Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
Fat Meat, Lean Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Grassfed picanha with a nutrient-dense fat cap.
We are told to only eat lean meat, and avoid fatty meat. This is part of our culture’s fear of animal fat, due to intensive marketing of this view. The mistaken belief that lean meat is healthier has resulted in farm animals being bred to produce lean meat, and many animals are even given drugs to make their meat leaner. Butchers compound the problem by trimming off as much fat as possible.
The result is tough, often tasteless meat, with American factory pork being a great example.
Our ancestors would have been shocked by this preference, as they preferred meat with fat, the fatter the better. Our ancestors believed fatty meat was healthier and tastier, and would add large amounts of fat to meat that was too lean. Some even threw the lean meat to their dogs, while keeping the fatty portions for themselves.
When it comes to grassfed and pastured meats, this is how I see it:
The fatter, the better.
Traditional Animal Fats Contain Vital Nutrients
Contrary to popular belief, traditional animal fats have many vital nutrients that are important for human health and development. This is what our ancestors believed throughout most of history, and their belief has been vindicated by research. See The Skinny on Fats.
Factory Fat Is Different than Traditional Fat
It is important to know that the modern way of raising most meat animals, which is dependent on processed grains and other foods that are unnatural for these animals, changes the very composition of their fat. Grassfed animals, which humans have eaten for most of history, have a perfect balance of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids. Animals fed in modern feedlots and CAFOs have a huge imbalance of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids. See Health Benefits of Grass-fed Products. An oversupply of omega-6 fatty acids has been linked to many illnesses. Other vital nutrients are also much higher in traditionally fed meat.
Paleolithic and Traditional People Ate Animal Fat
While nobody truly knows what Paleolithic people ate, we do know some of what they ate. In fact, every cave dwelling that is believed to have been occupied by Paleolithic people had a pile of bones, which had been cracked open for the marrow. Bone marrow is almost completely fat.
We also know that traditional hunting peoples prized the fat of the animals they killed, and this fact was verified by the extensive on site research of Dr. Weston A. Price. Because the meat of wild animals is often lean, some believe that only lean meat was eaten by Paleolithic peoples. But nearly all wild animals store fat, but it usually located on the back, rather than in the meat. This back fat was often eaten by itself, and mixed with the leaner meat , which was never eaten without animal fat. For example, Pemmican, the famous survival food of the Native Americans who lived on the great plains, was one third bison fat. Organ meats, which are very fatty, were prized by all of these traditional peoples.
Traditional Cuisines Call For Fat, Fat, and More Fat, when Cooking Meat
A review of older cookbooks and histories reveal the fact that meat-eating cultures, such as European cultures, greatly prized animal fat as a food and as a cooking medium. Fatty meat and organ meats were the prized cuts, and meat was always cooked with fat, usually animal fat. Fatty meat was valued in most of the rest of the world, with fatty pork being the most prized meat in traditional Chinese cuisine.
Our ancestors agreed, both in their words and actions, that fatty meat from grassfed and pastured animals is best.
This post is part of Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
Paleo, Primal, and Price
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Grassfed bison meat is a healthy, basic human food that is valued by the Primal, Paleo, and Price movements. photo credit: puroticorico
The question has arisen recently on various blogs about whether the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price are compatible with the Paleo and Primal movements. A similar question has been raised as to whether the Weston A. Price Foundation and its members are hostile to the Paleo and Primal movements.
I have studied Dr. Price’s work for years, so much so that my copy of his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, has literally fallen apart. I have been a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation for years. I have followed a Weston A. Price style diet for over six years. I have read and studied almost every article on the vast website of the Weston A. Price Foundation. I have designed my cookbooks to be completely compatible with the teachings of Dr. Price. I have strongly advocated the Weston A. Price style of eating on my blog, and still do.
Though I am a member, I do not speak for the Weston A. Price Foundation. Nobody speaks for the Foundation except its officers, officially designated spokespeople, and board members. I speak for myself.
I consider the teachings of Dr. Price to be compatible with a number of Paleo and Primal diets.
I support, respect, and admire the Paleo and Primal movements.
We have so much in common. We are all looking for an alternative to the horrible modern diet which has destroyed the health of so many people. We all reject modern processed foods in favor of real food, food that humans have thrived on for uncounted years. We are all trying to base our diets on the wisdom of our ancestors. So many of us have had amazing health benefits from following the food wisdom of our ancestors. We are natural allies. We should unite politically to protect our access to real food. We should support, encourage, share what we know, and learn from each other. And many of us have been doing exactly that.
The Many Diets of Doctor Price
As many of us know, Dr. Price traveled the world for ten years, visiting and studying various peoples who were eating the traditional diets of their ancestors. Each one of these traditional people had relatives who were eating a modern diet in a nearby town or city, so Dr. Price was able to compare the teeth and health of those who ate traditional food to those who ate modern food. Dr. Price found that the people eating their traditional diets had perfect teeth, despite having no dental care, and were free of the modern chronic diseases that cripple and kill so many people in modern cultures, both then and today. In other words, they had no cancer, no heart disease, no birth defects, not arthritis, no asthma, no allergies, no tuberculosis, none of the modern chronic diseases. They were so much healthier than we are, in so many ways. Yet, the relatives of those people, if they made the terrible mistake of eating modern foods, lost their teeth, and suffered from all of the chronic modern diseases, unlike their cousins who ate like their ancestors.
No two of the diets studied by Dr. Price were alike. There were peoples who ate traditionally prepared grains and dairy, along with meat and vegetables. There were peoples who ate meat, dairy, and vegetables, but no grains. There were peoples who ate only the animals they hunted, and ate no dairy, grains, or vegetables. Most of these peoples ate wild seafood, but some had no access to it. All of these peoples were healthy and free of chronic disease, with perfect teeth. And they had essentially no modern medical care, and no dentistry. So we know for a fact that all of these ancestral diets worked wonderfully for human beings.
Yet, all of these diets had something in common. They all ate meat, and they all consumed large amounts of animal fat, and/or fish fat. They all fermented various foods, a process that both preserved foods and increased the nutritional value. They all had sacred foods, foods that they valued above all others. These sacred foods were rich in animal or fish fat, including such items as organ meats, fish eggs, and butter. None of these peoples ate modern processed foods, even the kinds that were available in the 1930s.
So you can follow the research results of Dr. Price, and eat or avoid a wide variety of foods. You do not have to eat grains. You do not have to eat dairy. As long as you eat real, unmodified food, and eat plenty of natural animal fat, and avoid modern processed foods, you are on the path. You can also add in traditionally prepared grains and/or dairy, and still be on the path. It depends on how you respond to various foods, what you can get, how much work you are willing to put into it, and the condition of your body. The choice is yours, and I respect your right to make it.
The Many Diets of Paleo and Primal
There is no single Paleo or Primal diet. There are dozens of variations. Some allow some dairy and/or grains. Some do not. These diets are constantly evolving and changing as more is learned, a healthy and vital process that is great for the movement. Yet, all of these diets seek to eat the foods that our ancestors thrived on, and look to the wisdom of our ancestors in choosing food. Many of them seek to eat foods similar to those eaten before the advent of agriculture. No one knows for sure what Paleolithic people ate. We can make some pretty good guesses, based on what people without agriculture or herds have eaten in recorded history, and based on what some of the peoples studied by Dr. Price ate. Some of the details of what we do know are surprising. For example, some people who had no dairy animals ate animal milk. They did so by killing female animals, and eating the milk they found in the body. They would also kill young animals, such as bison calves, and eat the milk they found in the digestive system of the animal. We know that the Native Americans did this, and there is no reason to believe that any people who lived by hunting did not do the same. My point is that ancestral eating covers a huge range of foods.
I have spent a huge amount of time lurking on various Paleo and Primal blogs, and reading a huge number of articles. It is clear to me that no one in the movement actually wants to dig in the earth for bugs, or grab a spear and hunt for mammoth. The focus is on eating the foods of our ancestors, the foods we have eaten for a very long time, the foods that our bodies are accustomed to, the foods that we thrive on. That is a wonderful goal, and I share it.
What Does the Weston A. Price Foundation Actually Do about Paleo and Primal?
I am speaking only from my own observations, as I do not speak for the Weston A. Price Foundation. As I see it, the view of WAPF has changed with the evolvement and change of the Paleo and Primal movements.
The initial book by Dr. Cordain advocated a low-fat diet, which was totally opposed to the teachings of Dr. Price, and the book was not well received for that reason, and others. But many in the Paleo and Primal movements understand the value of traditional animal fats, and even Dr. Cordain has backed off that position. One of the things I love about these movements is the willingness to learn and change as more is discovered. And these changes in position have had an impact.
I think it is the most recent actions of WAPF that are most relevant to the issue. In March 2012, my friend Sarah Pope, a member of the board of the Weston A. Price Foundation, attended the PaleoFX12 convention is Austin, Texas, as a representative of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Sarah took part in a panel discussion, had a wonderful time, and had her picture taken with some Paleo leaders, such as Robb Wolf and Nora Gedgaudas. She wrote two positive blog posts about the conference, and mentioned how the Paleo movement “has much in common with the nutritional principles of Dr. Price.†It is clear that the hand of friendship was extended and accepted. And that is exactly the way it should be.
The Paleo, Primal, and Price Movements Are Already Learning from each Other
Anyone who reads a number of Paleo blogs knows that many Paleo people like the teachings of Dr. Price and WAPF, and have adopted some of the traditional methods of food preparation taught by WAPF. In fact, I have seen a great deal of praise for Price and WAPF methods on many Primal blogs and forums. Conversely, many Price followers have learned from the Primal and Paleo communities and changed their diets. I have three good friends who have followed a WAPF diet for years. They have experienced great health benefits, but have had some bad problems at times. All three of my friends have modified their diets by adopting some Paleo principles, including avoiding grains, and have had wonderful results with their customized “Price-Paleo†diets.
I myself have adopted some Paleo and Primal ideas in what I eat, and the results have been great!
All of us are individuals, we are all different, and what works for some may not work for all. But friendship between the Paleo, Primal, and Price movements benefits all of us.
I am grateful for the Weston A. Price Foundation, whose priceless knowledge enabled me to save my life and restore my health. And I am grateful to the Paleo and Primal movements, which have inspired so many people to reject SAD and adopt ancestral eating, and has taught me some valuable lessons.
Related Posts
A Real Paleo Diet — Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
The Most Paleo Food, Bone Marrow, Easy and Delicious
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
As interest in Paleo and Primal Diets continues to expand, one question continues to come up—what did our Paleo period ancestors actually eat? While there is no conclusive answer, we can be assured that one food was right at the top of their list—bone marrow.
Bone marrow is a soft, fatty substance found inside bones. It contains all the nutrients and substances that the body uses to build, repair, and maintain the living bones, from the inside out. There are a number of caves that show long evidence of human habitation, going all the way back to the Paleolithic period. All of these caves contained ancient fire pits. And all of these caves contained the remnants of large piles of bones. The bones that were found were animal bones. Almost without exception, they had been cracked open, and every trace of the marrow removed. This is the most direct evidence we have of what Paleo people actually ate.
Wild animals also value bone marrow. Large predators will crack open the bones of their prey, and eat the marrow. Hyenas, which are scavengers rather than hunters, have incredibly powerful jaws that are perfect for cracking even large bones open so they can get at the bone marrow.
The healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price also valued bone marrow, when they could get it. Some would crack open the bones and eat it raw, most would simmer marrowbones in their broths, and others would extract the marrow and use it in all kinds of dishes. Bone marrow was an important component in traditional European cooking, with many different ways of preparing it, some of which were quite complicated. Marrow dumplings were a favorite throughout central Europe.
Dr. Price once designed a diet for a group of very poor children who went to school at a mission in Canada. These children were of native background, and usually ate modern, cheap, high-carbohydrate, high-sugar foods. They had terrible teeth, poor attention spans, stunted growth, and all kind of health problems. They did very poorly in their studies. The school did provide lunch. Dr Price devised a lunch plan for them that centered largely around a meat dish he designed. This dish contained a large amount of vegetables and meat broth, and a substantial amount of bone marrow. Broiled rare meat was finely chopped and added to other ingredients. Not only did the children’s teeth and health improve substantially, but they began to excel in their schoolwork. There is a recipe for my version of this dish on page 120 of Tender Grassfed Meat.
Old-time physicians would prescribe eating bone marrow to strengthen the teeth and bones, to recover from injury, and relieve rheumatism and other bone problems.
Most people are intimidated by the thought of cooking bone marrow, but there is an easy solution. My friend, Sarah Pope, of the Healthy Home Economist blog, has come up with a method of cooking bone marrow that is so easy and delicious that it defies belief. Here is a link to Sarah’s video that explains her easy method and demonstrates it. You will not believe how easy it is.
Video: Boost the Immune System with Bone Marrow
Sarah likes to serve it on toast, which is traditional in Europe, but you do not have to eat grains to enjoy this most nutritious and delicious of foods. You can eat it right out of the bone, with a small spoon (there used to be spoons designed specifically for this purpose), or you can spread it on a nice hot piece of grassfed steak or roast, which was also a tradition all over Europe. This is so delicious that I do not even know how to describe it. And bone marrow is one of those foods that really satisfies, being loaded with nutrients.
I only recommend bone marrow from the bones of grassfed animals. This was the kind of marrow our ancestors ate, and I have always found grassfed animals to be totally superior when it comes to nutrition and taste.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, and Freaky Friday blog carnivals.
Grassfed Saturated Animal Fat Should Not Be Taxed
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Taxing this lovely, artisan pork lard is a crime!
Denmark is a nation that is famous for its high-quality butter, cheese, and pork, which all contain large amounts of health-giving saturated animal fat. Now Denmark has decided to place a heavy tax on all foods containing saturated animal fats. The tax is scaled to the amount of saturated animal fat in the food, so lard would have a 35% tax on its consumption.
Saturated animal fat from healthy animals is a key part of the traditional Danish diet, but that was ignored.
Most of the Danish people oppose this tax, but that did not seem to matter to the Danish legislators, ninety percent of whom voted for the tax.
The legislators claim that taxing foods based on the amount of saturated fat they contain will force people to eat “healthier†foods, increase lifespan, and avoid disease. None of these things are true.
The basic human right of the Danish people to choose their own food was ignored.
Now, Finland, Britain, and Romania are all considering imposing a tax on saturated fat consumption. The goal is to force everybody to eat a “plant-based†diet.
Aside from the fact that no government has the right to control what we eat, this is a very bad policy. Saturated animal fat has been demonized, but is actually a vital nutrient needed by human beings. Since crucial vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and Vitamin K are fat-soluble, our bodies need this fat to properly absorb the vitamins. Saturated animal fats contain substances that keep the mind sharp and functioning, and help the immune system. Saturated animal fats provide many other nutrients that our bodies need and expect, and modern vegetable oils just do not contain these nutrients. A detailed article explaining the truth about fats is The Skinny on Fats.
For most of human existence, humans ate a Paleo-style diet that was animal based, getting most of their nutrients from wild animals, fish, and shellfish, though many roots, fruits, nuts, and vegetables were also eaten. The whole animal was eaten, including all the organ meats, and the bones were chewed on and often made into broth. We and our bodies have evolved to thrive upon animal foods. All animal foods contain saturated animal fat, and that is what our bodies have evolved to use. By making it harder for us to afford the very food that our bodies need to stay healthy and thrive, the government will make people sicker and weaker.
The fossil record shows what moving to a plant-based diet can do. The skeletons of humans before the invention of agriculture showed tall, strong people with dense, healthy bones, often with no sign of disease. The skeletons of people after the spread of agriculture were often a foot shorter, with thin, fragile bones, and showed the mark of many diseases.
History shows that the ruling classes in agriculture-based societies often reserved meat and other animal foods for themselves, forcing the peasants to eat mainly grains and vegetables. Medieval Europe is a great example of this practice, where only nobles were allowed to hunt wild game, and most of the meat produced by agriculture was taken by the nobles, their soldiers, and the upper classes. The term “meat eater,†meant someone of importance. The meat- and fat-eating classes were taller, stronger, more intelligent, healthier, and lived much longer than the peasant classes, whose access to meat and fat were strictly limited. A common person who hunted wild game was considered a “poacher,†and would be hanged if caught.
The meat shortage in Europe persisted well into the nineteenth century, when the high cost of meat made it too expensive for most people. In contrast, meat was cheap and plentiful in early America, with plenty of wild game, no poaching laws, and many domestic animals who thrived in the new land. Many people immigrated to the United States because they heard that even poor people could afford meat there. Of course, the meat was high-quality wild game, wild fish, wild shellfish, and grassfed and pastured animals. The curse of factory meat had not yet been invented.
Writers at the time of the American Revolution noted that the Americans were much taller, stronger, and healthier than the poor classes in Europe. Americans, eating a diet full of animal fats and meat, were noted for their intelligence, inventiveness, and ability to innovate and get things done. “Yankee ingenuity†became a common phrase because of these qualities.
History shows us that eating animal foods, in the form of grassfed and pastured meat and fat, is very beneficial to human beings. It is the food that is most natural to us. Dairy-based fats such as butter, unprocessed milk and cheese, yogurt, kefir, and others, have also been shown to be very nutritious, especially when eaten in their traditional forms, and made from pastured dairy animals.
Bad laws such as the Danish fat tax are actually moving us back to the Middle Ages, making it harder for us to afford the foods we need to support the natural functions of our bodies, and pushing us towards a plant-based diet that may be fine for herbivores with four stomachs, but not for human beings.
This tax will benefit large industries, and nobody else.
The food industry will benefit because it makes much more money on plant-based refined foods, such as dry cereal, which are very cheap to produce.
The medical industry will benefit because more people will be sick because of inadequate nutrition, which will mean more profit from medical services and drugs.
If the call for a fat tax reaches your nation, it is important to fight it and preserve our rights to eat the foods our bodies need.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, and Real Food Wednesday blog carnival.
A Real Paleo Diet — Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
photo credit: tuchodi
The idea behind the Paleo diet makes a great deal of sense. For tens of thousands of years, humans have been eating the foods available during the Paleolithic period. Our bodies have adapted to use these foods and easily digest and process them. Our bodies know how to use the nutrients in these foods, and how to dispose of the waste in these foods.
But what is the Paleo diet? What did Paleolithic peoples really eat?
The Paleo diet is generally agreed to consist of foods that were only available during the Paleolithic period, before agriculture and the keeping of domestic animal herds had been developed. All grains, dairy products, all modern processed foods and oils are excluded. Wild meat, fish, roots, shellfish, berries, fruits, eggs, some tree nuts, vegetables, and edible fungi such as mushrooms are included.
Some say that the Paleo diet should be meat-heavy. with an emphasis on lean meats. Others say it can be mostly fruits and vegetables. Some say it should be high-fat, and others say it should be low-fat. But what did the Paleolithic peoples really eat?
A true Paleolithic diet was discovered and recorded by Dr. Weston A. Price, the great food researcher. In 1933, Dr. Price visited a native people living in the far north of Canada, far from the sea. These people were eating the same diet their ancestors had, consisting only of foods that were readily available during the Paleolithic period.
These people had no agriculture, and no herds. They were so far north that they were deprived of all fruits and vegetables for most of the year. They were far from the sea, and the rivers were so frozen that there were no fish. In fact, they ate very little other than the wild animals they hunted, often moose.
They ate not only the meat of the animals, but the organs, and the fat, especially the fat. Meat was always eaten with fat. They also ate bone marrow, chewed on the bones, and used the bones in cooking. The animals they ate were mainly herbivores, grass-eaters, so they were eating grassfed meat and fat, and the organs of grassfed animals. And just about nothing else.
Dr. Price found that these people were in excellent health, strong, happy, and vital. Though the temperature would often be seventy below zero during the long, cold winters, these people had learned how to keep warm and well-fed. The women would give birth quickly and easily, to healthy children who were free of birth defects. They had no dentists, and no cavities. Despite the extreme cold, nobody had arthritis. They did not have heart disease or cancer. They did not have diabetes or any of the chronic diseases so common in the modern world.
Dr. Price wanted to know why they did not get scurvy, a disease caused by the lack of Vitamin C that causes teeth to fall out, and eventually results in death. Dr. Price learned that they got the Vitamin C they needed by eating the adrenal glands and second stomachs of the animals they hunted. Scientific research later confirmed that the adrenal glands of grassfed animals were the richest known source of Vitamin C, containing far more than any fruit or vegetable. These native people knew what part of the animal to eat, so they could get the nutrition they needed. In fact, they got all their vitamins and minerals from the fat, organs and bones of the animals they hunted.
These people were so free from crime that nobody locked their doors, and nothing was ever stolen.
After Dr. Price left these people, he traveled south, and studied the native peoples he met on the way. Many of these people had adopted modern food like jam, sugar, syrup, and bread. The native peoples eating modern foods were riddled with disease, many suffering from crippling arthritis. Tuberculosis, cancer, and tooth decay were very common.
Dr. Price’s research described a true Paleolithic diet, and the wonderful health of the people who followed it.
While this is not the only Paleolithic diet, it shows how beneficial a true Paleolithic diet can be.
This post is part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
Grassfed Meat and Fat are Ideal for Paleo Diets
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Barbecued Grassfed Prime Rib with a Garlic Marinade from my upcoming book.
The Paleo diet has been adopted by many people, and the numbers are growing. The idea that we should eat like our ancestors makes complete sense, as our bodies have evolved to eat and process the foods they used over tens of thousands of years. While there are different variations of Paleo diets, one thing is true for all of them—grassfed meat is ideal, especially when barbecued.
What is Paleo?
I did not know about the Paleo diet when I wrote my first cookbook, Tender Grassfed Meat. As I followed news of my book on the Internet, I came across a number of comments on Paleo websites that praised my book and talked about how it was great for people following a Paleo diet. These comments inspired me to learn about Paleo.
The Paleo concept is both simple and profound. The idea is that we should eat the same foods that our distant ancestors ate, before agriculture was developed. The argument is a powerful one—agriculture is only a few thousand years old, but humanity has existed for tens of thousands of years, or much longer.
The foods eaten by humanity over these tens of thousands of years included the meat and fat of ruminant animals, the meat and fat of other animals such as wild boar, the meat and fat of a huge variety of birds, wild fish, and seafood. Nuts, berries, wild roots, and plants were also eaten. Meat was eaten on the bone whenever possible, and bones were cracked open for their marrow, and formed the basis of early broths. Because humans have been eating these foods since the beginning, they are ideal for our bodies, since we have evolved to eat and digest them.
The food of agriculture, such as grains and dairy, as well as all of the modern processed foods, are new to our bodies and can cause problems with digestion and absorption, as well as allergies and other problems.
Therefore, a true Paleo diet would avoid all modern foods, and many traditional foods, including all grains and dairy.
I personally eat lots of dairy, but only in its traditional forms. Humans have been eating traditional dairy for about ten thousand years, and my body does fine with it. I avoid most grains, and find that I can easily do without them. I avoid all modern processed foods. But the food I enjoy and crave the most is Paleo—grassfed meat and fat, cooked in front of burning coals.
But it is not enough just to eat meat and fat. Modern industrial meat has a totally different nutritional content from the meat eaten by our ancestors. Grassfed meat and fat is as close as we can get to the meat that nourished our ancestors (with the exception of wild game).
The Price–Paleo Connection—Modern Examples of a Real Paleo Diet
Dr. Weston A. Price, spent ten years studying the diets of the traditional peoples who were free from the chronic diseases that plagued the modern world, such as tooth decay, heart disease, asthma, cancer, allergies, birth defects, and just about every chronic modern illness. He did not read reports or studies, but actually travelled to where these people lived and met them, taking detailed notes on what they ate and how they lived.
Three of the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Price were eating a Paleo diet, in that they had no agriculture and no dairy. They lived completely from hunting and gathering. Their traditional diets had not changed for many thousands of years. These peoples included Alaskan Eskimos (Inuit), Australian Aborigines, and Canadian Native Americans.
When these peoples ate their traditional Paleo diet, they were healthy. When they ate modern foods, they were riddled with all kinds of chronic disease, and died in large numbers from diseases such as tuberculosis.
These peoples all ate the meat, organs, and fat of grass-eating animals, as well as other animals. Those who lived by the sea also ate huge amounts of wild seafood and fish. While all of these peoples gathered and ate a variety of nuts, berries, and plants, their diets focused heavily on meat, organs, and fat, both from land and sea animals. All of the animals they ate were eating a species-appropriate diet such as grass and meadow plants for herbivores.
Grassfed and Paleo—a Perfect Match
Most of the foods eaten by early humans are not readily available to us. But we can find and eat foods that have a similar nutritional profile. The major food of these people was the meat and fat of animals, especially ruminant animals. We can get an almost identical set of nutrients by eating plenty of grassfed meat and fat, as well as the organs of grassfed animals.
Grassfed bison meat, from bison grazing their natural habitat, is just about identical with the bison that was eaten by early humans.
Grassfed beef is very similar, even though the breed and characteristics of the animals have changed from the wild varieties available before agriculture.
Grassfed lamb and goat also have a similar nutritional profile.
Pastured pork, from pigs who have been allowed to root in the forest like their wild ancestors, is another meat that is close to the meat eaten by early humans.
Grassfed Barbecue and Paleo—an Even Better Match
While the peoples studied by Dr. Price ate some of their meat raw or fermented, much of their meat was cooked, and it was almost always cooked in front of a fire.
I do not know if any nutrients are enhanced by the barbecue process, but the taste certainly is. The mouthwatering smell and taste of charcoaled meat appeals to most people on a primal level. The smell of meat roasting in front of a fire, the flavor added by the burning coals, is one of the oldest human pleasures, one that has been enjoyed for ages.
By barbecuing grassfed meat in a traditional manner, we can enjoy this primal taste, as did our ancestors.
This article was taken from my upcoming book on grassfed barbecue.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania blog carnivals.
Beautiful, Nutritious, Delicious Bones
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed Bone In Porterhouse. It tasted even better than it looks.
There is a very old saying,â€the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.†This saying celebrates the traditional knowledge that meat on the bone is valuable, both for taste and nutrition. The meat right next to the bone is sweeter and tastier, flavored with bone marrow and other substances that enter the meat during cooking. Grassfed meat cooked on the bone has so much flavor that spices are often unnecessary. I prefer to cook grassfed meat on the bone. Bone in meat has great nutritional benefit. Bone in meat is more tender. Bone in meat cooks more evenly. And it tastes so much better.
Why Most Meat Cuts Are Boneless
Most of the meat cuts sold today, including grassfed cuts, are boneless. There are several reasons for this. Bones are heavy, and most meat is shipped a long way. Cutting off the bones reduces transportation costs. I have talked to grassfed farmers who do not sell bone in meat because they are afraid the bones will penetrate the plastic they ship their meat in. The emphasis on lean meat promotes the use of boneless cuts, as bones contain fatty substances such as bone marrow. Carving bone in meat requires more effort than dealing with boneless cuts. Most people think of bones as waste, and do not want to pay for them. Actually, bones have tremendous nutritional and culinary value.
Bone In Meat Is More Nutritious
Bones are made up of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and many others. When you put your mouth on a bone, the saliva in your mouth dissolves some of these minerals, which thus enter your body. Your body knows exactly how to digest and process these minerals and the cofactors which come with them. Need minerals? Eat the meat next to the bone, and you will get plenty, in a form that your body can easily assimilate and use. Also, you can suck discreetly on a tasty bone.
Bones also contain bone marrow, a fatty substance that is extremely nutrient dense, and is invaluable in making your own bones strong and healthy. Bone marrow is released into the meat during the cooking process, making the meat more nutritious and sweeter. There have been few, if any, scientific studies on the nutritional value of bones and bone marrow. However, there are some very old “studies,†conducted by our ancestors, the traditional peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price, and even wild animals.
Traditional People Knew the Value of Bones
The earliest habitats of primitive humans were found in caves. Many of those caves had one thing in common—a large pile of smashed and split animal bones. It is universally agreed that those bones were smashed and split to get at the bone marrow.
Traditional cuisine is full of references to bone marrow, which was eaten in many forms, and highly prized. The most prized meat in early Europe was the chine portion, a cut of meat reserved for the elite members of society, the heroes. Ancient Irish warriors fought to the death for the right to eat the chine portion, also known as the Hero’s Portion. Even the mightiest warrior in the Iliad, Achilles, cooked a chine portion for himself and the other great heroes of the Greeks. The chine portion was the same cut as a modern rack of lamb, or prime rib, or pork rib roast, except that the chine bone was always left on.
The Native Americans would actually use heavy rocks to pound bison bones into powder, which was made into a nourishing broth.
For most of history, meat was always roasted on the bone. Even stews had bones added to the pot, and the pieces of meat often contained bones. Many traditional peoples would chop chicken and other soft boned meats into pieces, so the marrow and other nutrients would be released into the pot during cooking. These traditions are still carried on today, in traditional cuisines all over the globe.
Several of the peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price, particularly the Inuit, split the bones so they could eat the marrow. All of the peoples studied by Dr. Price ate foods made with bones, often in the form of bone broths. These people had excellent teeth, strong bones, powerful immune systems, and were robustly healthy.
Finally, predators such as lions, wolves, and coyotes value the bones of their prey. After eating the liver of their kill, these animals will crack the bones for the marrow and chew on them, often leaving the lean meat for the scavengers. If you have ever given your dog a bone, you can see that dogs also have this traditional wisdom. Chewing on the bones is one of the best ways that these animals can get necessary minerals.
Meat on the Bone Tastes Much Better
Prime rib of beef, Porterhouse steak, T-bone steak, and lamb chops are bone in cuts that are popular even today. These cuts are very expensive and highly prized. Our ancestors ate a much wider variety of bone in cuts. Sirloin steaks, strip loin steaks, lamb roasts, beef roasts, pot roasts, pork roasts, and stews were all cooked with the bones. Almost all poultry was cooked with the bones, as were most fish. The reason for this was that the bones add so much flavor, as well as nutrition. When you cook meat on the bone, the marrow and other substances from the bones actually flavor the meat, adding succulence and a depth of taste that just does not exist with a boneless cut. The bones also help keep the meat moist, and help conduct heat throughout the meat so it cooks more evenly. If you are cooking the meat in liquid, the bone marrow, gelatin, minerals, and other substances from the bone enter the liquid, imbuing it with wonderful flavors, and causing it to thicken into a wonderful, flavorful sauce. There are a number of traditional recipes that call for adding extra bones to stews, pot roasts, and even the roasting pan to add these flavors to the dish. Meat is always tastier when cooked on the bone.
How to Add the Benefits of Bones to Your Diet
The simplest way to enjoy the benefits of bones is to cook bone in cuts. These are cuts of meat that still have the bone attached. When you eat the meat, do not be afraid to chew all the meat off the bones. Do not hesitate to discreetly suck on the bones, especially if you can get some of the marrow. You may find this to be immensely satisfying, as I do. Of course, don’t swallow any bones.
Another great way to enjoy the benefits of bones is to make real bone broth from the bones of pastured animals, simmered for many hours so the nutrients of the bones are released into the broth. My cookbook, Tender Grassfed Meat, has a number of such broth recipes, as does Sally Fallon’s magnificent work, Nourishing Traditions. Tender Grassfed Meat also includes a number of recipes for cooking bone in meat.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday Blog Carnival at Food Renegade.