By Pat Tanner Special Writer
Calling “The River Cottage Meat Book” a cookbook is like calling “War and Peace” a novella. This tome by British chef, broadcaster, writer, farmer and educator Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall does contain recipes — about 150, from the everyday (glazed baked ham, chili con carne) to the exotic (roast grouse, curried goat). But the first recipe doesn’t appear until some 225 pages into the encyclopedic volume. What precedes it makes for fascinating reading that ponders philosophical and practical issues concerning the meat that we consume.
I could not put it down.
Is the meat we eat good enough, the author asks, in terms of nutrition, taste and respect for the animals it came from? Is it, in the first place, morally justifiable for prosperous human beings in the 21st century to be eating animal flesh? The answers he has come to for the former is no, not if the meat comes via the intensive industrial system of production, and yes for the latter, which he has arrived at after extensive and insightful soul-searching. His reasons for and against vegetarianism are among the most cogent I have encountered, and are a must-read for anyone with a conscience.
The bottom line for Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall is that typical supermarket meat, industrially raised and processed, does not taste good, is nutritionally bereft, and is morally indefensible. For me, the end to buying such meat came even before I read Eric Schlosser’s groundbreaking “Fast Food Nation.” It was in 2000, when I encountered Jo Robinson’s slim volume, “Why Grassfed is Best!” (Vashon Island Press). In it, Ms. Robinson explicates many reasons for shunning industrial meat, but among the facts that really did it for me was learning that steers raised on huge ranches in the Midwest were fed, among other dubious products, stale and therefore unmarketable packages of Wrigley’s chewing gum. Still in their wrappers, no less.
The most common argument against buying meat from animals raised on small, local, pasture-based farms is price, which can be two or three times that of its supermarket counterpart. Like the early days of organic vegetables, it is labeled impractical and elitist, out of the reach of the poor. Mr. Fearnley-Whittingstall counters with cogent, compelling arguments.
“It is debatable whether the mass market for cheap meat was ever created out of any sense of social responsibility or welfare. But even if it was, such good intentions have long since been corrupted,” he writes. “Today the driving force of intensive meat production is the search for profit. The millions of factory-farmed, protein- and water-injected, deep-frozen chicken portions that are sold each week are not going to families on the breadline. They’re being processed, prepared, and packaged to disguise the horrors of their production, and going, via the supermarkets, to busy mothers who are conned into thinking that this is healthy, nutritious food for their families.”
He reasons further, “If circumstances dictate that you need to be very careful when budgeting your food shopping, then a good understanding of real meat, and how to make best use of the bargain cuts, will save you far more in the long term than counting the pennies on a pound of economy ground meat or a bumper pack of factory-farmed chicken thighs. Yet we seem all too ready to save pennies on food so we can spend dollars on cars, clothes, and computer games.”
For meat lovers, “The River Cottage Meat Book” (Ten Speed Press), which has been tailored for American cooks, is a bargain at $40. It helps find good meat, understand it better, and cook it with greater confidence. Beef and veal, lamb and mutton, pork and bacon, poultry, game, and offal each have their own chapters, and cooking methods described in great detail include roasting (“the most honest and delicious way there is to cook meat”), slow and fast cooking, grilling, and preserving.
As the recipe below demonstrates, this top British chef, who is virtually unknown in this country, is not all about economy or preaching. His recipes for top-of-the-line cuts are consistent with his basic premise: Find the best raw material, prepare it in ways that result in the most flavor, and “eat it with much pleasure.”
‘RICE PUDDING’ PORK
“The River Cottage Meat Book”
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
“This is my take on a traditional Italian dish — pork cooked in milk. The curious, lumpy, curdled milk makes a unique but delicious sauce that I find irresistible.” — H.F- W.
4 to 4½ pound piece of boned pork loin
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
About 4 to 6 cups whole milk, hot
2 teaspoons soft brown sugar
3 or 4 bay leaves, ideally fresh
2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (or a pinch of dried thyme)
Thinly pared zest of 1 lemon (no pith)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Season the pork all over with salt, pepper, and a little grated nutmeg. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and gently brown the pork in it, turning it occasionally so it is lightly colored all over. Turn off the heat and leave the pork in the pan.
2. Take a saucepan or casserole in which the pork will fit fairly snugly and melt the butter in it over medium heat. Add about a third of the hot milk and all the brown sugar, stirring to dissolve. Put the pork in the pan, pour in the remainder of the hot milk until it almost covers the meat, and bring slowly to a simmer. Lightly scrunch the bay leaves and thyme to release the essential oils and add them to the pan, along with the lemon zest and another couple of gratings of nutmeg. Cover with a lid, leaving a slight gap, and cook very gently (a trembling sub-simmer) so the surface is undisturbed. Cook for 1½ to 2 hours, during which time the milk will curdle and form a rice pudding-type crust.
3. Carefully remove the pork from the pan and cut it into thick slices. Spoon the crusty, milky curds from the pot, dividing them fairly between the plates, then generously spoon over the thinner, milky gravy. Serve with bread for soaking up the lovely liquor.
Serves 6.
Here’s list of local farms selling natural, grass-fed and/or pasture-raised meat and poultry:
BEECHTREE FARM, Hopewell. Beef. (609) 466-0277. web.mac.com/ beechtreefarm.
CHERRY GROVE FARM, Lawrence. Beef, pork, eggs, lamb, cheese. (609) 219-0053. www.cherrygrovefarm.com.
GRIGGSTOWN QUAIL FARM AND MARKET, Franklin Township. Chicken, turkey, pheasant, duck, quail, poussin. (908) 359-5218. www.griggstownquailfarm.com.
SIMPLY GRAZIN’, Montgomery. Beef, veal, pork, chicken (908) 359-6555. www.simplygrazin.com.
Outside the Princeton area, visit www.eatwild.com.

