Cooking Meat

A cookbook to turn passionate meat lovers into confident meat cooks, with more than 120 deliciously meaty recipes from butcher and chef, Peter Sanagan.

Cooking Meat is a meat-lover’s guide to everything there is to know about meat, written by Peter Sanagan—chef by training, butcher by trade—who has cooked just about every cut of meat available. From information on sustainable, responsible farming to understanding the different cuts of meats for sale (and what their labels really mean), Cooking Meat is an insider’s look at choosing, buying, prepping, cutting, and cooking meat.

Inside are more than 120 recipes, from childhood-inspired favorites, like Meatballs, Crispy Baked Chicken Wings, and Memphis-Style Barbecued Side Ribs, to classic comfort food, like Fried Chicken and Steak and Ale Pie, and from elevated cuisine like Duck Confit and international favorites like Lamb Biryani, to simple paired-back dishes like Roasted Fresh Ham.

Also included are step-by-step basic butchery techniques, as well as detailed methods for meaty challenges like stuffing your own sausages, cooking a flawless steak, carving poultry, making bacon, and (the number one question a butcher is asked!) roasting the perfect chicken. With a master guide for every common cut of meat, along with the best cooking methods to pair with them (from roasting to braising to grilling to sous viding to pressure cooking), Peter gives you the tools to determine what type of meat you want to cook, and how to get the best results every time.

In Cooking Meat, you’ll discover an invaluable reference, like a guided tour of the butcher’s case, written with one goal: to turn meat lovers into meat cooks.

Cooking Meat is truly a book for any occasion, from weeknight dinners to family barbecues to holiday feasts. With Cooking Meat, you'll discover a wealth of knowledge on choosing, buying, handling, cutting and cooking meat, and turn yourself from a meat lover to a meat cook.

About the Author

Peter Sanagan is the owner and operator of Sanagan's Meat Locker, butcher shops in Toronto, Ontario, and has worked in kitchens in Canada and abroad.

After years of working with local farmers, he decided to open an establishment that would offer the kind of quality product he had been cooking with in restaurants.

His shops have become some of the most prominent in Toronto, providing excellent cuts of meat, artisanal grocery products, house-made charcuterie, and delicious prepared foods. Peter lives in Toronto with his wife Alia and son Desmond.