Meat: Confessions of a Butcher by John Smith

Ah, meat. So delicious. So versatile. And, oy, so expensive.

If you don't know what to look for.

John Smith (all-about-meat.com) has been there — but on the other side of the counter. He's been the smiling face chopping up chops and selling you cut after cut of often the priciest stuff. But "after 31 years of fleecing the public," he says, tongue in cheek, "I wish to come clean."

And he does. John's slim, 107-page book "Confessions of a Butcher: Eat Steak on a Hamburger Budget and Save $$$" gives you the lowdown not only on different cuts of beef, pork, lamb and poultry, it also explains the cheaper cuts to order instead.

The key to saving on meat purchases at the grocery store or butcher shop is to understand the basics of the different cuts — and what happens once merchandising comes into play. For example, John explains how the humble T-bone steak became so much more:

"The butchers of old would simply grab a short loin (the primal where T-bone steaks come from) and cut T-bone steaks and price them all the same. Then some overachieving butcher came up with the bright idea of calling the first four steaks off the short loin porterhouses instead of T-bones and charging more for them."

I've flipped through John's book numerous times now, and learn something new every time. Above all, though, I've learned how to save at the butcher shop we buy from.

John's book and companion site will be a big help to anyone looking to not only to understand their meat better, but to also understand how to save on meat purchases while still getting quality cuts.

Website: Info on Meat – all-about-meat.com

Book: Meat Savings Book – Confessions Of A Butcher by John Smith