The Hardware

If you want to do some serious cooking you need some hardware. Investing in good implements early will make your cooking life a lot easier, enjoyable and versatile.

Chef's Knife: The most versatile knife in the western kitchen is the chef's knife. It is used for cutting, slicing, chopping, and mincing. The curved blade allows rocking back and forth for fine chopping and mincing. Chef's knives come in blade lengths from 6 to 12 inches. The longer the knife, the more you can cut, but the more difficult it is to control. If you've got small hands ( you may want to stick with the 6 to 8 in. variety. If you've got one of these and a board scraper, you won't need or want to use an Asian cleaver.

I treated myself to a wide bladed Santoku by Kershaw:

The Shun Classis Santoku Chef's Knife.

• Its Damascus-look blade profile reduces sticking and results in less damage to the food being cut and faster prep times.
• VG-10 stainless steel is clad with 16 layers of SUS410 high-carbon stainless steel on each side, producing a rust-free Damascus style. The VG-10 "super steel" is composed of Carbon, Chromium, Cobalt, Manganese, Molybdenum, Silicon and Vanadium.
• VG-10 holds an incredibly sharp 16 degree edge.
• Black PakkaWood handles with the ergonomic and stable"D" shape design.
• Stainless Steel bolsters and end caps for beauty and durabilityMade in Japan.
• Limited Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty.

Here is a great video with Alton Brown on this knife seres: http://www.altonbrown.com/shun/shun_flv_sm.html

Boning Knife: This thin, usually flexible, knife allows you to remove membranes from meat and meat from bones easily. Typically, this will be the sharpest knife you own because it will also be the thinnest knife. Use this to cut anything soft that needs fine precision work, but don't cut semi-frozen meat with this blade (use a chef's knife for that).

Victorinox or RH Forschner brand boning knife with Fibrox handle

This is one of the best boning knifes available and is 1/5 the cost of most high end knives. This is the one I own.

Cast Iorn Skillet: Bare cast-iron vessels have been used for cooking for hundreds of years. Cast iron's ability to withstand and maintain very high temperatures makes it a common choice for searing or frying , and its excellent heat diffusion and retention makes it a good option for long-cooking stews or braised dishes. Because cast iron skillets can develop an extremely "non-stick" surface, they are also a good choice for egg dishes, particularly scrambled eggs. It transfers well from the stove top to the oven for two phase cooking. Cast Iron is very economical and cooking with it supplies us with dietary iron, which many of us (especially women) tend to run short on. I opted for a pre-seasoned 12" version since I only wanted to have one. It will definatley train your bicepts! Make sure you keep it away from soap and the dishwasher and season it regularly. Take care of it well and it will last generations.

Spring Loaded Metal Tongs: Very versatile grabbing and holding implement. As good in front of a hot stove or a grill. Great to use to mix your food on a non-teflon pan.

Dutch Oven: This will be your basic soup and stew pot. Its great for braising as well. It will hold up well on the stove top or in the oven. Get the one with the iron lid. As with the cast iron skillet if you take care of it well it will last for generations.

Hand Blender: Relatively inexpensive verastile tool that makes quick work of pureed soups, dips and sauces right in the cooking vessel. Many versions come with a small cup and attachments that can be used as a small food processor. Get the on with the chord so you do not skimp on power. Look for one with a metal end, its sturdier. This one costs only $30.

Hand Grater: I like hand greaters. I use mine all the time. It's like a mini workout, when you go through a few carrots! Why allow machinery to do all the work? Get one with a comfortable handle and 6 sides for all of your needs. This one is only $20. http://www.fantes.com/graters.html

Cutting Board: If you want your knives to stay sharp never cut on glass, stone, metal or ceramic. Wood cutting boards can harbor nasty bacteria if not cleaned properly and thoroughly, In addition wood cutting boards need to be sanded and oiled regularly to maintain them. I recommend getting a large plastic cutting board with anibacterial protection. Flexible cutting boards also give you the advantage of bending them to funnel food into bowls or cooking ware.

What is the Paleo Diet???

The Paleolithic Diet is based on eating foods that our Paleolithic ancestors ate. The "Paleolithic" refers to the Paleolithic Era, which is a formal time period on Geologic Time Charts from about 2,500,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago. The premise is that during the Paleolithic, we evolved a specific genome that has only changed 0.01 per cent in these last 10,000 years. However, during this recent time span mass agriculture, grains/grain products, sugars/sugar products, dairy/dairy products, and a plethora of processed foods have all been introduced as a regular part of the human diet. We are not eating the foods we are genetically and physiologically adapted to eat (99.9% of our genetic profile is still Paleolithic); and the discordance is an underlying cause for much of the "diseases of civilization", "syndrome X", obesity, autoimmune diseases including eschemia, diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis as well as "diseases of old age" that are so epidemic in our society today. As Dr. Cordain and others' scientific research reveal - the evolutionary, genetic, and clinical evidence point to a natural (i.e., unprocessed foods), omnivorous diet as the healthiest way to eat. Dr. Cordain's research shows that 70% of the average caloric intake of Americans is from foods that did not even exist for our Paleolithic ancestors. This discordance is having tremendously negative health consequences for our society as a whole.Our genes determine our optimum diet, and our genes evolved according to the environments in which our ancient ancestors lived, including the foods they ate. Our Paleolithic ancestors did not eat just one single diet, but rather they ate within a range of natural, unprocessed diets - depending on variables like geography, climate, competition, ecologic niche, season, and glaciations. All of these Paleolithic diets did share some universal characteristics, though:

Paleolithic Diet - the ingredients
1) The vegetable sources were:
· Plants
· Roots and tubers
· Berries
· Fruits
· Nuts
The most obvious plant food missing is grains and grain products. If you can concentrate on fresh versions of the plants above - and eliminate or drastically reduce grains, grain products, sugars, and sugar products - you will be well on your way to eating the plants that fit your genetic consitution.
2) The animal sources were:
·Wild terrestrial animals (including the muscle tissue, fat and organs, although the total amount of fat and the fatty acid composition were quite different than that found in modern domestic animals).
· Fowl
· Insects
· Fish and seafood
· Eggs

Paleolithic Diet - an outline from Dr. Loren Cordain
Below is a short excerpt from Professor Cordain's book, outlining and summarizing some of the salient points about what Paleolithic Era people's ate:
• Paleolithic people hardly ever ate cereal grains. This soundsshocking to us today, but for most ancient people, grainswere considered starvation food at best.
• Paleolithic people ate no dairy food. Imagine how difficultit would be to milk a wild animal.
• Paleolithic people didn’t salt their food.
• The only refined sugar Paleolithic people ate was honey,when they were lucky enough to find it.
• Wild, lean animal foods (relative to today) dominated Paleolithic diets, sotheir protein intake was quite high by modern standards,while their carbohydrate consumption was much lower.
• Virtually all of the carbohydrates Paleolithic people ate camefrom nonstarchy, wild fruits and vegetables. Consequently,their carbohydrate intake was much lower and their fiber intake much higher than those obtained by eating the typical modern diet.

In many historical accounts (i.e., Ethnography), European explorers and early settlers are amazed at how healthy native people were, how vital their old people were, and how ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, auto-immune diseases, and obesity didn't exist (or were extremely rare). These cultures were without exception each on a "Paleolithic diet" ...until colonists, missionaries, Trading posts and western food goods, invaded their societies and they started switching to our "modern", western diet and the ailments it brings.

In the beginning....

"PROGRESS..."

I stumbled on the Paleo Diet accidentally six years ago as I was channel surfing the radio on my car ride home from work. I had decided to "eat healthy" a month before that. "Eating Healthy" for me at that time was low fat food that was less processed. I was eating a lot of legumes, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread and non-fat or low fat dairy. and staying away from the dreaded red meat. I felt awful! I had chronic diarrhea and gas that entire month and could not understand why, after all I was eating healthier!

My revelation came in the form of a radio interview with Lauren Cordain, the author of The Paleo Diet. What he spoke about made a lot of sense. We are evolved to eat a certain diet and for the past 10,000 years we have strayed farther and farther from our natural diet. The next day I bought the book. I also bought Neanderthin by Ray Audette.

I went cold turkey strict Paleo Eating. I did not cheat for 9 months and did not exercise, ate as much as I wanted and my weight was melting off. Then my wife became pregnant and I used it as an excuse to cheat. It started with chocolate and I went down hill from there. Six years later with a few failed attempts to get back on the Paleo Diet I am at my heaviest 220 lbs!

I feel uncomfortable in my clothes and in my skin. I feel bloated and lethargic, My feet hurt when I walk, even my 5 year old son called me fat! I've had enough. Time to change my way of eating and living. Time to eat healthy again, the right way. the way our bodies are evolved to eat.

I hope that this blog will help to keep me on track.

My wife thinks I'm crazy to "start a diet" before the holidays, I figure if I can get thought the Holidays without cheating it will be easier to stick with it going forward.