Pat LaFrieda's Meat: Everything You Need To Know. A Must Read and New Favorite.

[STEbbq]

gboss mentioned this one that he bought in another thread, and I was intrigued. This is a fantastic book.

It clearly breaks down veal, lamb, chicken, pork, and beef with beautiful pictures. I had all my questions about different grades of chicken, pork, beef, veal, and lamb addressed, and he explained all of the different cuts clearly. I now have nice visuals for understanding where the different cuts come from and how contributes to taste and flavor. He clearly explained the differences between grass-fed and grain-fed beef and explained how grain-fed is better for the environment (shorter time to market so less resources consumed). And, there's some new recipes I want to try with outside skirt steak (both the 5-minute skirt steak and the pinwheel skirt steak). I now have a sweet comparison pic for dry-aged steaks to consider.

I also have some new burger blends to think about: equal parts clod/chuck/brisket/short rib, or 2/3rds short rib/brisket, or 2/3rds hanger/1/3 clod.

A really educational book with a high level of "oh that is cool" per page. Thanks gboss

https://www.amazon.com/Meat-Everythi...dp/1476725993/

[Jerod Broussard]

That dude was probably cutting steaks before he could walk.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll wait until my Amazon gift cards start pouring in, of course some of the used are tempting at those prices.

[STEbbq]

This is the same butcher who supplies steak to all of the top NYC steakhouses and grind for Steak Shack.

[rickgregory]

INteresting. I found some of his chopped burger blend here, frozen. It's pretty good.

[STEbbq]

I am sure he is not thrilled about the frozen aspect!

[rickgregory]

STEbbq - probably not but the meat was still excellent. The blend (here https://shop.lafrieda.com/products/o...l-chopped-beef ) was quite tasty.

[Mosca]

I have the book, and I’ve ordered the burgers, hot dogs, and sausages. I ordered two different burger blends, hot and mild Italian sausages, and one pack of hot dogs.

Everything arrives FRESH, and it’s packed and labeled "packed on xx-xx-xxxx for [Mosca]".

The burgers are outstanding. I don’t remember which blends I chose, but they are among the best I’ve had. That includes SRF, Allen Bros, D’Artagnan, Click, Creekstone, and Meat Artisan.

The Italian sausages were excellent. But I live in an area where there are lots of stores making sausage. LaFrieda’s is as good as the best of those, but because I have access I wouldn’t buy it again.

The all beef hot dogs were disappointing. They were actually too beefy, if you can figure that. I ate them, but Mrs didn’t. We actually had the same experience with SRF hot dogs, too. We like a good dog, but we can get Alpine brand in our local stores. I think you get used to what you get used to, and "different" doesn’t mean "better", even if it might be. But Alpine has their own packing plant, they’re pretty good.

There you go.

Edited to add: I ordered for a cookout, but ordered far more than we actually used. Everything we didn’t use, I sealed and froze. I got to the last of the burgers almost a year later, and they were fine.

[willxfmr]

Thanks! Just whistled up a copy.

[TripleB]

Love these types of books. Just ordered on Amazon. Thanks for posting.

[TripleB]

STEbbq - Got the book and read it in a couple days. Having to deal with the mob to retain his cousin's job was intense. Pat's a big boy, but that's crazy. Thanks again for posting about the book.

[STEbbq]

If I ever host a Meat-up, I feel like this is the book I’d leave on the coffee table for y’all as it is super interesting to flick through.

[Mark V]

I did as I always do, check reviews on Amazon. I look at the good and bad. Here, the one star reviews were about how the meat industry is cruel, you should be vegan, the industry destroys the planet, and meat gives you cancer. My favorite comment is "Meat is the diet of the depraved". Yeah, genius reviews of a book. Sheesh.

[Rocinante]

Yep, my son bought this for me several years ago and I find myself always pulling it out to skim through again. Definitely worth what the cost is, even if you can get most of the technical stuff on line. Haven't ordered anything yet, sounds like that might be changing now tho....

[rlozinak]

I have looked at the book before. But never pulled the trigger. I just ordered a used copy