Never Well-Done: Tales and Recipes from Farm to Table

Tuscan native Guido Cozzi believes that the everyday practices of ordinary people in one of Italy’s most famous regions can serve as a model for how we approach meat consumption. This applies both to cooking, as the book’s title suggests, but also issues of animal welfare.

In fact, it’s the examples handed down from the poorest of folk which Cozzi feels need fresh attention, the practice of letting as little as possible go to waste. While his 40 recipes include famous dishes such as bistecca alla fiorentina, he places equal emphasis on unusual cuts such as pork neck, veal heart, and cow’s udder.

The book is very handsomely photographed–Cozzi is a professional photographer and this book on meat is clearly a passion project–and there are numerous essays celebrating ingredients such as lardo, offering a brief history of hunting, and saluting the character of butchers.

Never Well-Done is not an encyclopedic approach. Instead, Cozzi attempts to convey a particular point of view, and does so captivatingly.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.

n.b. While the sample photographs feature Italian-language text, we are selling English-language copies.