Uncle Dave’s Cow And Other Whole Animals My Freezer Has Known, Leslie Miller (Skipstone, 2012)
As folks like Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin have been preaching for years, commercial meat production isn’t good for the animals, our bodies, or the planet. Yet the organic, sustainably-raised pork, beef, and lamb one finds at supermarkets and specialty stores are often pricey, and the marketing labels can be beyond confusing. What if you just want to eat meat as healthfully and enjoyably as possible, all while sticking to a budget?
Uncle Dave’s Cow: And Other Whole Animals My Freezer Has Known shows you how to find and evaluate local farmers, form a buying group, plan out cuts and quantities, store and preserve your purchases, and dish up an entire animal one part at a time. Author Leslie Miller, a busy Seattle mother who hails from a long lineage of Central Washington farmers, shows readers how to go whole hog — or cow, or goat, or lamb, for that matter — as she takes the reader along on her own educational journey, from the moment she locates and buys her first pig, all the way to her last forkful of tender pulled pork.
Miller explores local farmers markets and 4H fairs, talks to dedicated farmers and butchers, and explains how even her children connect to the cow in the freezer. By sharing her whole-food experiences, readers also will connect to the source of their food, while her 45 original recipes show them how to cook mouthwatering meals from the abundance of whole animals.
Written with urban charm and a knife-sharp sense of humor, Uncle Dave’s Cow is a friendly and accessible guide to sourcing and eating local meat for parents, foodies, and everyone who wants to learn how to be a well-prepared consumer and cook through to the bone.