The Forager Chef’s Book of Fauna: Innovative Recipes and Techniques for Whole Animal Cookery

From a James Beard Foundation Award Winner and author of The Forager Chef's Book of Flora comes a globe-spanning, delicious celebration of whole-animal recipes.

In this long-awaited follow up to The Forager Chef's Book of Flora, a bestselling Forewords Indie Award–winning cookbook, acclaimed chef Alan Bergo brings his trademark curiosity and masterful craft to whole-animal cookery in The Forager Chef’s Book of Fauna. From home butchery to foraged sides, this is a start-to-finish guide to plating extraordinary meat dishes. You’ll find traditional favorites such as Steak au Poivre and spatchcocked chicken, to wilder dishes of woodchuck stew, squirrel confit and many more—each and every recipe hand-tested by over 100 home cooks. 

As Alan writes in the introduction, this book is "akin to foraging “inside of an animal.” You are going in search of valuable but often overlooked tidbits that can’t easily be found on conventional store shelves. 

The Forager Chef’s Book of Fauna teaches readers how to utilize salts and dry brines, to freeze and store meat, to get more creative with their cuts, delves into smoking techniques, and demystifies the most unfamiliar meats for both beginner and ambitious home chefs. With 180 recipes and over 300 photographs, this beautiful cookbook gathers the recipes Alan himself can’t live without.


This title includes:

• 180+ Recipes
• Foraging for fresh cuts
• Recipes for a wide variety of meats
• Utilizing salts and dry brines
• Home butchery
• Freezing and storing meats
• …and more!

“Alan Bergo is one of the most talented and knowledgeable foragers and chefs of my generation."—Jeremy Umansky, chef/owner, Larder Delicatessen & Bakery; coauthor of Koji Alchemy