A sequence of pictures showing two of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s North Devon beef cattle being taken to slaughter greets readers of The River Cottage Meat Book. He and his photographer, Simon Wheeler, loaded the animals into a small trailer, drove them to the meatworks, unloaded them and watched them die.
The cattle were then skinned and sawn in half. It is quite shocking to see in a book that includes recipes, but it is this unflinching respect for the animal and commitment to the truth that sets Fearnley-Whittingstall apart from the rest of the food-writing mob.
To write a book dedicated to good meat and to ignore the facts of life and death is not his way. As a result, this is the most honest cookbook I have found, reeking with helpful, hands-on wisdom.
It is everything it should be and more, a weighty (2kg) tome full of things you didn’t even know you wanted to know (about buying meat and offal, cooking techniques, preserving and processing) and dishes you didn’t even know you wanted to cook (red flannel hash, home-cured bacon, and crisp-fried salt and pepper pork “squidlets” cut from pork tenderloin to resemble squid).
It is also deliciously funny (the Meat Thrift chapter opens with a picture of a very attractive pig’s head), well written and neither macho nor sanctimonious. If you eat meat, you will buy, prepare and cook it better having read this book.
Ingredients
Prep: 20 min
150g fine rump or sirloin per person
1 raw egg yolk per person Finely chopped shallots Salted capers, rinsed and chopped
Minced flat-leaf parsley
English mustard
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce
Tomato ketchup
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Melba toast
From The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Feranley-Whittingstall (Hodder, £25)
METHOD
Trim the meat of all sinew and fat (except marbling), then process or mince it finely. A traditional way to do this is with the blade of a knife, but I find that the resulting texture is too fine and almost like pât?.
Shape the meat into patties, one per person, and place on serving plates.
Make a dip in each patty and gently tip the egg yolk into it. Place all the other ingredients in individual bowls, take to the table and encourage everyone to mix their own.
Fearnley-Whittingstall’s preferred quantities per person are 1tsp shallots, ½tsp capers, 1tsp parsley, ¼tsp mustard, 3 shakes Worcestershire sauce, 4 drops Tabasco, ½tsp tomato ketchup, pinch of salt, and 3 to 4 grindings of pepper.
Serve with Melba toast.
River cottage steak tartare
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