A whole ham is a savory, elegant meal for a holiday or a Sunday dinner with the family. Ham is the cut of pork that comes from the upper hind leg of the pig, and you can purchase hams either fully or partially cooked.

If you are craving a meaty fish steak but are tired of eating tuna or salmon, kingfish is a good alternative. Kingfish are ocean fish that are related to the Spanish mackerel. In the United States, kingfish are fished off the coasts of California and in the Gulf of Mexico.

The darlings of the summer barbecue, ribs can also be cooked indoors year-round in the oven. Baked slowly at low heat, they'll come out juicy and tender. Use mesquite seasoning or liquid smoke to mimic the flavor of an outdoor grill and allow about two hours from start to finish.

Each cook has a favorite barbeque recipe, whether for chicken, ribs or pulled beef or pork. The secret to the successful finish to barbeque, however, lies not in the preparation or the sauce but in the cooking.

Using a crock pot to prepare pork center loin allows you to enjoy a healthy and tasty meal without a lot of effort. Pork is a good source of iron, zinc, B vitamins and protein and contains less fat and calories than many cuts of beef. Look for a center loin that is pink in color and firm to the touch, recommends the U.

Although defrosting meat in the refrigerator is the preferred and safest method, if your stew beef is frozen and you are in a hurry to use it, you can use the microwave to defrost your meat.

Once meat is thawed, it is subject to bacterial growth. The amount of time you have to cook meat varies depending on how it was thawed. There are three ways you can safely thaw meat. If you need to thaw something quick, you can use the microwave. You can thaw meat in the refrigerator with some planning ahead.

The heady flavors of steak aren’t just for special occasions; cooking a blade steak brightens even an ordinary weeknight. Less-expensive cuts, such as the blade steak, satisfy an appetite for red meat and respect your wallet.

Rotisserie cooking is a method in which meat rotates on a spit over low heat so the juice and fat from the meat bastes itself as it cooks, resulting in a juicy, flavorful and tender piece of meat.

You might be hesitant to cook pheasant due to its reputation as tough, dry meat. But you can roast a pheasant to tender perfection with the proper ingredients and timing. Young pheasants are typically more tender than older birds. Farm-raised pheasants are usually killed young, making them ideal candidates for dinner.

Italian sausage is traditionally made from pork, which must be cooked the sausage thoroughly to prevent food-borne illnesses. How you cook the sausage depends on its intended purpose. For example, if you intend to use the sausage in lasagna, you need to remove it from the casing or use bulk sausage.

The French call it "lapin." The Italians say "coniglio." However it's pronounced or prepared, rabbit meat is a tender, white game meat popular in Western European cuisine. In America, it is more difficult to find. Few restaurants serve rabbit, and it is typically available only from specialty meat stores.