
The River Cottage Meat Book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hardcover, 543 pages, list price: $40
Those who find that calves' livers and pig's trotters are best contemplated at a distance should keep well away from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Those of us with the opposite problem worship him as a god. This is not a case of macho posturing over a barbecue pit: There is more cooking know-how in Fearnley-Whittingstall's little finger than you will find in the graduating class of any cooking school in the country. His book is stuffed with wit, erudition and one slow-cooked, lovingly constructed recipe after another. After two or three hours of patient roasting, the fat on a pork belly turns to pure molten gold with a crisp exterior; the flesh permeated by it yields and seethes with tenderness. You won't be ashamed to lick the plate and gnaw the bones — but then again, have you ever been? (Incidentally, the word "vegan" does appear in this book. You will find it between "veal" and "vegetables".)
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