Field Guide to Meat: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Meat, Poultry, and Game Cut

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.

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...

Great, information, written in an easy to understand manner. Great illustrations. What an informative book. Sometimes recipes call for a cut of meat (e.g. london broil) and you say huh? this book explaines what the cut is, what it should look like and how to cook it. A great follow up to Field Guide to Vegetables

Although I love fine meats and food, I have always been intimidated by the idea of asking for special pieces from the butcher. I thought this book might help me learn about different cuts of beef. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it taught me that, and SO much more! My family has learned how long different meats can be stored, new ways to prepare them, etc. Fantastic!

`Field Guide to Meat' by Aliza Green is part of the series of very handy pocket sized, sturdily bound, heavy covered paperbacks by Quirk Books. Ms. Green also wrote the `Field Guide to Produce' for the same series, to which I gave a very favorable review. This book, I feel, is even more useful as a volume you own and consult often. The difference may be less in the relative quality of the books but in the relative availability of good cookbooks and reference books devoted exclusively to meat and those devoted to fruits and vegetables. Vegetables as a group are supported by superb books from leading culinary writers such as Jack Bishop, Alice Waters, James Peterson, and most of all, Elizabeth Schneider and her volume, `Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini'. Compared to these four, I know of only two leading writers, Bruce Aidell and the team of Schlesinger and Willoughby who have done good cookbooks covering a wide range of meats, and even these books don't give as broad a coverage as the veggie crowd. These two books solve the amateur cook's knotty problem of wandering through the market, being able to tell what looks good, and then thinking up something to do with the good stuff. When I see some especially good looking pork chops, there is only one thing I can thing of doing with them. If I wanted to stuff them, I would not be sure I knew what I would need, as all my pork chop stuffing recipes are sitting on my bookshelf at home. With these books in hand, you will can get a much better idea of the variety of things you can do with a cut of meat from this book than from virtually any other source I can think of. This is not to say it isn't there, it's just that it is so spread out across so many different books and sources that if you don't already have it all in your head, tracking it down on short notice is almost impossible. The only single source I can think of which comes close to this book is the Larousse Gastronomique, but you don't want to be lugging this 10-pound boat anchor around with you at the Farmer's Market. And, my experience with the average meat market attendant is that I know more about meat than they do. All the real butchers are back in the cold room. The books on produce and meats will generally be used for different things. Produce is generally much more perishable than meat in a refrigerated case. That is, the variability in the quality of produce at one store will be much higher than the variability in the quality of meat, especially since produce probably comes from 20 or 30 different suppliers, while beef, pork, veal, and lamb may come from two or three suppliers while poultry may come from two or three other suppliers. And, with the exception of lamb, practically all meat availability is independent of season. Therefore, while your first question upon opening the book on produce may be the seasonality, the first question upon opening the book on meat may be `What is a good cut for grilling?' or `How do I pick the be