The subject matter of this book is very close to my heart. I know I’ve been up on the soapbox before about the importance of utilizing a nose to tail approach when eating. To me, so many people are too far removed from where our food actually comes from. Let me tell you, the The Paleo Parents’ new book, Beyond Bacon does an amazing job of not only explaining WHY it’s more ethical and healthy to eat nose to tail but also HOW to to it with these easy mouthwatering recipes and beautiful photos to accompany them.
A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be a recipe tester for this book. I was asked to choose as many recipes as I wanted to try out and give my feedback. Since, I’m a fan of interesting cuts including liver, heart, and other offal, I chose two amazing recipes. The first recipe I tested was Huntsman Stew (of course right?). I had never heard of this dish before but solely based on the name, I feel like I had to try it. Let me tell you, it came out great. I was amazed that with such strong flavored ingredients like beets and heart this stew wasn’t overpowered by any single ingredient. Also, it didn’t have an overly abundant pork flavor either. It was a very well balanced not to mention beautiful looking stew. All I can say is that this is worth trying to see for yourself how delicious this was.
The other recipe that I tested out was the Philadelphia diner classic, Scrapple. Scrapple is essentially the leftover pig parts combined with some bread crumbs or cornmeal to create a meatloaf of sorts. When served, scrapple is sliced and then quickly fried on each side to give it a nice crispy texture. I was first introduced to this dish when I lived in Philadelphia for a summer working on visual effects for a movie. Because of the process to make it as well as the texture, I didn’t think it was possible to make a paleo-ified version, but somehow, it has been achieved in this book. This stuff is so good and nutrient dense with all the offal and gelatin that I wound up eating it almost constantly until it was gone. It’s definitely my favorite recipe in the book so far and I make it frequently for breakfast.
Even though this book is dedicated to utilizing the whole animal, fear not, Beyond Bacon has a section that is dedicated to making your own bacon but also making your own sausages, from Chorizo to Italian. How awesome is that? There’s also a write up on how to render your own lard, one of the most delicious and versatile cooking fats out there! Each recipe is written so well that even the most complex recipes are easily achieved for anyone so there is no need to feel intimidated by anything in this book. Beyond Bacon comes out July 2nd but you can pre order it on Amazon now and I highly recommend that you do.
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[…] made our first batch of pork rinds while testing out recipes for Beyond Bacon a couple years ago. They were remarkably simple, delicious and a perfect low carb substitute for […]