The River Cottage Meat Cook

by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Ok! So I promise I did not buy the book I just looked at it out of interest. This is a heavy coffee table book weighing in at 543 pages. Over half of the pages are dedicated to FW’s philosophy on animal rearing, slaughtering and eating. The book is profusely illustrated from slaughtering a cow, to roasting a whole pig, to preparing the cuts of meat, and the step by step process of making a pork pie. There is a page of photographs showing the death of a cow; the first photograph shows a gun between the steers of a cow, then the dead animal with blood, it being hung, and then cut up into pieces, etc. With good reason these photographs are placed at the beginning of the book. FW is making his point right up front and the text supports those feelings. So you will either stop right there and put the book back on the shelf or not. I also think that many readers might not be happy to see a hare in a plastic shopping bag all in one piece with its head and paws. Actually to me it looks alive except of course it would not be sitting calmly in a plastic bag waiting to be dinner for someone.

FW puts forward issues that I agree with and those I don't. But at least he is talking about the issues and has very definate opinions. I particularly agree with the fact that meat should not be cheap. When we pay a lot of money for something than indeed we all ask questions about the why and the wherefore; what was the animal fed on, how did it live, and how did it die. If we are happy with the answers we pay more for the product and this is how it should be. And to answer the question "what about people with little money" just eat less and eat the cheaper cuts that most Americans don't even look at.

The book brings to the forefront yet again whether I should be eating meat. In actual fact, after looking at these pictures I have to ask myself if taking the life of a perfectly healthy and happy animal to feed me, when I could eat plenty of other things is morally correct. If we were all closer to the meat that we eat I think many more people would question what they eat. So as you can see, I am completely torn in two on the issue and when it will be solved I have no idea.

Many of the recipes in the book are for 6-10 people and while it is easy to cut some recipes into a quarter, others it is not. Additionally, the meat items that he lists as cheap are not so in America. For example there is a picture showing the cost of locally farmed Lamb Shanks at three English pounds a pound (about six dollars at the current exchange rate). I pay 50-100% more depending on the farmer I buy it from. He also lists wild rabbit under cheap and pig trotters. Now the former is very expensive and the latter is impossible to find as I do not know of any butcher in or around Boston. To clarify: a butcher is a person who has the whole animal in his store/refrigerator and will cut the pieces that you want to order. I do know that I could find everything at Blood Farms in Groton, MA because it is a small family slaughterhouse.

If you want to know how to cure meats, and make sausages, pates and terrines there is a whole chapter dedicated to just that. In fact, this book is excellent for the folks who want to know how to cut up various animals and fowl and what to do with all the pieces.

Under meals that are kid friendly he has Lamb braised with stuffed vine leaves, Indian-spiced Lamb Skewers, Flying Toad in the Hole, and Souvlaki to name a few. This brought back memories of the time I invited my neighbors and their two kids to dinner. I served roast lamb, roast potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. They eat half a potato. They had never had lamb, where not sure what the potatoes were (they were roasted in the fat of the lamb until they were crisp on the outside) and obviously didn’t eat vegetables. They were much relieved when I served Apple Pie with ice cream and said “thank goodness an American dessert.” However, their smile didn’t last long as I put a dollop of ice cream on each slice of pie and then put the ice cream back in the refrigerator. Apparently they though they were going to eat the entire pint of ice cream which I planned on lasting me the month.

There are some classic British recipes that I recall as a kid. I disagree with using beef kidneys for the steak and kidney pie because I feel that they are too strong and that veal kidneys provide a much better flavor. I was happy to see Lancashire Hot Pot in the book, a dish I have fond memories of as a child. My grandmother made this for me frequently and I still remember the brown pot it was made in and how the small the kitchen was that she cooked.