Honest Meat

Sneak Peak of Meat: A Benign Extravagance by Simon Fairlie

I just started reading this fascinating book after a friend at Chelsea Green Publishing sent me an advanced copy. I guess they thought with a blog called "Honest Meat" I should be able to review a book called "Meat: A Benign Extravagance".  This is now the second book in my collection by a British farmer with Meat in the title- my other favorite one is the River Cottage MEAT book.

This appears to be a dense and thoroughly researched book, not for those looking for a quick read about an endearing tale of a former vegetarium-cum-meat farmer or a city girl who trades in her laptop for a butcher's knife. This book is for those who want to delve deeply into the issues of meat production, climate change, food security and omnivory.  I will write more once I polish off a few chapters.  For now you will have to wait and lick your chops. In the meantime, get yourself signed up at Powell's Books to get the first copies due out in January of next year. 

 

What I'm Reading: Big Sur Bakery Cookbook

OK- so I am biased. These folks happen to be my friends and the cookbook happens to feature my husband, Jim Dunlop.  But it is still a good cookbook!  With recipes like Pork Belly Pizza with Barbecue Sauce & Sweet Corn, Blue Cheese-Stuffed Figs with Balsamic Reduction, Braised Rabbit with White Wine, Scallions, Mustard Seeds, & Ham-Wrapped Roasted Loin (whew!), and of course their amazing Breakfast Pizza (with bacon & eggs on it!), the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook features a variety of complex and simple combinations of locally-sourced ingredients.  There are profiles of 13 of their 'personalities'- folks who either work there, loiter there, or supply the restaurant with ingredients over the course of the year.  My husband got to be profiled in the March chapter, followed by a bunch of recipes that call for eggs, preferably ours or some other pasture-raised variety.  With quotes like, "Free-range doesn't mean shit" and "It's funny...First you pretend to be a farmer.  Then you keep doing it.  And the next thing you know, you actually are one", Jim's profile is controversial and lighthearted, just how he likes to keep things.

You can order this book right of my blog, with a small percentage going to support my monthly costs of keeping this thing up.  A delicious way to support me and this great restaurant!

Honest Books

Since I am hoping to someday *partially* support my family via this blog, I have a small number of ways to make money off this site.  The funnest way, in my opinion, is by buying books.  I have partnered with my favorite independent book store, Powell's Books from Portland, Oregon, to offer you not only a search engine to whatever title you are looking for, but also a list of Honest books that I have already read or hope to read someday (well, someday when my three year old stops jumping on my bed in the evening when I try to settle down for a good read).

Currently I am reading Organic, Inc. by Samual Fromartz.  What a page turner!  I love learning the behind-the-scenes details about the expansion of organics from a back-to-the woods movement to a full-fledged industry.  So much of it revolves around my geographic region, the Central Coast of California, where companies like EarthBound Farm, Odwalla, Jacob's Farm, and other biggies got their start. 

I have Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism by Marion Nestle sitting on my bookshelf, calling my name.  I am currently doing research on E.coli and other pathogens in our meat supply for a future series, so I really should dig into this book.

For practical, livestock production know-how, we own a tattered copy of Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef by Julius Ruechel sitting on our coffee table.  Yes, our coffee table books are all about livestock and agriculture, not home decorating or fashion design like many a home.  This book is excellent if you are thinking about raising and marketing your own beef cattle.

For tasty home-cooking of animal flesh, I would suggest perusing one of the cookbooks I list, such as Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn, River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall, or Pork & Sons by Stephane Reynaud.

There are several other interesting reads in my Honest Books list.  Take a peak and stock up on good things to read for the wintertime (OK- a long ways off, but perhaps you live in the Southern Hemisphere, or perhaps you don't have little kids jumping on you when you want to settle in with a good book!)