Steak: One Man's Search for the World's Tastiest Piece of Beef

I enjoy "single subject" books like Rice, Sugar, Salt, The Founding Fish, Caviar and so forth. And I have been a perfect-steak-searcher for years. Some background: when I was a kid, my father, whose father was a butcher,would go in with a friend and buy a "side" of beef. He'd have it delivered to the local butcher where it would hang to become "dry aged." On Saturdays we'd go to the butcher shop and watch the butcher scrape off the mold and trim off the dried-out edges and deftly cut off two strip steaks 2 1/4 inches thick. The meat was crimson and "marbled" with intricate traceries of fat. Dad would cook the steak in an iron skillet (as the French do). Always rare. When done he'd put it on a warm plate and then pour red wine in the pan, add a pat of butter, swirl it around over high heat to make a sauce which he'd poured over the steak on the serving plate. That ritual turned me into a steak aficianado. Schatzker's book is a steak lover's feast. He explores the merits of grass or grain fed beef and much more while taking you on a carnivorous journey around the world, a journey that will introduce you to the most subtle and delightful differences between extraordinaty steak and ordinary meat.

Most complete book ever written on the hows and whys of producing the best flavored beef. Also a very enjoyable read for anyone interested in the culture of eating.

This was a very entertaining book. Even those who don't consider themselves "steak people" will enjoy reading about Schatzker's journey as he searches out the steak of his dreams. I recommend it as a very enjoyable read for foodies and non-foodies alike.