Prime Cuts: The Last Word in Beef Book

Prime Cuts is an interesting, attractive and useful book, if in some ways also rather a puzzling one. It deals with beef, covering the different cuts and the best ways of cooking them; and giving over 100 recipes. Many are European classics, such as Steak au Poivre, Carpetbag Steak, Boeuf en Croute and Carpaccio. Others refer to traditions from further afield: Caribbean Steak uses a garnish of pawpaw, mango, banana and sweet potato; Chinese Beef Rolls enclose a stuffing of ginger, Char Siu Pork and Edam cheese; Malay Steak with Coconut-Peanut Sauce coats the steak in the spicy sauce before frying it to a crisp crust. As these last may suggest, the overall approach of the book is eclectic, its engagement with Asian cuisines, in particular, not overly concerned with the rigours of authenticity--fine when the results are as tasty as they are here. The puzzle concerns the author, Sonia Stevenson, who somehow seems rather incidental to the project. Formerly one of the most highly regarded restaurant chefs in Britain, and a teacher of some repute, her presence at the helm of this rather unfocused, even slightly ragbag collection of recipes is not altogether easy to understand. Well illustrated, though, and with photo-sequences of Stevenson preparing some of the dishes, Prime Cuts will please many cooks. --Robin DavidsonRead More