Meats Category

This small bird is very lean and tastes like a pheasant. It's very lean, so bard it before roasting, or marinate it before putting it on the grill.

This Hungarian specialty consists of a slab of bacon that's been roasted and then seasoned with paprika. It's then cut into thin slices and served on rye bread. Look for it in German or Hungarian markets.

This large Scottish sausage is made by stuffing a sheep's stomach with the animal's heart, lungs, and liver, and then adding oatmeal, onion, fat, and seasonings. It's usually steamed before serving.

Whole hams are too large for many families to handle, so manufacturers often cut them in half. The butt half = butt end is higher up on the hog, and is meatier, fattier, easier to carve, and more expensive. The shank half = shank end = hock half = hock end is leaner and, some say, sweeter.

A ham is a pork cut that's taken from a hog's upper hind leg. There are three types of American hams: city hams, country hams, and fresh hams. City hams are the most common. They're soaked in brine (or injected with it) and then boiled or lightly smoked. Many gourmets prefer country hams, which are dry-cured and then smoked and aged for added flavor. Fresh hams aren't cured at all and need to be cooked. America also imports several dry-cured hams from abroad, including prosciutto, Bayonne ham, Serrano ham, Black Forest ham, Westphalian ham, York ham, and Ardennes ham. These hams are similar to our country hams, except that they're often eaten raw while country hams are usually served cooked. Ham is relatively low in fat, but even low-salt hams are high in sodium.

These come either smoked or fresh.

This is made from parts of the hog's head, which are boiled together with spices and gelatin, then cooled and sliced. The result is a mosaic of meat chunks. It's good in sandwiches.

Long ago, primitive tribes believed that eating heart gave them strength and courage. Today, few of us bother to test that theory. It's our loss, because heart is tender and has a very delicate flavor. It's also quite inexpensive, thanks to its lack of popularity. To prepare it, you should rinse it in cold water, then cut out any blood vessels and connective tissue. Veal or lamb heart is delicious if you sauté or grill it until it's medium rare. If you cook it until it's well done, it becomes very tough. Alternatively, you can cook heart slowly using moist heat.

Horse meat is common in many countries such as France. It has become less popular over time.

An American staple, hot dogs are mild, smoked, and usually skinless sausages that are traditionally served in a bun with relish and mustard. They've declined in popularity in recent years because they're relatively high in fat and sodium.

This is a lot leaner than American bacon. Note that Canadian bacon also is sometimes called back bacon.

This is a pork sausage that's often added to pasta sauces. Varieties include sweet Italian sausage = mild Italian sausage, which is flavored with garlic and fennel seed, and hot Italian sausage, which also has a shake or two of crushed chile peppers. It's sold either as links or in bulk. Cook thoroughly before serving.

This is a coarse, mild German cold cut that's often served on sandwiches with mustard. It's made of pork, beef, and sometimes garlic.

Kangaroo is becoming increasingly popular in Australia. It has a very strong, gamy flavor that's a bit like venison. It's very lean, so avoid overcooking it.

German delis sometimes stock these pre-sliced smoked pork chops. They're fully cooked.

Kidneys are nutritious and, if properly prepared, delicious. It's often hard to find them in markets, though, since many of them are ruined during the meat inspection process. Veal kidneys and lamb kidneys are prized for their tenderness and delicate flavor. They can be grilled or sautéed, though they become tough if overcooked. Pork and beef kidneys are tougher, and need to be cooked slowly using moist heat.

Kielbasy are smoked Polish sausages made with pork and/or beef and flavored with garlic, pimento, and cloves. They come already cooked, but most people heat them before serving.

This Jewish specialty consists of beef intestines stuffed with matzo meal, onion, and suet.

These smoked beef sausages are seasoned with lots of garlic. They should be cooked before eating, and they're often served like hot dogs or smothered in sauerkraut.

This Hungarian sausage is similar to Polish kielbasa, except that it has paprika added to it.

This is like bologna, only it's studded with chucks of ham. You can serve it cold in sandwiches, or fry it for breakfast.

This dry-cured smoked pork loin is wrapped in a thin layer of fat. It hails from Bavaria.

These are usually broiled, grilled, or pan-fried.

Like beef steaks, lamb chops are pieces of meat that are cut small enough to serve as individual portions. They're often grilled, broiled, or pan-fried. The most elegant choices are the lamb rib chop and the lamb loin chop. The lamb sirloin chop and lamb leg chop aren't quite as tender, but they're quite good if you take care not to overcook them. The most economical cuts are the lamb shoulder chop and lamb blade chop. They're chewier than the pricier cuts, but they're more flavorful.

These are tender one-inch cubes that are put on skewers for grilling. The best kabobs are made with meat from the leg.

Like veal heart, lamb heart is tender and delicate. You can grill or sauté it as long as you don't overcook it, or cook it slowly using moist heat.

Lamb kidneys are tender enough to be cooked using dry heat, say by grilling or sautéing them. Don't overcook them, though, or they'll quickly become very tough. Before cooking them, peel off the outer membrane. Due to their mild flavor, they don't need to be soaked.

These are sold either with or without bones. The full leg is too large and unwieldy for many families, so it's often cut into two half leg pieces: the lean shank half and the more tender but more bony sirloin half. Alternatively, you can buy a short leg = 3/4 French style leg, which includes the shank half plus half of the sirloin half, giving you three-quarters of a leg. Legs are usually roasted, but boneless legs of all sizes can be either rolled and tied or butterflied so that they lie flat for grilling or broiling. If a leg of any size has some meat cut away to expose the bone at the end, it's called a Frenched leg. If the bone at the end is simply lopped off, it's called an American leg.

Cut from the leg, these are usually braised, broiled, or grilled. They're available boneless or bone-in

This is as tender as calf's liver, but not as flavorful.

These are the lamb's answer to Porterhouse steaks. They're the most tender chops on the lamb, and they're usually grilled or broiled. They cook best if they're thick. A chop cut from the saddle (incorporating the loin roasts from both sides of the lamb) is called a double loin chop = English chop. Double loin chops include two pieces of tenderloin, two of the eye, and two T-bones, and they're usually formed into a tidy circle. If a single loin chop is boned and rolled, it's called a noisette.

This is a very tender, flavorful, and expensive roast. If you want more servings, you can get a saddle of lamb = double loin roast, which combines the loin roasts from either side of the lamb. If boneless, a loin roast is called a loin roll = boneless loin roast = rolled lamb roast, or a double loin roll = rolled double lamb roast if made from the saddle.

These are usually braised or made into stew.

These exquisite chops are cut from a rack of lamb. They usually contain one rib per chop, but you'll get a thicker and juicier steak with double cut lamb rib chop, which includes two ribs.

When you buy this, you're usually getting the lamb fore shank = lamb foreshank, but sometimes you'll get the lamb hind shank = lamb hindshank. Don't confuse the shank with the shank half lamb leg, which is a bigger and nicer cut. Shanks are fairly lean and if they're braised slowly, the meat pulls apart into delicious, juicy strands. You can also cube the meat for stews or grind it. Lamb shanks can also stand in for veal shanks in osso bucco.

These chops are a bit chewy, but very flavorful. They're usually braised, broiled or grilled. The round bone in them is a cross-section of the arm bone.

This is a tasty roast, but it's very hard to carve with the bone in. To make carving easier, butchers will bone it and sell it as a boneless rolled shoulder, or they'll slice the roast into blade chops and then tie them together as a pre-sliced shoulder roast = pre-carved shoulder roast

These are usually less expensive than loin chops, but almost as tender. It's best to grill or broil them.