The definitive guide to buying, cutting, and cooking local and sustainable meats, from the owners of Applestone Meat Company and the founders of Fleisher’s Grass-Fed and Organic Meats The butcher has reemerged in American culture as an essential guide in avoiding the evils of industrial meat—which not only tastes bad, but is also bad for one’s health and for the environment. Joshua and Jessica Applestone, a former vegan and vegetarian, are trailblazers in this arena. They owned Fleisher’s, an old-school butcher shop with a modern-day mission—sourcing and selling only grass-fed and organic meat. The Applestones’ return to the nearly lost tradition of the buying and nose-to-tail carving of whole animals—all humanely raised close to their shop in New York’s Hudson Valley—has helped to make them rising stars in the food world.             The Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat is a compendium of their firsthand knowledge. This unique book—a guide, memoir, manifesto, and reference in one—shares everything one needs to know about well-raised meat, including why pastured meats are so much better than conventional ones and how to perfectly butcher and cook them at home. Readers will learn which cut of steak to look for as an alternative to the popular hanger (of which each steer has only one), how to host a driveway pig roast, and even how to break down an entire lamb (or just butterfly the shoulder)—all with accompanying step-by-step photographs. Differences among breeds and ideal cooking methods for various cuts and offal are covered, and the Applestones’ decoding of misleading industry terminology and practices will help consumers make smarter, healthier purchases that can also help change what’s wrong with meat in America today.             Complete with color and black-and-white photographs, illustrations, and more than a dozen recipes, The Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat is the definitive guide to eating great meat—responsibly. A Q&A with Authors Q&A with Joshua and Jessica Applestone What inspired you to write this book? Josh: My goal is for the book to act as a guide and to help people ease their minds when buying and cooking meat. We don’t encourage people to eat more meat but we want them to have the freedom to make informed choices and eat better meat. Jessica: I like the idea of busting myths like those surrounding wet aging, portion sizes and the idea that organic HAS to be expensive. How would you describe what you do? We run an old-fashioned butcher shop offering meat sourced locally, free of hormones or antibiotics, and full of real farm flavor. You were both vegetarians, what caused you to become omnivores? Josh: After about 6months of running Fleisher’s it was our bacon that put me back on a meat eating track. My vegan/vegetarianism was an out growth of my beliefs about how horrible the factory-farmed meat industry is. Once I really knew where my meat was coming from and how these animals were treated and slaughtered I could feel comfortable eating meat again. Jessica: I wanted to start eating meat again--just not the stuff that supermarkets were selling, and it was too much for me to buy a side of beef. Farmer’s Markets were only open in the summer so it was out of my own desires that we opened Fleisher’s so that I could get one perfect fresh lamb chop and the butcher could tell me how to cook it. Favorite cut of meat? Josh: Faux Hanger/Sirloin Flap Jessica: Lamb Sirloin Most under-rated cut? Josh: Teres Major Jessica: Lamb neck Favorite preparation: Josh: Raw Jessica: Cooked Favorite recipe in the book: Josh: Pig Cheeks Jessica: The Perfect Steak What is your favorite type of customer/reader? Joshua: a smart one Jessica: an intrepid cook A knife should... Josh: Cut, hold an edge and be easy to sharpen with a hand steel and be comfortable in your hand in a number of different positions. Jessica: Not be too expensive and NEVER be put in the dishwasher. Favorite ingredient aside from meat: Josh: Salt Jessica: Garlic Favorite side dish: Josh: Potatoes any style as long as there’s salt involved Jessica: Noodles--pasta any type, any kind, any ethnicity--Obviously we are both carb freaks though we usually eat salad as a side dish. Best offal: Josh: Heart Jessica: Sweetbreads The best part of a pig is... Josh: the cheeks Jessica: the belly A hamburger should... Josh: be fatty and rare Jessica: and covered in cheese (Jessica) You can never have too many... Josh: loyal customers Jessica: Turkeys at Thanksgiving The thing most people don’t realize is... Josh: The amount of hanger steak per animal is only one. Jessica: that dry-aging is a form of controlled rot and that even “natural” nitrites like sea salt and celery juice are still nitrites. “By learning about meat and where it comes from, we become more competent and responsible cooks and carnivores. In this tribute to farme