The River Cottage Meat Book Review
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and use it as reference often. However, the title, "MEAT," set in type that dwarves litterally every other title on my book shelves, implies a kind of comprehensiveness that the book does not deliver.
I'm not complaining that there are no recipes for Tibettan yak or rattlesnake. I'm talking about something more general. As most know, Fearnley-Whittingstall is a huge proponent of artisinal, natural farming. It's a great cause, and an approach worth supporting, but I believe mindless adherence can lead you into a couple of quagmires.
First is an idealogicall / political one, which is beyond the scope of this review, and probably also beyond the scope of the Meat book, although it needs to be acknowledged: we don't have enough pasture land on Earth to feed 6 billion people, or even 3 billion, using artisinal methods. It's a terrible truth, but it means we need to think in terms of reforming our broken industrial agricultural system, not just abolishing it (or worse, ignoring it).
Second, and more to the point, is the very complex subject of beef. Fearnley-Whittingstall talks in terms of pastured, grass-finished beef to the exclusion of all others. This reinforces the false dichotomy that cows are either grass fed/artisinal/good or corn fed/industrial/bad.
Well, it just doesn't work like that. I've been researching top quality beef for many months, and have found (and tasted) a whole world of variations. There are cattle raised on pasture land their whole lives but have their diets supplemented with grains during the last months of their lives. There are cattle who spend their lives in large pens, away from pasture, getting fed controlled mixtures of cut grass, hay, alfalfa, corn, and barley. There are the famous cattle of Kobe who get fed god-knows-what (but it includes barley and beer).
All these approaches yield delicious, first rate beef. All are artisinal. All raise healthy, happy cattle. And all are ignored by Fearnley-Whittingstall's book. I happen to like his style of pasture raised beef--If raised well (not a given) it produces fresh herbal flavors, that vary with season and terroir. But this beef is only sometimes my first choice. It lacks the marbling, succulence, and deep "beefiness" that can be produced in meat that's been fattened with grains.
So what? My concern is that some complex issues, ones that matter to anyone concerned with the planet or with good eating, get overly simplified in the book. It still owns a place of prominence among my shelves, but I'm looking for a more comprehensive reference to fill in some of the (big) gaps.
What else? Recipes? They're there if you you're looking for a recipe book, and I trust they're fine examples of country meat cookery. I suspect, though, the unique value of this book is as a reference on buying meat and understanding its sources and all the steps from farm to table.
The River Cottage Meat Book Overview
"This book aims to help you find good meat, understand it better, cook it with greater confidence, and eat it with much pleasure." It first of all covers the basics - everything you'll need to know about choosing the very best raw materials, understanding the different cuts and the cooking techniques associated with each of them. I've then given what I hope are foolproof recipes for 150 meat classics from both British and foreign food cultures - shepherds pie, steak and kidney pie, roast pork with perfect crackling, glazed baked ham, Irish stew, roast grouse with all the trimmings, toad in the hole, oxtail stew; plus definitive, authentic versions of pot au feu, cassoulet, choucroute, steak tartare, coq au vin, bolito misto, pasticcio, jerked pork, feijoida, cozido, curried goat, satay and chilli con carne. "I would like this book to be your first stop on the shelf whether you seek either inspired recipes or technical guidance on any aspect of meat cookery" - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
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