Meat Bible a handy store-to-table reference book

Anyone who's ever wondered which cut to put into a pot roast (hint: don't use filet mignon) will appreciate "Lobel's Meat Bible," a recipe-and-reference guide from New York's Lobel family butchers.

The 300-plus-page no-nonsense volume walks cooks from buying meat to getting it on the table in the tastiest, most cost-efficient way.

Helpful tips pepper each chapter. When buying beef, look for "fine-needle marbling" of fat. May through October is the time to buy both lamb and pork, when the animals will have enjoyed a varied diet.

Pasture-raised chickens and other fowl trump the "free-range" variety because they feast in the open on flavor-enhancing grubs and insects. The Lobels also advocate heritage or heirloom meats, from animals such as Tamworth pigs and Tunis lambs, and offer suggestions for finding them.

Each chapter ends with recipes for putting your new knowledge to use. Classic preparations for roast beef fillet with bearnaise sauce; marinated pork with white wine, garlic and oranges; and roast chicken with lemon-herb stuffing sidle up alongside recipes for Jamaican oxtail stew; Burmese pork curry; and Senegalese-style grilled chicken with lemon and onions.

It's a volume that will take meat-eaters through the year, offering recipes and tips for what's left of the summer grill season and for the chilling days of fall ahead.

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