According to one national newspaper, Frances Bissell has the largest following of any cookery writer in the country (Delia Smith: "Really?"). Whether this is true or not, she is a cook of formidable range and versatility, as enthusiastically participating in salami- making in deepest Kent as doing a stint as guest chef at the Manila Mandarin hotel. In The Organic Meat Cookbook she has assembled a collection of more than 200 delicious recipes to make the best of the fine free-range and organic meats that are increasingly available. The recipes seem to come from just about every conceivable cuisine in the world, with a very interesting emphasis on Spain and Portugal (the latter very welcome, since few if any Portuguese recipes are in general circulation) and their former spheres of influence--Latin America, the Philippines, Basque shepherd dishes from California. A section devoted to each meat is prefaced by a useful account of cooking methods and of the various English, French and American cuts and joints. This handsome addition to the Ebury Press uniform paperback series of cookbooks is actually a reworking of Frances Bissell's Real Meat Cookbook, dating from the innocent days of 1992, when there was less reason to emphasis the purity of the meat's provenance. --Robin Davidson

2003-06-04 Delicious recipes!

Excellent book, with an introduction on each meat type on the things to look out for, how the animals are kept and what impact that has on flavour, plus schemes of the cuts. There are loads of recipes in the book, from all over the world and the ones we have tried were delicious. There are also sections on goat and kid meat and veal (pink, organic veal that is) that are rarely to be found in other cookery books. There is also a section on cooking for a crowd which seems a brilliant idea.