Butchery for the home chef - "The Art of Beef Cutting"

It’s undeniable: Meat is in vogue.

In a time when Americans yearn to know the origins of their food, meat education has become a hot topic. As has ‘whole-animal cooking,’ ‘at-home butchery,’ and other trendy meat techniques: The current DIY spirit has inspired more home cooks to branch out, turning casual carnivores into informed connoisseurs of meat.

A third-generation butcher, author and meat cutting educator, Kari Underly is the go-to expert for all things meat. And in The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional’s Guide to Butchering and Merchandising (Wiley, August 9, 2011), she reaches out to a new generation of serious home chefs. Inside, she covers all the fundamentals of butchery, including 450 full-color photos of every cut, step-by-step instructions on cutting techniques, the best beef-cutting tools as well as cooking methods.

Underly, who has appeared on Food Network’s “Unwrapped,” says that no matter what types of meat consumers eat, they need to be informed about their choices. So her book starts big – at the carcass level - and walks the reader through parts of the animal and individual cuts: From primals and subprimals, all the way down to ground beef.

The Art of Beef Cutting is a first-of-its kind instructional guide already hailed as the most comprehensive beef cutting education available in print.

In addition, Underly can discuss and provide tip sheets on:
The most popular and easiest meat cuts to prepare at home
How to shop the meat case: Cost-saving secrets, choosing the right beef cuts for your recipe, and how to talk to your butcher
Meat Quality 101: Deciphering different grades of beef, grain fed vs. grass fed, processing and storage
Knife Safety: Choose the right tools for your task
· Beef Nutrition: How different cuts stand up to each other and other non-meat sources

“I enjoy showing people creative ways to cut or prepare meat. Even simple techniques can result in big savings and big flavors,” says Underly.

Following in her grandmother’s and father’s footsteps, KARI UNDERLY has been exposed to butchery her whole life. She is the founder of Range, Inc., a consultancy dedicated to helping companies in the meat industry develop merchandising tools and new market strategies. As a consultant, she played an integral role in the beef industry’s development of the Flat Iron Steak and Denver Cut. A seasoned speaker and educator on meat marketing, merchandising, and butchery techniques, Underly shares her knowledge, expertise and passion with retailers, food service operators, chefs, culinary students, as well as food and meat enthusiasts from all over the nation. Underly lives in Chicago. For more information, please visit www.rangepartners.com and follow her on Twitter: @kariunderly and on Facebook.