Customer Reviews

Meat: A Kitchen Education

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own almost all of Peterson's books. He is truly a master of teaching how to cook. His recipes focus on the most basic techniques and using the natural flavors of the foods themselves to make them stand out. I have never found better recipes for stews, pot roast, steak, etc. No celebrity chef will teach you the way Peterson can. You cannot go wrong with any of his books.

So on to Meat.

This is a very good kitchen education on meat. You will learn all of the basics about how to grill, braise, sauté, etc. The photos are marvelous and the recipes are very good. There's literally every type of meat you can cook here--squab, rabbit, brains, kidneys, I mean it goes on forever.

There's not much contained in here that is not contained in his work Cooking, though. It seemed like he used this book more as a medium for showing off his photography than for delivering new recipes. There are a few, certainly, but goose with sauerkraut, that's not too innovative, and few of us really want to know how to cook brains. There's a great recipe for if you can find a really old rabbit, which Peterson acknowledges is close to impossible.

So I enjoyed reading it and I will keep it. But this is not in-depth like Glorious French Food: A Fresh Approach to the Classics or Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making, which really get into the explanations about how and why you cook a certain way. It's sort of like he took out the meat recipes from Cooking, added maybe a couple dozen useful new recipes, and some really pretty photos.

But I will end the review on a high note. If you haven't read Peterson before and you all you want is a book on cooking meat, this is it, you'll love it. If you need a new cook book and don't know where to start, start with Cooking--that book changed my life. If you have Cookingand you want more in-depth information about meat, you'll find a few bits here and there that you'll like. If you are really hungry for an in-depth education from Peterson, track down Glorious French Food: A Fresh Approach to the Classics--light on photos and heavy on teaching.

Four stars because it's Peterson, and it's a great work. One star penalty for being a little redundant.

While this book my be good for a complete novice as a first course, I found the detail on butchering simplistic in some areas, incomplete and the book was more recipe based then technique and fact based, about the different animals that comprise 'Meat'.

USDA Grading of beef was given a very short mention and the actual Grading not explained at all.

When writing about veal breast the author actually recommends boning and cutting the breast in parts rather than the traditional stuffed veal breast which uses all of the contained parts, bones fat and meat in a very harmonious ways.

Saddle of lamb is again presented as an un-boned cut when any chef or cook with some knowledge knows that a boneless saddle is a must for cooking this cut and in fact the only way to get the various components correctly done.

I'm glad I read this book from my local library because if I had spent money purchasing this book i would be sorely disappointed.

I gave my son this book for Christmas & he has already made several things out of it & said they were delicious!

Chef Peterson has outdone himself again. His newest book is a well assembled cookbook and very good in depth information on all cuts of meat and recipes to follow. So for anyone from the home cook to the professional this is a must read.

Jame's Peterson's "Meat: A Kitchen Education" is a remarkably useful book, chock-a-block full of useful information from a Master Butcher. You'll learn stuff about meat cuts you never knew, and if you pay attention the book will save you a ton of money in your shopping. Excellent reference work any serious chef's bookshelf, and IMO indispensable for more casual kitchens. A knowledge base that begs to be tapped.

This is a great instructional book for any level of cooking proficiency. It has great pictures, the written instruction is clear, and it's entertaining. I would definitely recommend this book.

This book would be perfect for the coffee table, as it is filled with great pictures of meat and meaty foods. However, it does not provide a wealth of information on the subject of meat, and is hardly "A Kitchen Education" on the subject. The recipes are quite good and simple, but do not provide any better information, instruction, or detail than the meat section of The Joy of Cooking. I would recommend The River Cottage Meat Book as a good alternative to this one. James Bearden's book adds little to culinary literature.

I enjoyed the book and it set forth recipes and meat handling information. However, the author pushed a personal view of meat, the reduction of meat consumption, that presented personal preferences as "scientific" fact. Even so, _Meat ..._ has a place in the cookbook collection and I will refer to it for the excellent preparation and handling facts.

I am only giving it 4 stars because I haven't been able to read the book all the way through as yet. James Peterson offers us some rather new ideas along with accepted wisdom. Prepare to be educated. For instance, did you know that you can eat pork RARE? Oh yes, apparently, that debate was resolved by science many decades ago. Officially you must cook it to 137 degrees F (or there-abouts depending on the cut, cooking method, and resting time). So, now I am wondering why we are being taught that pork must be cooked to a final temperature of 160 degrees F? The FDA has spoken, I guess.

I actually was prepared for Peterson's revelation as I recently attended a very nice dinner in which our Chef served us a rare pork loin. Several guests baulked before tasting their pork. Yes, it was a shocker to even consider eating RARE pork. Our rebel chef provided a brief explanation and let us to decide for ourselves. I saw the panicked faces. We might drop dead on the spot, right? One taste of the juicy, moist, flavorful pork and I forgot my worries. So, a few great chefs are leading the charge to end the perpetual overcooking of pork. Thank you, Chefs!

So far Peterson's new book is an exciting read. I will update this after reading further.