"World’s Best Meat Book 2025”
Awarded at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Nov 2025
A contemporary guide for
Steak
Connoisseurs.
Steak Simplified is the debut book of Filipina author Joan Tuaño Rumsey, written during her years in Abu Dhabi and published on 25 October 2024 by Meze Publishing UK.
Today’s meat world is no longer simple—and that’s exactly why this book exists. From grass-fed to grain-fed, from Angus to Wagyu, from health myths to environmental debates, it can feel like you need a degree just to buy a steak. Everyone has an opinion… but not everyone has the facts.
Steak Simplified cuts through the noise.
It breaks down the jargon, explains how cattle are raised, and shows you exactly how to cook different types of steak—with zero intimidation and all the flavour. Whether you’re team Grass-Fed, team Wagyu, or simply team “I just want a good steak,” this book makes it easy, approachable, and genuinely fun.
Perfect for home cooks, curious carnivores, and anyone who wants to understand what they’re actually eating.
what to expect
Before getting into the how, we need to step back and look at the bigger picture. i.e. the current arguments that exist on meat. Then we break down all the important elements that help one understand quality beef and lamb like feed, breeds, aging and marbling. Next, we look at how to cook meat using different techniques including a section on grills, airfryers and sous vide (vacuum) cooking. Finally, the recipes. They will each include a QR code link to a video on how to make each one, some highlighting Filipino dishes as an ode to the author's culture.
Steak is a journey
•
Know your meat
•
Quality over quantity
•
Steak is a journey • Know your meat • Quality over quantity •
ABOUT
JOAN
Joan wrote Steak Simplified as a love letter to her parents, Jovy and Janet Tuaño, in celebration of La Carne’s 10th anniversary. Proudly 100% Filipina, she moved to Abu Dhabi at the age of five and grew up between cultures, kitchens, and the family meat shop that would later shape her career.
She studied at Enderun Colleges before completing her hospitality degree at Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland. Her work in luxury hospitality led her across the world, from Paris to St. Thomas to the Turks and Caicos, before bringing her home to the UAE in 2016 with a renewed purpose.
That same year, Joan transformed La Carne by taking the business online, becoming a pioneer in butchery e-commerce and an early champion of Japanese Wagyu retail in the region. She believes deeply in the power of education to stand out in saturated markets, and that building a business slowly and with integrity, is better than scaling fast without intention.
Today, Joan is a marketing consultant and author based in Stroud, in the Cotswolds, helping food, wellness, and hospitality brands tell meaningful stories and grow with purpose. She continues to support La Carne Abu Dhabi and Cebu through strategic projects while focusing on her writing and community-centred creative work.