Title:	The Butcher's Table: Techniques and Recipes to Make the Most of Your Meat
	Author:	Allie D’Andrea
	Published:	September 12, 2023, Harvard Common Press
	No. of Pages:	192
	Cover Price:	$25.00 Hardcover, $18.99 Kindle

---

The Butcher's Table: Techniques and Recipes to Make the Most of Your Meat is an excellent primer on handling chicken, pork, and venison. Included are chapters on ingredients, choosing the right knife and other tools for butchery, and maintaining those tools.

There are parts that are interesting, but are such that most of us probably won’t ever use, like butchering a whole pig. However, there are illustrations of each the three animals and instructions on how to butcher them. There are mouthwatering recipes included in each chapter, and they are written in the traditional manner with ingredients listed first followed by step-by-step instructions. The recipes are easy to follow and can be successfully made by both beginning and advanced cooks. The prose is well-written and easy to understand.

There are also professional, beautiful photographs of most of the recipes, which are very appealing and are mouthwatering.

The one thing that is missing is a chapter on beef. Understanding that a cow is probably off limits for butchering at home because of its size. This book is really about butchering, but most home cooks don’t want to do the actual butchering and just want the recipes. Many of us don’t have access to venison, so, while that chapter is nice, it’s undoable for many.

All told, this is a book that may have a small following; it isn’t for everyone, but it is excellent for those who want to do their own butchering.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.