use in grocery stores, restaurants, foodservice companies, and culinary schools, as well as by serious home butchers, The Art of Beef Cutting provides clear, up-to-date information on the latest meat cuts and cutting techniques. Written by Kari Underly, a leading expert in meat education, this comprehensive guide covers all the fundamentals of butchery and includes helpful full-color photos of every cut, information on international beef cuts and cooking styles, tips on merchandising and cutting for profit, and expert advice on the best beef-cutting tools. • This is the only book on the market to include step-by-step cutting techniques and beef fundamentals along with information on all the beef cuts from each primal • Includes charts of NAMP/IMPS numbers, URMIS UPC codes, Latin muscle names, and cooking tips for each cut for easy reference • The author is an expert meat cutter who has developed some of the newest meat cuts for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and created their current retail beef cut charts The Art of Beef Cutting is the perfect reference and training manual for anyone who wants to master the basic techniques of beef fabrication.
With step-by-step photographs at every stage of the process, this guide explicitly details the entire procedure for slaughtering and butchering cattle for beef, including pre-slaughter conditions to killing, skinning, refrigerating and creating market cuts of meat.
DIY fever + quality meat mania = old-school butchery revival! Artisan cooks who are familiar with their farmers market are now buying small farm raised meat in butcher-sized portions. Dubbed a rock star butcher by the New York Times, San Francisco chef and self-taught meat expert Ryan Farr demystifies the butchery process with 500 step-by-step photographs, master recipes for key cuts, and a primer on tools, techniques, and meat handling. This visual manual is the first to teach by showing exactly what butchers know, whether cooks want to learn how to turn a primal into familiar and special cuts or to simply identify everything in the case at the market.
This guide takes the mystery out of butchering, covering everything you need to know to produce your own expert cuts of beef, venison, pork, lamb, poultry, and small game. John J. Mettler Jr. provides easy-to-follow instructions that walk you through every step of the slaughtering and butchering process, as well as plenty of advice on everything from how to dress game in a field to salting, smoking, and curing techniques. You’ll soon be enjoying the satisfyingly superior flavors that come with butchering your own meat.
Vermont-based master butcher Cole Ward delivers a comprehensive guide to whole-animal butchery that goes beyond conventional "do-it-yourself" books and takes readers inside the world of truly sustainable meat production. The Gourmet Butcher's Guide to Meat demystifies the process of getting meat to the table, and its wide scope will be welcome to those who not only wish to learn the rudiments of butchery, but also want to understand how meat animals are raised, slaughtered, and marketed in a holistic system that honors both animals and consumers. Written in Cole's unique voice of humor and simplicity, the book celebrates the traditional art of culinary butchery, introducing readers to stand-out butchers in America and Europe as well as a diverse group of farmers committed to raising the very best animals with respect. The many methods of raising and finishing meat animals are clearly and thoroughly explained and compared, and sensitive issues like hormone and antibiotic use in meat production are assessed. Readers will learn all the terminology associated with meat and butchery, as well as the complexities of meat grading, carcass yield, marbling scores, and issues with inspection. Also included are recipes, a detailed glossary, and more information on: * The real definition, work, and role of a culinary butcher; * The history and tradition of butchery; * Meat: selecting your breed, grading and aging, tenderness, storing; and reheating; * How meat gets to the table: farmers, slaughtering methods, stress, and animal welfare, the role of meat inspectors, cut sheets, what's legally allowed/not allowed when purchasing meat for further processing, keeping integrity in the local meat movement; * Understanding the commercial meat food chain and recognizing deceptive practices; * Processing your own meat: what you'll need, tools, safety, prep; * Beef: domestication, terminology, how cows work, raising methods (grass, grain, etc.), meat-safety issues, hormone growth implants, antibiotics and feed additives, carcass yield and marbling scores, and a partial list of beef breeds; * Cutting up a beef forequarter and hindquarter; * Pork: domestication, terminology, raising methods, grading and inspection, and a partial list of pork breeds; * Cutting up a side of pork; * Sheep: domestication, terminology, raising methods, and a partial list of meat breeds; * Cutting up a whole lamb; * Chicken: domestication, terminology, how to cut up a whole chicken; * How to make sausages; * Value-added products: what they are and how they can help increase your bottom li≠ * Your own butcher shop: size, equipment, display, marketing; * A better way of thinking about meat: a holistic overview and some conclusions. History buffs will delight in the chapter that traces the roots of butchery from pre-history to modern times, and meat shoppers will welcome Cole's description of what goes on behind the scenes at meat markets large and small. And, of course, new or aspiring butchers will find a well-illustrated slideshow on CD (included in the back of the book) with over 800 images on cutting up a side of beef, a side of pork, and whole lamb and chicken in more detail than is offered in any other book on the subject. Sure to be the ultimate resource on the subject of gourmet butchery, this book will change the conversation and help bring back a traditional art that is in jeopardy, but increasingly important in the local-food and ecological-agriculture movement.
The masters in The Butcher’s Apprentice teach you all the old-world, classic meat-cutting skills you need to prepare fresh cuts at home. Through extensive, diverse profiles and cutting lessons, butchers, food advocates, meat-loving chefs, and more share their expertise. Inside, you'll find hundreds of full-color, detailed step-by-step photographs of cutting beef, pork, poultry, game, goat, organs, and more, as well as tips and techniques on using the whole beast for true nose-to-tail eating. Whether you're a casual cook or a devoted gourmand, you'll learn even more ways to buy, prepare, serve, and savor all types of artisan meat cuts with this skillful guide.
“Nicolette Hahn Niman sets out to debunk just about everything you think you know . . . She’s not trying to change your mind; she’s trying to save your world.”—Los Angeles Times “Elegant, strongly argued.”—The Atlantic (named a “Best Food Book”) As the meat industry—from small-scale ranchers and butchers to sprawling slaughterhouse operators—responds to COVID-19, the climate threat, and the rise of plant-based meats, Defending Beef delivers a passionate argument for responsible meat production and consumption–in an updated and expanded new edition. For decades it has been nearly universal dogma among environmentalists that many forms of livestock—goats, sheep, and others, but especially cattle—are Public Enemy Number One. They erode soils, pollute air and water, damage riparian areas, and decimate wildlife populations. As recently as 2019, a widely circulated Green New Deal fact sheet even highlighted the problem of “farting cows.” But is the matter really so clear-cut? Hardly. In Defending Beef, Second Edition, environmental lawyer turned rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman argues that cattle are not inherently bad for the earth. The impact of grazing can be either negative or positive, depending on how livestock are managed. In fact, with proper oversight, livestock can play an essential role in maintaining grassland ecosystems by performing the same functions as the natural herbivores that once roamed and grazed there. With more public discussions and media being paid to connections between health and diet, food and climate, and climate and farming—especially cattle farming, Defending Beef has never been more timely. And in this newly revised and updated edition, the author also addresses the explosion in popularity of “fake meat” (both highly processed “plant-based foods” and meat grown from cells in a lab, rather than on the hoof). Defending Beef is simultaneously a book about big issues and the personal journey of the author, who continues to fight for animal welfare and good science. Hahn Niman shows how dispersed, grass-based, smaller-scale farms can and should become the basis of American food production.
Slaughter and butcher your own animals safely and humanely with this award-winning guide. Providing detailed photography of every step of the process, Adam Danforth shows you everything you need to know to butcher poultry, rabbit, lamb, goat, and pork. Learn how to create the proper slaughtering conditions, break the meat down, and produce flavorful cuts of meat. Stressing proper food safety at all times, Danforth provides expert advice on necessary tools and helpful tips on freezing and packaging. Enjoy the delicious satisfaction that comes with butchering your own meat.
This modern manual for the meat lover reveals the best-kept secrets of the world's best breeders and butchers along with the latest culinary and scientific research on how to select, butcher, prepare, and cook every kind of meat including beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and wild game. In Secrets of the Butcher, author Arthur Le Caisne takes readers step-by-step through the ever-evolving and artisanal world of meat. Organized by type of protein -- beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry, and turkey -- the book categorizes and describes the origin and characteristics of the best of each type. Secrets of the Butcher also includes state-of-the-art information on techniques and little know tricks of the trade, including answers to variety of questions such as What is dry aging? Is a sharp knife the best to cut meat? Is it better to pre-salt meat several days in advance or just before or after cooking and why? Do marinades really works? At what temperature is it best to cook meat? Is resting the meat after cooking really necessary? And much more. Accurate, scientific, and fully illustrated throughout with clear and useful four-color illustrations, Secrets of the Butcher is a must have for anyone serious about cooking meat.
Julie Powell thought cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the craziest thing she'd ever do -- until she embarked on the voyage recounted in her memoir, Cleaving. Her marriage challenged by an insane, irresistible love affair, Julie decides to leave town and immerse herself in a new obsession: butchery. She finds her way to Fleischer's, a butcher shop where she buries herself in the details of food. She learns how to break down a side of beef and French a rack of ribs -- tough physical work that only sometimes distracts her from thoughts of afternoon trysts. The camaraderie at Fleischer's leads Julie to search out fellow butchers around the world -- from South America to Europe to Africa. At the end of her odyssey, she has learned a new art and perhaps even mastered her unruly heart.
