Comments: This book takes a surprising turn – actually many of them. You'd expect a book by multiple generations of New York butchers to give you all the information you'd need and want about meat. And you'd expect mainstream recipes that show off standard cuts and preparations. But what takes you by surprise is that the recipes come from all over the world – Asia, Africa, North and South America, all over Europe – and they look as delicious as all the old standards you might have been expecting.

Perhaps it is not such a surprise in a collaboration of the Lobels (butchers with about 618 years' experience among them) and food writer Mary Goodbody and chef and writer David Whiteman. On top of that, the book is seamless – you can't tell where the butchers leave off and the food writers start. Virtually every meat is covered in great detail – beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry, rabbit, game birds and animals, and variety meats. There is also an extensive collection of recipes for sauces, stocks, condiments, and chutneys to complement or finish the meat recipes.

Some of the recipes will be a challenge and more than a few require lots of ingredients. Some of the tricks look hard – how do you bone a chicken thigh and 2/3 of the leg bone? In many cases they suggest you ask your butcher to do this or that, but do you have a butcher? The payoff, though is an extensive reference on meat, exceptional variety, and real flavor.