Full Description
Whether you're grilling steaks, roasting a joint, smoking brisket, searing chops, braising chuck or cooking low and slow on the barbecue, Prime Cuts is the ultimate guide to meat. Organised cut by cut, it helps you understand meat, shop smarter at the butcher counter, and cook everything from beef and pork to lamb, chicken and more with confidence. Combining practical meat science with real kitchen and barbecue know-how, this is a one-stop handbook for choosing the right cuts, mastering essential techniques and getting the best value and deepest flavour from every piece.
Inside you'll find over 100 recipes alongside the grilling, barbecue, smoking, roasting, searing and slow-cooking techniques - from quick weeknight dinners to impressive celebration roasts and smoked barbecue centerpieces, these recipes show you how to make meat truly shine. From shoulders, ribs, brisket and shanks to an entire section devoted to every possible kind of steak, Prime Cuts breaks down classic cuts and shows you how to cook each one to perfection. You'll also discover smart ways to use bones, fat, and high-value cuts for richer flavour, less waste, and more deliciousness for your dollar.
Packed with over 15 years of hands-on meat expertise and backed by real meat science, Prime Cuts is the ultimate cookbook and reference guide - giving cooks of every level the knowledge, recipes, and techniques they need to choose, prepare, and cook meat with confidence.
Contents
Introduction
How to use this book
Choose It
Butchery basics; Quality and grading; Meat label decoding; Meat names unpacked; Cuts that aren't actually cuts; Steaks by another name; How to choose the best cut for the job; Grass-fed or grain-fed beef?; Best-before dates; What is Wagyu?
Prep It
Tenderness; Top ten tender muscles; Meat tools; Brining; Marination; What is silverskin?
Cook It
Chasing the ultimate sear; Temperature; The two-zone grill setup; When to take meat out of the fridge; Resting meat; Slicing meat
Store It
Vacuum-sealing
Meat Science
What qualifies as meat science; The science of meat color; Water-holding capacity; Aging; Troubleshoot it
Preferred gear
Cuts and Recipes
Pork Shoulder Butt Boneless pork butt; Bone-in pork shoulder steak; Bone-in pork butt
Pork Belly Skinless pork belly; Skin-on pork belly; Belly bacon
Pork Ribs Baby back ribs; St Louis cut ribs; Country-style ribs
Pork Loin Pork chops (bone-in or boneless); Boneless pork loin
Ribeye Tomahawk steak; Boneless ribeye; Ribeye cap
Beef Ribs Plate ribs; Back ribs; Flanken cut ribs; Bone-in short ribs
Brisket Packer-cut brisket; Brisket left-overs; Brisket flat
Chuck Chuck roast; Chuck eye steak; Flat iron steak
Beef Loin Whole picanha; Picanha steaks; Center cut top sirloin steak; Sirloin steak; Strip steak; Whole tri tip
Tenderloin Pork tenderloin; Filet mignon; T-bone/porterhouse; Lamb loin chops; Tenderloin tails
Round Top round; Eye of round roast; Bottom round roast
Skirt Inside skirt; Outside skirt; Flap/bavette; Flank
Shanks Cross cut beef shanks; Lamb shanks; Beef shanks
Chicken Chicken drumsticks; Whole chicken wings; Whole chicken; Chicken thighs; Bone-in quarter chicken legs; Drumettes; Chicken breasts; Chicken skin
Lamb Lamb ribs; Lamb leg; Lamb cutlets; Rack of lamb; Lamb shoulder; Lamb chops
Ground Meat Ground (minced) venison and beef; Ground (minced) lamb; Ground (minced) pork; Ground (minced) beef
Rare Steaks Lamb striploins; Duck breast; Semi-boneless quail; Hanger steaks; Denver steaks;Teres major; Beef cheeks; Beef tongue; Venison backstrap
Meat Fat Beef or pork fat; Duck fat; Beef tallow; Pork lard or bacon grease
Bones Marrow bones; Beef back ribs; Chicken frame and bones
Celebration Meats Prime rib/standing rib roast; Smoked ham; Pork crown roast; Whole turkey; Whole beef tenderloin
Index
