Caveman Sam

I made some delicious sausage recently and made a video. Recipe is below.

Ingredients

2 pounds ground pork
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sage
2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions

1) Combine ground pork with all other ingredients and chill at least one hour, preferably overnight.

2) Form into patties.  Cook patties over medium-low heat in a non-stick pan. Saute until brown and cooked through, approximately 10  minutes.

I usually take the uneaten patties and freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bag or container so they don’t stick together. You can use them anytime. As I mentioned in the video, these are great on the McSoG.

I’ve recently been studying the work and life of Dr. Weston Price who was a dentist from Ohio who lived in the early part of last century. He wanted to find out why some groups of people living a traditional lifestyle and eating a traditional diet (traditional in the sense that it’s what their ancestors had eaten for thousands of years) had very few dental problems. So he went and studied a dozen or so villages and tribes all over the world and studied them and got lots of data. I found a copy of his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, online here and I’ve been reading through it. It’s pretty heavy reading but very interesting as well. I found this bit recently and thought I’d share:

“While many of the primitive races studied have continued to thrive on the same soil through thousands of years, our American human stock has declined rapidly within a few centuries and in some localities within a few decades. In the regions in which degeneration has taken place the animal stock has also declined. A decadent individual cannot regenerate himself, although he can reduce the progressive decadence in the next generation, by using the demonstrated wisdom of the primitive races. No era in the long journey of mankind reveals in the skeletal remains such a terrible degeneration of teeth and bones as this brief modern period records. Must Nature reject our vaunted culture and call back the more obedient primitives? The alternative seems to be a complete readjustment in accordance with the controlling forces of Nature. – Weston Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

I’m not sure how things will all turn out, but I’d be surprised if we don’t see a lot of supporting evidence for this sort of diet over the next 10-20 years. I think more and more people will reject the processed, industrialized food and embrace the back-to-basics diet Weston Price and others advocate. The Weston A. Price Foundation is a great resource for information. They have tons of articles that I’ve been reading through. Their diet recommendations aren’t exactly in line with the Primal/Paleo/Caveman diet but it’s pretty close.

Normally I just eat nuts as they are. They’re a great snack, especially paired with a couple dried apricots, apples or roasted kale. But every once in a while I want something a little sweeter. There are tons of ways to do this. I’ve used a variety of combinations of nuts, oil and sweeteners. This version has pecans, agave nectarand olive oil. But I’ve done it with walnuts, coconut oil and truviaand almonds, avocado oil and honey. It’s really easy and tasty.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pecans
• 1 1/2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt to taste

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients in a bowl

2) Put the mixture in a baking dish and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes

3) Let nuts cool and eat.

I’ve found that the best time to eat them is 7-10 minutes after they come out of the oven. They’re still warm but not too gooey. So good.

I picked up some macadamia nuts the other day. I’m excited to try this with a few of them. I’m thinking coconut oil and honey with those.

Over the past few days I’ve taken a couple photos of the tasty things I eat. Pretty random and no recipes… but if you ask nice maybe I’ll post the recipes. Not that you’d need them, these are pretty straightforward.

I don’t always eat according to the rules but I usually do pretty good. These photos are of me doing good.

This is breakfast from a few days ago. A couple fried eggs on top of a pile of pulled pork with avocado chunks and some of Pedro’s salsa. Hearty and filling.

Pork stock. It’s like chicken stock but made from piggy bones. I had a big shoulder bone leftover from making the Carne Adovada so I decided to make a stock out of it. Onions, cilantro, peppercorns and a chili pepper. Simmer for hours. I think it will make a great southwest-themed soup in the future. It’s currently in the deep freezer.

Chicken breast cooked in coconut oil on a salad with pecans, a clementine, tomatoes and romaine lettuce. Lime juice and avocado oilfor dressing. Yum.

Spinach and bacon with sauteéd onions and red bell pepper. I thought it looked purty so I took a photo. This was just before I poured in 3 beaten eggs. Makes for a great breakfast.

Carne Adovada is a New Mexican dish that’s everywhere here. When we moved to Albuquerque a little over a year ago I went and got a breakfast burrito at a local place and saw that one of their burritos had Carne Adovada in it. I asked what it was and I remember the cashier had a hard time explaining it. I’ve learned since then that it’s pork marinated in a red chili sauce and then cooked in that sauce. After that first burrito I was hooked. I’ve had it maybe a dozen times at various restaurants around town but I’ve never made it myself… until now.

It’s not very labor intensive but it sure is time intensive. I found a bunch of recipes all over the interwebs and one in a cookbook at the local library. There were some differences in the recipes but they all said to marinate for at least 24 hours. Some even said to marinate for three whole days. I ended up going for two days. Luckily it’s winter time and I was able to put the big bowl in the garage rather than the fridge. It would have taken up valuable cool real estate in the fridge that I need for my vegetables.

Ingredients:

20 dry red chili peppers
1 tablespoon salt
4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon oregano
1 yellow onion
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1-2 cups of water
4 to 5 pounds pork shoulder, fat trimmed and meat cut into 3/4-inch cubes

Directions:

1) Remove stems and seeds of the red chilies and soak them in water for several hours or until rehydrated

2) When the chilies are soft, put them in a blender with the garlic cloves, oregano, onion and vinegar with enough water that the mixture is only slightly thickened (it should cling to the end of a spoon).  It is best to start out with only a small amount of water (1/2 to 3/4 cup) adding more as the mixture blends to a smooth consistency.

3) In a large bowl or pot, pour the chili sauce over the delicious hunks of pig. Cover and refrigerate for 48 hours (24 will probably work if you don’t have the time). You could also try one of the vacuum marinaters.

4) Once the meat has marinated, place it in a slow cooker along with the marinade. Cook on low for a minimum of 12 hours. This can be kept going by adding additional water as the meat mixture begins to look dry. The completed sauce should be rich and thick, not watery.

You may have seen the bundles of red peppers they hang up to dry. They’re all over the southwest. That’s where I got my peppers from but I think you can get them at most grocery stores these days. Or you can get them here.

We got a Vita Mix for Christmas and we’ve used it everyday. The thing is incredible and made short work of this chili sauce.

All the recipes I found for Carne Adovada tell you to trim off all the fat. I did this to a degree but not as much as I should have. When you leave the fat on it renders out while cooking and the sauce gets kind of weird.

I should have used a glass bowl. The white plastic is probably stained forever.

After hanging out in the garage for nearly 48 hours it’s ready to cook.

Typically Carne Adovada is rolled up in a tortilla for breakfast burritos, enchiladas, tacos… really any sort of Mexican food. But it’s good with eggs and just by itself too.

I think everyone knows by know that Bacon will make anything taste great. From brussels sprouts to caviar to dirt, bacon will give whatever it is you’re consuming that wonderfully unique, bacony flavor we all crave consciously or subconsciously. I believe we are all in a state of craving bacon many of us just don’t know it. So to make even the information you consume taste MUCH better I’m going to share with you one of my most closely guarded secrets… Bacolicio.us

Go ahead apply this marvelous invention to even the most horrific of articles, pictures and movies and yes, my good friend the bacon pulls through every time. You know that horrid picture of you that some lame facebook friend tagged you in? You bet you can look better with a perfectly cooked piece of bacon draped across your face. Go ahead. try it.

Examples:

These guys are now supermodels

This looks like a gourmet meal and

this man is a as graceful as a ballerina :)

Also, check out this article extoling the virtues of bacon.

Cheers,

Cavebrother