The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating Reviews

• Great Modert Treatment of Very Old Techniques. Outstanding

  
  By A20IIR0422G3A5 on 2004-04-26
  Fergus Henderson, the chef author of this book subtitled `nose to tail eating' is a cult hero among foodies and among heroes of foodies such as Tony Bourdain, who writes the introduction to this new edition and Mario Batali, a major advocate himself of using the whole animal.

  For several reasons, this book is likely to have little to no value to the average person who cooks and who may refer to a cookbook now and then. The recipes commonly use ingredients that are simply unavailable outside better butcher shops and farmers' markets. The recipes also commonly use techniques that are the antithesis of fast cooking and low fat cooking. There are some recipes that literally require up to two weeks to complete.

  The true audience for this book aside from culinary professionals are those who religiously watch Alton Brown's `Good Eats' , read John Thorne's books and newsletter as if they were gospels, and study books by Paul Bertolli, Eric Rippert, Judy Rodgers, and Jeremiah Tower for subtle new techniques to squeeze the last ounce of value from their primo materia.

  Just to be sure it is clear to you what this book is all about, it's primary subject is preparing in a cuisine absolutely everything but the oink, as the saying goes, from a pig and other animals. To this end, the author presents us with recipes for pig's head, pigs jowls (Mario Batali's favorite guanciale), pig's ears, pig's tail, livers, hearts, tongues, and the most beloved stomach as used in preparing the old Scottish classic, haggis.

  If this were the limit of the author's novelty, there would probably be little interest in the book among chefs. The author pushes this point of view to cover culinary techniques which are either not commonly used by the average chef and which are generally unknown to the average cook. The two best-known methods are brining and preserving in oil as in a comfit. Brining has probably become much better known among American foodies thanks to the efforts of Alton Brown and Shirley Corriher. It is a method of soaking meat in a solution of salt, sugar, and aromatics to impart moisture to the meat. Creating a comfit involves storing meat in fat rendered from the meat and fatty parts of the animal from which the meat was taken. The method is best known as a method for preserving duck legs, but it may be applied to many other meats. The author applies both techniques to a wide variety of foods.

  If any part of this book may have use to the average reader who takes cooking seriously, it would probably be the author's lessons on the creation and use of stocks. Unlike chefs at the cutting edge of American haute cuisine such as Judy Rodgers, Henderson's stock techniques are beautifully simple. He does recommend the uncommon method of creating a raft to clarify stocks. I have not seen this method used outside of Culinary Institute of America texts, but the author presents it so simply that one need have no fear that it is too complicated for them. That is not to say it does not take time. This is an example of why the nonprofessional will want to read this book. It is just chocked full of unusual techniques, some as simple as they are unexpected. The author goes against a tidal wave of preference for the Italian flat leafed parsley and chooses to use curly leafed parsley in most recipes including an utterly simple method for flavoring salt with the herb and adding it to a simple sauce.

  While the focus of the book is on meat, it does cover the very typical range of dishes with chapters on Stocks, Soups, Salads, Starters, Main Dishes (mostly the odd body parts are here), Birds and Game, Fish and Shellfish, Vegetables, Sauces, Puddings, and Baking. The refreshing iconoclasm extends even to the discussion of routine sauces where the author is clear to all that aioli is NOT mayonnaise with garlic, but a thing onto itself. He probably also breaks a few hearts by mixing olive oil for both mayonnaise and aioli in a food processor.

  The book should also be a treasure for armchair foodies who get no closer to a Garland range than a read of reviews in `Cooks Illustrated'. This chef has a way with words. You may almost think of him as a literate Jaime Oliver who suggests you put terrines `in the fridge for 24 hours to allow it to find itself'. I sometimes find it tedious to read even good recipes. There is no such problem with this book.

  Highly recommended read for all professionals and foodies. Great source of ideas, even if you never make any of the recipes.
  
  

• Delicious Indictment of our Wastefulness

  
  By A17CBR5I9SHTOE on 2006-05-28
  I have to start by saying that I can prepare only ten of the thirty-four recipes in the meat section of this cookbook without special ordering, and thirteen are virtually impossible due to unavailability of ingredients. Lamb tongues? Pig tails? Quarts of pig blood? Lamb hearts? Forget it. I live near a large butcher who can't or won't provide any of these items for any price I can pay. They go to the dogfood plants. This is a pity, as anyone lucky enough to have eaten the flavorful extremities and innards of young animals can attest. Our American supermarket meat counters have for years whittled down the selection in favor of the most flavorless cuts: fillet mignon and chicken breast have taken the shelf space once dedicated to the "set of delights, textural and flavorsome, which lie beyond the fillet", to quote author Fergus Henderson. As our cultural memory of the flavors of the parsimonious and creative farmhouse kitchen shrivels, our food is impoverished. Henderson writes a sharp critique of our culture of waste, but only as the byproduct of his central thesis: that there is a world of pleasure out there for those who set aside their suburban sqeamishness and eat the whole beast.
  
  Among the few recipes I can follow without unconscionable substitutions are some real gems. Tripe and Onions, remarkably similar to French, Italian, Spanish, and even Mexican preparations, is delicious. Rabbit and Garlic is a powerfully aromatic feast. Beans and Bacon is a perfect rustic dish, a worthy simplification that could stand for cassoulet. Ox Tongue and Bread, really a carpaccio or hearty salad, is an excellent meal on its own, great with a simple and light red table wine. Each time I've prepared a dish from this book, I've lamented the narrow-minded marketing that makes most of the book inaccessible.
  
  My laments are accompanied by shameless keening when I get to the Birds and Game section. Almost nothing in this section is possible here. A shame, really. Some of these recipes make great reading. But so did Don Quixote, and I'm not any more able to get fresh pigeon [without a good slingshot] than I am able to book a flight to medieval Spain. This highlights the real perversity of this book: af all the many cookbooks in my library, representing such far-flung cuisines as Indian, Turkish, and West African, the most exotic is from my ancestral England, from a chef who speaks something very like my own language, and whose ingredients sound, but for the specific location of their cuts, very familiar. How far we've come without true progress!
  
  Go to the meat counter and test this assertion: our culture values two characteristics above all others in meat: softness and blandness. Now consider what we're missing: the heady pleasures of the most flavorful cuts of meat, skillfully prepared and simply served. Somewhere along the way we've abandoned a great cultural inheritance. It takes an act of will to remember that abundance has cost us dearly.
  
  I wish I had the means to distribute this excellent book like a religious tract. It will take something like religious fervor on the part of a few brave souls to get us back to the roots of our cooking: farm and field.
  
  

• The Ultimate Healthy Diet

  
  By A3CK5N8LD9IUYV on 2004-08-04
  Kudos to The Whole Beast by Fergus Henderson. This unusual cookbook is dedicated to recipes on organ meats. The delicious array includes warm pig's head, ox tongue, roast bone marrow, calf's heart, brawn (headcheese), jellied tripe, rolled pig's spleen, duck neck terrine, duck hearts on toast, many recipes for lamb's brain, sweet breads, blood cake (made with 1 quart of pig's blood), pig's cheek and tongue, gratin of tripe, haggis, deviled kidneys, lamb's kidneys and giblet stew. The one notable omission is steak and kidney pie.
  The recipes are exotic (or so they seem to us-they were once standard fare for Britons) but also simple. Henderson's signature dish is Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad, which calls for marrowbone, parsley, shallots and capers, with a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil-that's all. The ingredient list for Duck Hearts on Toast is minimal: duck hearts, chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, butter and toast.
  Many pages are devoted to preserving meats, including an intriguing recipe for dried salted pig's liver. Others include brine-cured pork belly, corned ox tongue, cured beef or venison, pickled herring and a variety of animal parts preserved in rendered fat.
  And the book contains other treasures: many recipes for game birds, rabbit, venison, crab, eel, mussels and salt cod; creative vegetable concoctions, wonderful soups and unusual salads.
  Henderson understands the value of stocks, makes pastry crust with suet and uses real butter and cream.
  Henderson includes no discussion of the health benefits of the foods he serves, but with the exception of white sugar used in a few dessert recipes, and white bread crumbs in a few soups recipes, The Whole Beast is the quintessential health food cookbook; its principles will confer more beauty, strength and happiness on mankind than the thousands of fatuous lowfat tomes that lecture us about the evils of rich diets and promise the mecca of good health on a diet of skinless chicken breasts and soy smoothies.
  Critics contend that Henderson's food is too extreme for Americans. Henderson replies: "My experience is that every time someone comes to the kitchen at St. John to say how much they enjoyed our Pig's Head or Rolled Spleen, they are always American, so I have no doubt that the strong gastronomic spirit of adventure in the United States will carry them through the recipes in this book."
  Whether you are a timid eater or a courageous one, this book needs to be in your kitchen, and not kept pristine on the shelf, but reverently used. You'll need to find a real butcher or a farmer to obtain many of the basic ingredients, which is all the better, because as we learn to eat the whole beast, we hasten the revolution that is underway in America: the return to real food produced on real farms.
  Review by Sally Fallon
  
  

• The Cult Classic--A Masterpiece

  
  By AEY4SCHYCPEP7 on 2004-04-12
  Recipes from my very favorite restaurant on earth.Finally..FINALLY, Fergus Henderson's amazing book is reprinted in the US--allowing American chefs and foodies to lay their hands on what they've only been hearing about for years. Don't be put off by offal--this is a fine, British country-style cookbook filled with useful, easy-to execute regional Brit fare. And as a food-nerd collectible--its the ultimate must-have. I've said elsewhere that the publication of this book is the most important event in food publishing this year--and I meant every word.
  
  

• Extraordinary Book Extraordinary Chef

  
  By AL0NAV5A2DWRR on 2004-04-26
  This book is centuries behind its time and years ahead of its time-a great book for anyone who cares about food, cooking or eating. Thank God for Henderson's work and craft. He's a marvel. More people in the United States ought to be familiar with his work. I hope this book is just the beginning.
  
  
• THE REAL THING
  By A1C8O35RBKAS8K on 2004-04-13
  I know, I'm the publisher. But that's just it -- I committed early here, bought into this book in a big way. Anyone can publish "the famous chefs," but as a publisher, and a reader and user of cookbooks (my 10-year-old daughter thinks I'm a talent in the kitchen), how often do you get the chance to be part of a groundbreaking movement? A style of cooking that combines soul and taste, with a nod to "economy" - waste not want not! I've been told by many along the way that this is truly a counter-intuitive enterprise. In response, I wish only to say that THE WHOLE BEAST is a book that has already given the serious food world (chefs, cookbooks writers, reviewers and discerning eaters) tremendous pleasure. It's a book that will always be part of my starting team in the kitchen. There's nothing like it - a book that proves once and for all that offal is awesome.
  
  
• real cooking in a time of focus groups
  By A2JPU4TXQWAAB4 on 2004-04-12
  fergus henderson's nose to tail eating is the most interesting and provocative cookbook i have seen in a time where the bulk of all of the cookbooks released have 75 recipes for chicken and 30 for cream cheese and pasta. This thoughtful tome starts with delicious and easy to make soups with simple ingredients like pumkpin, bacon and garlic and proceeds to reveal a zen master restaurant chef at the peak of his game. This is not a pasta and grocery store driven book for the rookie cook, but more for the cuisine enthusiast with a couple of great recipes in their repetoire, looking to expand to the slightly different and flavorful world of simple and poetic cooking of one of the great restaurants of the world.
  
  
• Like I said above..
  By AY8POMK46H117 on 2004-04-12
  Review above mine.
  And I meant every word.
  
  
• Happy ingredients, happy food, happy reading
  By on 2004-04-29
  Even if I never cook a single recipe from this book, I will treasure it for Fergus Henderson's voice. "Find the happiest tomatoes you can." The writing is charming, and most encouraging for those of us who love to eat the odd bits but never cook them. And not only the odd bits -- many of the recipes for the more usual parts and for accoutrements sound wonderful, too.
  
  
• From Nose to Tail...
  By A16XE18GKP3XO4 on 2005-08-29
  What can I say? Fergus Henderson's hit the pig on the nose (so to speak) with this book. This book examines how wasteful modern culture has become without being in the least bit preachy or condescending. Why should we waste bits of meat, or condemn ourselves to eating tasteless cuts that have been prepared joylessly? Henderson emphasizes throughout the book the value of a 'happy' tomato or a rabbit that's lived a 'joyful' life, stressing the difference in taste.
  
  The recipes do call for things you won't often find in the casual cook's home kitchen - but little of it is impossible to get, and it's easy to find substitutions for quite a bit of it. While the truly squeamish mightn't find his frank and easy discussions of liver, brains and tongues for their liking, the joyful chef will find it inspiring - whether or not you actually eat all the foods mentioned.
  
  So many cookbooks talk about food as if it were somehow divorced from the process of eating. Henderson again and again talks about the food he's enjoyed, dishes which inspired the dishes in this book - right down to how he enjoys to eat his food (such as crab - while many recipes will have the cook extract all the meat before it reaches the table, Henderson frankly admits to liking the bit of work 'at the table', claiming it adds to the dining pleasure for him).
  
  Five stars and a standing ovation from this reviewer - and household of two adults and three cats. Everyone in this house recommends The Whole Beast!
  
  
• A true book for real cooks, or a real cookbook
  By A2KXY0EPIDCMND on 2005-03-15
  The more I learn about Chef Henderson, the more I admire him. He's a role model for every Chef out there, and this book shows you why. I first heard about Fergus Henderson when Tony Bourdain brought him along for a book signing and conference at the CIA. This was 2004 and I was a student there. I liked what both had to say, and a few days later I ordered the book. I've never read a cookbook so fast, and I still keep it on my bedside table for inspiration.
  
  His recipes may not be suitable for the amateur cook. Not because they're hard to make, but because they take time and the extra effort of finding the ingredients he uses, like tripe, heart, tongue and livers. He reinvented old techniques and uses the cheaper, more flavorful cuts of meat. Of course, selling this food to your family might be a problem. He even says that in the mid nineties it was difficult to sell the idea to the English customers.
  
  However, if you're a serious foodie or a professional chef, then buy this book and read it. For the price it sells, there's just no better value. For me, reading it makes me want to have the same kind of restaurant he does, where the philosophy is about respect of the seasonality of ingredients and the animals slaughtered to put food in the plate. The whole beast is edible, so let's learn to cook it. The best bits are usually the ones we overlook and throw away. Not me, not anymore. Chef Henderson has showed me the real way to cook. I hope he does the same for you.
  
  
• Aw, shucks...
  By A1MZD6M50V0PAF on 2004-04-13
  I might just be a regular old cook at a regular old restaurant, but I, too, have been a fan of St John and Fergus Henderson since I first had crispy pig's tails there. But, as great as this book is, let me encourage people to seek out Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Cookbook. Same new-old British farmhouse fare, some very very good writing (think a british John Thorne) and he not only tells you what to do with all manner of pig parts, he tells you how to raise your own pig! Nose to tail and soup to nuts all in the same book!
  
  
• fantastic
  By on 2004-04-20
  After having the most fantastic meal at St. John, I was compelled to buy the book. Although some of the recipies may seem a bit strange, there certianly are enough recipies that the adventurous home cook can try. I'm really looking forward to trying the "Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad".
  
  
• interesting subject
  By AUM1ICXFKY7EE on 2007-01-18
  This really caught my eye because I thought it might have some recipes that are practical (if yucky sounding) for those of us who slaughter livestock at home. But most of the recipes are disappointing, with things everyone has heard of or stuff nobody would have around at home to use. It is interesting, but the title is really the best part of it. I'm not saying it is bad...it isn't...it just wasn't the shock-value sort of stuff I thought it would be.
  
  
• Whole Hog enthusiasm for The Whole Beast
  By A3UFE4ZBUCFRS7 on 2006-08-30
  Fergus Henderson presents a brilliant back-to-basics approach for good eating. He recognizes that the most flavorful cuts of meat are often the most avoided. Each recipe is simple and straightforward using only a handful of ingredients. Access to a REAL butcher is a must for many of the carnivorous items. There are plenty of delicious vegetable and dessert options for those too squeemish to attempt the literal blood-and-guts recipes on other pages.
  
  
• Inspirational
  By AI8EMB0HUC6Z5 on 2006-09-19
  A bit out of place next to "Laurel's Kitchen" (vegetarian cookbook). No problem, it spends a lot of time in the kitchen.
  
  I bought the book because I hunt and believe that as much of a critter should be used as is possible. If you are or know a hunter, this is an eye opening book.
  
  I used to cook wild game fairly well, now I cook it better. Brining and salt curing are amazing techniques. The tastes are different and generally more pleasing. Easier than most marinades too. The other thing I like is using the techniques in the book for meat preservation. There are few things that shout "man food" more than grilling elk sausage while sharing mead or thick ales with friends.
  
  Gotta go find some pork belly for home made bacon.
  
  
• offal = wonderful
  By A3QACQNIICTIVR on 2007-01-15
  fergus henderson, the wunderkind of the london dining scene reaches out to america with his cult of blood, brains, tripe and feet. this book shows how one can make something that is generally regarded as a by-product and turn it into something wonderful, delicious and filling. i have personally been inspired by this book for several years and though it is sometimes hard to source some of the ingredients (duck necks anyone?) it is a clear, easy to read and mostly non-overly philosophical look at straight-ahead cooking with ingredients that are second or even third cuts. it is a real eye opener for the novice, or an inspirational look at food for the professional.
  
  
• Intriguing, Simple, Elegant
  By A49DOVGSBWUJ8 on 2008-01-09
  A delightfully intriguing, simple, and elegant collection of recipes and techniques. Unlike some of the reviewers, I see little or no problems getting the ingredients or reasonable substitutions. Pig's head, tripe, tongue, etc just go to a Mexican or Asian market. I may not be able to get rocket but I know I can get nasturtium leaves and flowers (also peppery greens) from my backyard. Most of the shock seems to come from the ingredients we all used to eat, and may still eat if you have had ground meat products. Honestly where do you think it all comes from? Ninety percent of these recopies can easily be made without any searching for ingredients. Most of the rest need a little bit of searching, pre- planning or pre-orders from a meat or fish market...or even a good counter at your neighborhood grocery store will do special orders with a down payment of some kind. Having been part of a group that does historical medieval reenactments (yes SCA) I can tell you even in this day in age you can get much of this stuff easily. There are no true exotics in here. If you don't have exactly what the recipe says any search of internet cooking sites can give you substitution charts and http://www.foodsubs.com/ is a personal favorite. Live a little. Try something more like what we ate when we had to use ALL the animal, because we couldn't afford to waste anything...and you might find it tastes not only good, but better than the more commonly found fare in your supermarket prepackaged, precut, preped foods and meats section.
  
  
• I feel sorry for all of you who cannot find the ingredients.
  By A18QNN7BHLBNFO on 2006-08-25
  Fortunately I live near an Eastern European/Middle Eastern area in Los Angeles, so I can find most of the ingredients in this book and more. Of the recipes contained I've made the Deviled Lamb's Kidneys (absolutely wonderful, eat them on your birthday!) and the stuffed Lamb's Hearts (a little too strong, but still okay).
  
  So, to all who cannot find the ingredients I'll tell you that these recipes are amazing.
  
  One of these days I'll have to make the Warm Pig's Head...
  
  
• food 4 thought
  By AO0URN3NR0D9Y on 2006-10-01
  i seldom cook but enjoy a wide variety of food types and styles. i bought the henderson book for its novelty and used it as bedside reading. while i might not prepare any of the recipes from t.w.b. i would certainly try them. all in all great fun...
  
  
• Great book
  By A38U1IMFRRA8AF on 2007-02-14
  This is a great book for all cooks and foodies no matter if you are a pro or a novice i highly recommend its reading. It is mostly reading however not much illustration but all the same good.
  
  
• what I wanted
  By A18S2XJA1H5M0 on 2007-06-08
  If you want to get back to real food this is for you
  
  
• Good Gift for Foodies, Vegetarians
  By A10V2SHBG2T2UG on 2006-12-19
  Let's face it, you will probably never cook and slice a pig heart, or serve poached brains or bone marrow on toast to the family on Christmas Eve, but this book will allow you to savor the possibility.
  
  If you're into a cookbook with fun grossout shock value, though, I'd go for "Unmentionable Cuisine" by Calvin W. Schwabe (which this book's cover design clearly was "inspired" by), which has recipies not just for organ meats but also historical information and interesting facts on eating dog (tastes like pork, they say), snake, guinea pigs and so on.
  
  
• Back to my childhood
  By A3U0IFVKNSS3ZA on 2007-01-09
  Some really great recipes for things like "braun" and "crispy pig's ear salad!
  It is great fun to read and to try some of the recipes.
  
  
  
• Everything but the oink
  By APS8DWX0JZHZI on 2008-05-22
  A wonderful cookbook to scare the children and vegetarians in your life with. A diverse collection of recipes using various critter parts that you may not have though of as being edible.
  
  I don't have the bravery to try some of the recipes, but there are a few that are on the list to try next time I'm feeling adventurous in the kitchen.
  
  

• Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing
• The River Cottage Meat Book
• Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook
• Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore
• CHARCUTERIE AND FRENCH PORK COOKERY