Meat : Everything You Need to Know

Pat LaFrieda, the third generation butcher and owner of America’s premier meatpacking business, presents the ultimate book of everything meat, with more than seventy-five mouthwatering recipes for beef, pork, lamb, veal, and poultry.

For true meat lovers, a beautifully prepared cut of beef, pork, lamb, veal, or poultry is not just the center of the meal, it is the reason for eating. No one understands meat’s seductive hold on our palates better than America’s premier butcher, Pat LaFrieda. In Meat: Everything You Need to Know, he passionately explains the best and most flavorful cuts to purchase (some of them surprisingly inexpensive or unknown) and shares delicious recipes and meticulous techniques, all with the knowledge that comes from a fourth generation butcher. If you have ever wondered what makes the meat in America’s finest restaurants so delectable, LaFrieda—the butcher to the country’s greatest chefs—has the answers, and the philosophy behind it.

In seventy-five recipes—some of them decades-old LaFrieda family favorites, some from New York City’s best restaurateurs, including Lidia Bastianich, Josh Capon, Mike Toscano, and Jimmy Bradley—the special characteristics of each type of meat comes into exquisite focus. Pat’s signature meat selections have inspired famous chefs, and now Meat brings home cooks the opportunity to make similar mouthwatering recipes including multiple LaFrieda Custom Burger Blends, Whole Shank Osso Bucco, Tuscan Fried Chicken with Lemon, Crown Pork Roast with Pineapple Bread Stuffing, Frenched Chop with Red Onion Soubise, Beef Wellington with Mushroom Cream Sauce, and Chipotle-Braised Tomahawk Short Ribs, along with many more.

Step-by-step photographs make tricky operations like butterflying a veal chop or tying a crown roast easy even for beginners; beautiful double-page photographic diagrams show more clearly than any previous book where different cuts come from on the animal; and advice on necessary equipment, butcher’s notes, and glorious full-color photographs of the dishes complete this magnificent and comprehensive feast for the senses.

Throughout the pages of Meat, Pat LaFrieda’s interwoven tales of life in the meatpacking business and heartwarming personal reminiscences celebrate his family’s century of devotion to their calling and are a tribute to a veritable New York City institution. Pat’s reverence and passion for his subject both teach and inspire.

Pat LaFrieda’s first introduction to the meat world was in the summer of 1981, when he was just ten years old and learning the tricks of the trade at his father’s butchering business. Thirty years later, Pat, his father, and cousin own and operate New York City’s most prestigious and valued meatpacking facility. Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors supplies the finest restaurants in New York City, Philadelphia, DC, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago, and more. They also operate four retail locations at Citi Field—home to the New York Mets—including two Pat LaFrieda Original Steak Sandwich stands, a LaFrieda Meatball Slider stand, and the sit-down restaurant, Pat LaFrieda Chop House. In 2014 they became the "Official Burger of the Mets." Pat has appeared on countless national TV shows including Today, The Chew, Rachael Ray Show, CNN, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, and Martha Stewart. More information can be found at www.lafrieda.com.

Carolynn Carreño is a James Beard Award–winning writer for magazines including Bon Appétit, Saveur, the Los Angeles Times, Gourmet, and Food & Wine, and coauthor of books with chefs Nancy Silverton, Kenny Shopsin, and Sara Foster. Her cookbooks are known for their distinct voice and storytelling style.