In keeping with the changing of the seasons, we want to consume, and write about, more robust, filling and comforting fall dishes. And, what can be more comforting the chicken pot pie.
Generally, a pot pie is made with a pastry dough, or puff pastry crust. We have re-engineered the crust to make a chicken pot pie more paleo friendly. In fact, we enjoy it more than the original. Cheers to innovation.
Popularity: 18% [?]
After eating 2 weeks of great Sicilian and Romano food in Italy, we were pining for something North American upon our return, like a Big Mac. Of course, we wouldn’t really run off to the golden arches. Instead we contrived this skirt steak salad.
It is sacrosanct to compare any gastronomic creation to a Big Mac. However, when everyone tried this steak salad, the popular feedback was, “It tastes like a Big Mac”.
I think the comparison stems from the homemade Catalina style dressing. Instead of resisting the notion, we rolled with it.
Read more »
Popularity: 11% [?]
Despite the abundance and fanatical devotion to high carb foods, Rome suits the lifestyle of the average paleogastronomer. Rome is best viewed by foot. It is surprising how compact the historic center is once you learn the basic layout of the city.
Where to Stay
In terms of places to stay, we highly recommend leasing an apartment for a few days or so from Friendly Rentals.
http://www.friendlyrentals.com
This agency has apartments of all shapes and sizes located all over the the city. If you are really struggling with your paleodiet, you can always cook your own food in the apartment.
Where to Eat
As we have maintained during our whole trip, it is nearly impossible to find a meat and vegetable centric restos. However, if you order painstakingly, you can put together a meal that is virtually pasta and bread free. Avoiding cheeses may be another challenge altogether. Here are our pics. If you hit them all you will have a nice general tour of Rome.
Popularity: 9% [?]
In our original post, Quest for Fire: BBQ Beef Brisket, we outlined our approach to prepare a brisket for smoking.
After dry-rubbing our brisket, and letting it rest over night, the brisket is in shape to Q. We now refer you to our handy guide to setting up a BBQ for smoking.
Take your pick of strategy based on your BBQ type and smoke the brisket for 5 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 195F.
Once complete, let the brisket rest for about 30 minutes before carving. When ready to serve, carve paper thin pieces along the grain of the brisket. Serve with our favourite BBQ sauce, Hot Pimenton BBQ Sauce. Recipe follows.
Popularity: 28% [?]
Whilst traveling through Italy, we were Internet impaired, making the usual weekly hunting-gathering of paleo-related links virtually impossible. So, here is our 3 week compendium of interesting links.
Wisdom abounds in the most unlikely places. That is pretty wise unto itself. From one of our Sicilian cookbooks, a quote, “cu mancia sulu, s’affuca!”, or “he who eats alone chokes himself!”. However, sometimes it is inevitable. Here is some help on dining for one.
In keeping with our Italian theme these past few weeks, here is Roman preparation for pork cutlets.
French adobo? Possibly. We haven’t put this through the paleo-test kitchen, but we will shortly.
Fall is in the air, and Italy, a distant memory. We are half a month from October, so now is an excellent time to brush up on Sausages and Sauerkraut.
We picked this up in the airport lounge on the way back. Quirky, but useful if you, like I, dont like your apples oxidized.
Finally some food for thought. Two new books for the avid food reader. First, “Just Food”, a book to challenge the notion of “local”, “organic” and other food movements. Secondly, “The End of Overeating”, which preaches the blindingly obvious.
Until next week.
Popularity: 8% [?]
When in Rome, do as the Romans. And when in Milazzo, do what the Millazesse do. What this means for paleogastronomers is park your lifestyle for the duration of your travels in Italy, it will be next to impossible to avoid a diet of at least 40% carbs, and possibly lots of fat.
Not surprisingly, you will find pasta, and pizza everywhere. More surprising is other places carbs show up, like in granitas, the traditional Sicilian breakfast, which is essntially flavoured scraped ice in cup with dollops of whipped cream and brioche. It is Sicily after all, so why not start the day with a dessert.
Fortunately, the late night dinners, it is too hot to eat much at lunch, will help you square off protein and vegetables. Grilled seafood, accompanied by salmorillio, and grilled vegetables, tend to make up the average Milazzese dinner. The problem here is that the food is served in great multitudes. Paleogastronomers be vigilant. Our suggestion, take a break for awhile and enjoy the sun, the people, la spiaggia, and a little over indulgence!
Our access to the Internet on the road is somewhat limited. The more spartan regions of Italy are not as well connected as, well, what we are used to. We will have recipes and travel suggestions coming up shortly.
Popularity: 6% [?]
We are off to the carb crazy birthplace of gastronomy, Italy. Fortunately, our travels will take us through Sicily, where the main diet of fish, fresh vegetables, olive oil an Nero d’avalo grapes should sate our primal hunger.
Rome will be some what more of a challenge, but we have already sussed out pork happy trats, and supremo vegetables in Campo di Fiori.
Our journey starts Friday. Stay tuned.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Those who count calories tend to count the big ticket items in their diet. Big Mac, steak dinner, salad nicoise, it is relatively easy to find their caloric value. However, what about the incidentals like coffee: Coffee and cream, espresso with suger, latte machiatto? Look no further, here is a visualization to help you improve the count.
We always get excited when we find a paleo friendly recipe in the popular press. Though not that exciting compared to some of our paleogastronomic creations, enjoy some meatloaf and tomatoes. Meatloaf? Yes, meatloaf.
Here are few more savvy recipes. After short ribs, we are fond of skirt and flank steak, the most versatile cuts of beef in our opinion. Try it with some aromatic veggies.
Finally, in anticipation of our eating trip through Italy, we leave you with a recipe of our favourite fish, sardines.
Until next week.
Popularity: 19% [?]
On the way towards our Texas BBQ brisket, it dawned upon us that we could save alot of time by writing out the instructions for setting up a BBQ for grilling, smoking and roasting once, and referring back to it many times. In programming this is referred to as refactoring.
Of course, how one sets up a BBQ depends on the type of Q you have. These generally fall into 2 categories, a charcoal BBQ like the Weber or Big Green Egg, and gas like the…Weber Gas Grill.
If you are serious about technique and flavour, dump the gas grill for charcoal. It’s messier, takes slightly more time, but you can generate more heat and flavour from charcoal.
Here our are refactored instructions.
Popularity: 8% [?]
