Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers by Michael Symon

Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers Reviews

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  Optimist ♰King's Wench♰

  Let me preface this by saying, I cook. A lot. I call it a hobby, others call it an obsession, Sur La Table & Whole Foods call it a windfall. I've made many, many recipes by a whole host of chefs & I can honestly say I usually tinker with most recipes. There are 2 chefs I never alter their recipes-Micheal Symon & Thomas Keller. Why mess with perfection? And before I go any further there is a recipe that he's made on his show for spicy potatoes that's the shit, the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, whatever. Trust me. I've made it twice & it'll rock your world. Just try not to think about the ridiculous number of calories you're ingesting. This recipe alone is worth the book.
  
  I'll just go ahead & disclose that I've got a fairly serious crush on Mr. Symon which probably makes me less than objective but his food speaks for itself. His personality shines through in this book. He really, really loves meat & his zest for it is on display in this cookbook. The man is a born teacher. If you've just started cooking this is a good addition to your library especially if you like meat. There's not a lot of unusual meats in this one. It's broken down into the basics: beef, pork, poultry & game with a sides section at the end. Don't get me wrong this is a niche cookbook but if you're a meat lover & want to know how to cook which cut of meat to bring out the best flavor be it roasting, braising, frying, grilling or stewing, this is the cookbook for you. If you're interested in an all around cookbook, this is not the the book for you. You might want to start with Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking or Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food-both excellent.
  
  Michael tells you what to look for in cuts of meat which ones are best for different cooking techniques & tells you how to achieve the most out of those methods. The thing that endears him to me & probably to a number of others is his joie de vivre & we get several anecdotal tales throughout this book. He uses unusual ingredients & by that I don't mean weird or hard to find, I just mean he puts things together in ways that are uncommon i.e. there's a recipe for chicken salad with mint in here. Mint? Who thinks to put mint in chicken salad? At any rate, I'm testing 2 recipes this weekend & I expect they'll both rock my world. That's how he do!
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  David Williams

  Michael Simon talking about meat, what's not to like? The layout is excellent, the tone is enjoyable conversational and the veggie recipes are awesome.
  
  Book received for free through Goodreads First Reads program.
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  Darryl Attwell

  Bacon!!!! I lived this book!
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  J. Gowin

  I bought this book on sale for $3.00 US, and I wouldn't advise spending more than that.
  
  I'm a hunter and fisherman so I am always looking for good recipes for game, and this book has a chapter on it. The book also has chapters on beef, pork, poultry and lamb/goat. Too bad that the recipes were mostly things that I've seen in many other books or else just didn't interest me. Out of one hundred and twenty recipes I only found about six that interested me. That is five percent. So it is another celebrity chef cookbook with skippable chapter headers and glossy photos. It is not worth full price.
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  Nic Morgan

  Best cook book for any person who loves meat!
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  Bunny

  I'm pretty much a fraud for even picking this up at the library, for two reasons.
  
  1) John Besh should've won Next Iron Chef. I've never forgiven that show for picking Symon over him.
  
  2) I'm only 1/4 carnivore. I don't eat lamb, or bunnies (OB-viously). I eat steak maybe once ever four months, and it's the cheapest kind every time because, you know. Poor. My go-to protein is chicken, and even then, it's simple chicken breasts, browned down, breaded, or baked.
  
  However. This was on the new book shelf at the library, so I decided to pick it up. And it's not bad. Will I eat 97% of the recipes in here? No. Spicy Kale isn't my cup of tea. But the recipes are inventive, some are simple to prepare, and it's chock full of Italian words, which wheeee. I fully intend on making the brick chicken on the grill eventually.
  
  Not a bad book at all. Well played, Symon.
  
  John Besh's book was better though.
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  Joanne

  I got this from the library to see if I wanted to add it to my ever-expanding cookbook collection. Although I really enjoyed reading it and it had some great recipes, it won't be going on my shelves, however. I like to cook, but an Iron Chef I am not, and a lot of the recipes were geared toward serious cooks! There are recipes for making your own sausages and even hot dogs, not to mention a whole chapter devoted to game. Symon also has some great recipes for offal that look great if you have a more adventurous culinary audience, which I unfortunately don't. The book is definitely worth taking a look at to see if it suits the type of cooking you do!
  
  
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  Gail

  I won this book in a first reads free giveaway but I still have not received my copy..I received my copy yesterday in the mail. There are some pretty interesting recipes in the book. I don't eat any wild game and some of the recipes seem pretty intense. I will be using this book as part of my gift swap gift for Christmas. Thanks for the free copy.
  I just had to tell you that my son-in-law just loves the book. I had used the book with an Outback Gift Card as my swap gift and my son-in-law kept trying to get it back when he lost it. He finally ended up with it. He was so happy to have the book and the great recipes in it. Thanks again for my copy.
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  Dorothy

  There are some really great and easy recipes in this book. I haven't book an actual hardcover book in a few years, but Michael Symon was doing a book signing at the local Barnes & Noble so I wanted to get it signed. He is such a sincere person and if you had any questions about any of the recipes in the book you could write him and he would definitely respond. They are so simple and clear though there shouldn't be any problems making these. If you love meat, any kind, even chicken you will love this book!
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  Lil Miss

  I think this is great!
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  Tammy

  I received this as a giveaway from good reads. It has a lot of useful tips but the recipes consist of ingredients most people do not have. Also there are techniques that many people will never use. The pictures are enticing I just can't see myself ever smoking my own bacon. For those reasons it did not receive a five star.
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  Heather

  He wasn't kidding about this book being almost all meat...what I especially appreciate is that is is all meats from headcheese to tripe to calf liver, done in a way that isn't intimidating. For an Iron Chef this book is easy peasy with not too much ingredients and simple processes.
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  Nicole

  These are not recipes for the everyday home cook. Who has the time to grind their own sausage? Not my kind of food, nut I love Michael Symon as both a chef and a tv personality, and the directions for the recipes were clear and easy to understand.
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  Lee

  chefs don't always put out the best cookbooks for everyday cooking for the non chef. I'm sure his food is delicious, but I'm not going to stuff my own sausage, buy a pork tongue to make head cheese, or eat such things as lamb necks, rabbit thighs, or animal livers.
  
  
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  Rebecca

  I like his style of cooking and the layout of this cookbook. There is something for everyone and all types of meat are separated into categories. If you have a hungry husband or are a meat eater yourself, there is a recipe for you. I won't ever find or cook wild boar, but it's in there too!
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  Patti

  Beautiful pictures and great reading. But the recipes are not for the average home cook.
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  Janet

  I liked it enough and found some things I want to try making
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  Kristen

  Great cookbook for meat lovers!!! There are a ton of great tips.... starting with purchasing to the best way to prepare each cut of meat to side dishes to accompany them. Michael Symon is the bomb!
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  Jeff

  Gathered a couple good ideas. I will definitely be attempting to home cure/smoke my own bacon and pastrami.
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  Virginia

  Worth it for the meat pie and meatloaf. Nice look to it. Made pork and beans but adjusted broth amount to create best bean soup ever. I love this cookbook.
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  Wendy

  I don't eat a lot of meat, and I hardly ever cook it at home, but I adore Michael Symon!!