Whole Beast Butchery

This book is full of picture and really easy to understand. I was looking for a book showing me exactly how to cut my own meat. A book with all the information about butchery and not slaughtering. It took me forever to figure out how to make all the pieces of chicken you can find in the store and make it look like in the store without any help or book to show me how. I do raise pig also but it was too hard for me to try to cut my own meat. With this book I feel confident enough to try to cut my own porc chop, picnic ham, spare ribs, etc. I was able to get the meat from the head of the pig but after reading the book I realize I was giving myself a hard time because I wasn't using the right technique. This book show you how to butcher beef, lamb and pork. I do know how to slaughter an animal and this book doesn't talk about that. This book will not show you how to get from live animal to steak. It will show you how to break down a whole animal and utilize the entire carcass. It covers the basic cuts step by step. It tells you the basic guidelines, the tools to use, some important techniques to have and some recipes to use does uncommon cuts.

Simply superb. I've got many books on the subject (Mettler, Grigson, HFW etc) but this is just excellent and stands head and shoulders above the others. I love most of the books in my butchery library (HFW's are great too) but if I were limited to just one, it would be this one. I'm a Chef with my own farm and restaurant and I rear, slaughter and butcher my own livestock. I've read many books over the years but never have I come across a book that so simply, so concisely and so expertly demonstrates butchery and meat cookery. It's beautifully bound and very well made, stylish, concise and the photos are superb. Nothing has been overlooked and somehow vast quantities of information have been distilled into remarkably few pages. A work of genius. And no, I don't know Ryan Farr or Bridget Binns, though I wish I did, so I could thank them energetically and enthusiastically for creating such a masterpiece.

As a I was growing up, we would always slaughter a pig during the fall. The whole family would gather for this event. My uncle would arrive with their knives sharpen and ready to go. I was always amazed at the way my uncles butchered the pig but I always wonder as to where all the cuts came from. Most of the meat of the pig slaughtered that day was cooked into chicharones or carnitas so I really did not see where a pork chop or a ham came from. This book not only tells me but it shows how to. It is an excellent source for someone who would like to do this as well as someone who want to know where the cuts come from when buying meat at your local meat market. I for one enjoyed reading this and looking at the detailed photos. I've even gotten the urge to buy me a whole hog and try to make me some chops. Ryan Farr knows his meat and cuts and shows you how it's done. I highly recommend this book.

I was hoping for more recipes. This book is better for those who want to learn how to butcher a whole animal. A lot of the pages explain how to cut off pieces of the animal...many instructions include using a saw as you will need to cut through bone. I understood that this book would be heavily based on butchery wish there were more recipes available.

The best book out there. Farr is a meat wizard and the book is so easy to follow. Great photo's and clear explanations. The money you'll save first time around will more than pay for the book. The art of butchery is back and here to stay thanks to this book.