The book provides a comprehensive review of the Paleo Recipe Book, and goes through all possible recipes including all major ingredients like red meat, poultry, sea food, vegetables etc. A special emphasis has been laid on the fact that the recipes are short are can be prepared from normal culinary equipment available at home, while making the cooking experience worthwhile.
While it is not possible every time, in most of the recipes, the ingredients can be altered as per your personal choice of taste and nutritional requirements - the cookbook suggests alternatives where possible.
An important facet of this book is that its recipes are not limited to a particular region or ethnicity. The foods mentioned in the book have a diverse global background, with the menu ranging from Japan to India to the United States of America. Special care was taken to choose the ingredients which are commonly available, rather than the ones which are available only in a certain part of the world.
The recipes include dishes from all over the world, but have been altered with a Paleo twist. The main concept of this type of food is to focus on the natural ingredients which our ancestors used and eliminate the ones, which have over the years become the source of fatal diseases like diabetes, obesity, coronary artery diseases, and cancer among many others.
In these types of food, ingredients like grains, dairy, lentils ( has proteins which can be toxic to our dietary system) , potatoes, treated and processed vegetables oils, processed sugars, preservatives and other foods are replaced with pure meat, seafood, natural eggs and oils, nuts & seeds, fresh vegetable and fruits. These modern foods and ingredients was not part of the diet which our ancestor used to consume and this book ensures that decent alternatives for all these ingredients are available while making the modern dishes.
In most of the recipes, sea salt and black pepper have been used to add flavour or as seasoning spices. Both of these spices are very commonly used and when consumed in decent quantities – as ensured by this book – are perfectly healthy. Keeping this factor in mind, the usage of butter fat and vinegar has been minimised and the taste requirements have been fulfilled with more healthy alternatives. This however hasn’t been done on the cost of ruining the original taste and flavour of the dishes.
Wine usage in the recipes has been limited to stews only. In these recipes also, the alcohol content gets eliminated and all we get a nice texture of the curry and a deep flavour. For people who won’t like to use wine still, they can opt for beef or chicken stock.
The book uses the imperial units, but if you don’t like to measure ingredients in this way, there is a comprehensive conversion table available for measurement and weight of the ingredients and the oven temperatures. It also provides tables for the doneness temperatures (rare to well cooked) and roasting times of different type of meats like beef, veal, lamb, pork and chicken.
The book enlists the widely available Paleo foods, under each major category and also provides reference of shops from which the user can get the best Paleo food, be it online or directly.
The Paleo Recipe Book also details the healthiest oils, gives recommendations, and also goes through the Paleo recipes of some widely used form of fats, like desi ghee and clarified butter.
A significant feature of this book is that it gives a great insight on the selection of special ingredients, like beef parts for steaks, general preparation methods for ingredient for stocks, vinegars and salad dressing. With each recipe, there is an apt description of the flavour and the group of people it can cater for. The ingredients are well defined and accurate, and the recipe is complemented with an appropriate image.
The book consists of more than 370 recipes which are very easy to comprehend and follow. The recipes in this book are age free, which mean people of all ages can enjoy them, while having an organized diet.
The Paleo Recipe Book also provides you with an 8 week diet plan, in which you will only use the Paleo food and set a healthy and organized diet plan. Everything is well explained in this plan and all you have to do is to keenly follow the instructions and the diet pattern, which ensures that all the essential and healthy nutrients are being consumed. This plan will help you and your family get rid of health issues related with digestion.
The desserts mentioned in this book are also made from natural ingredients like almond oil, coconut oil or raw honey, thus reducing the dietary risk, while maintaining a wonderful flavour.
There is also an herb and spice guide, which not only explains the nutritional value, coupled with the advantages, but also the different variations in flavours, which can be achieved.
Besides the obvious advantages, this book does have some demerits. Normally in good cook books and online recipes, there is a trend of providing step wise image of the recipe. This helps the user confirm the dish/ingredient textures at different stages of cooking, and the arrangement of dough and/or pastry pieces in case of baking. In the Paleo recipe book, only a single image has been provided for each recipe, and although the images are of good quality, there aren’t quite helpful for observational understanding which is so essential for the cooking process.
Another major discrepancy in this cook book is that it does not provide a list of utensils and equipments to be used in each recipe. These utensils are no doubt mentioned in the recipe content, but the reader has to perceive them and their sizes.
Overall though, this book serves the purpose and can be a one stop destination for you as far as making Paleo food is concerned. It has been written by Sebastian Noel, a well know chef, and covers each and every fine detail.
Contributed By: Paleo Recipe Book Review
