Mark Sisson - The Primal Blueprint Cookbook

M ARK S ISSON

WITH J ENNIFER M EIER

The Primal Blueprint Cookbook

2010, Mark Sisson. All rights reserved.

Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission of Mark Sisson.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010924523

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sisson, Mark, 1953

The Primal Blueprint Cookbook / Mark Sisson with Jennifer Meier

ISBN 978-0-9822077-2-7
1. Cooking 2. Health 3. Diet 4. Low Carb

Editor/Project Manager: Aaron Fox
Design/Layout: Kristin Roybal
Consultants: Anna Salvesen, Jennifer Zotalis, Bradford Hodgson, Reagan Smith

For more information about the Primal Blueprint, please visit www.primalblueprint.com For information on quantity discounts, please call 888-774-6259

Publisher: Primal Nutrition, Inc.
23805 Stuart Ranch Rd. Suite 145
Malibu, CA 90265

First of all, this book couldnt have assumed its present form without valuable input from tens of thousands of regular readers at my blog, MarksDailyApple.com. The insights and direction from this vibrant community guide my Primal explorations on a daily basis.

My co-author Jennifer Meier worked tirelessly to not only bring rich flavor and life to these menu ideas, but she took every single photograph in the book. Maybe her kitchen will stay clean for at least a few days in a row now! Aaron Fox, my general manager and MarksDailyApple.com webmaster, was instrumental in coordinating the efforts of everyone involved in this project, and in editing the Primal Blueprint Cookbook. MarksDailyApple.com staffers Jennifer Zotalis, Bradford Hodgson and Reagan Smith offered excellent insights to help improve the text and provided research and fact-checking support. Gratitude to Anna Salvesen for her early guidance in preparing several of these recipes. My ace designer Kristin Roybal was single-handedly responsible for the fabulous design and layout of both the text and the cover.

Special thanks to my wife Carrie and children Devyn and Kyle for allowing me the space to sometimes push the limits of accepted culinary wisdom.

Primal. Paleo. Low-carb. Gluten-free. Dairy-free. These are all at least partially descriptive of the latest revolution in cuisinea revolution that eschews grains, man made fats and other processed foods in favor of tastier, more natural fare. Its also a revolution that promises to let you enjoy sumptuous feasts of some of natures most satisfying foods, while allowing you to almost effortlessly lose excess body fat, improve energy levels, get sick less often and possibly even live longer.

Long ago, our hunter-gatherer ancestors feasted off the landand sea. Foraging, fishing and hunting for their meals, they evolved to thrive on whatever they could pick, catch or spear. As a result, theirs was a rich and varied diet of plentiful meat, seafood, fowl, fresh vegetables and fruits, and wild nuts and seeds. With this natural bounty came a veritable trove of nutrients: copious antioxidants, polyphenols and minerals, ample protein, nourishing and sustaining fats. These are the nutrients our genes expect from us at every meal, the nutrients that ensure that we will be lean, fit, and healthy.

Fast forward to 10,000 years ago, and human health in much of the world took a decisive turn. The advent of the agricultural revolution overturned some 150,000+ years of hunter-gatherer sustenance. Grains, the centerpiece of cultivation, now largely supplanted the nutrient-rich foraging diet. As archeological evidence reveals, human health and stature took a blow with this nutritional downgrade. Despite this shift, the evolutionary hunter-gatherer blueprint continued to be passed down through each generation and, in fact, governs our bodies to this day.

More than ever now, we live in an aberrant culinary universe. Our cultures penchant for sugars, grains (including whole grains) and processed foods constitutes a strikingand costlyincongruity between what our bodies evolved to thrive on and what we actually feed them. We see the results in the surging lifestyle diseases that plague us today: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, autoimmune disorders and more.

The answer, of course, lies in re-harmonizing our diets with our abiding evolutionary genetic mandate. This is exactly the heart of the Primal Blueprint, a constellation of lifestyle principles that seek to realign our daily life with our inherent physiological design. Informed by the elegant logic of biology, the Primal Blueprint model adapts the nutritional cornerstones of hunter-gatherer fare for the culinary tastes and unprecedented variety of the 21st century. I think youll find that the recipes in this book represent the gratifying pinnacle of that convergence.

In this collection, youll enjoy user-friendly recipes for Primal cuisine with incomparable flavor and sumptuousness as well as tips for creating your own Primal kitchen. These recipes are part of my own permanent rotation, and they never disappoint. Many of the selections in this book offer Primal versions of classic, comfortingly familiar dishes. Think succulent Italian pot roast with balsamic vinegar and herbs or rich chocolate custard. Other selections infuse popular ingredients with fresh, original tastes like tender shrimp cakes with coconut almond dressing or fried eggs over zesty green chili burgers.

Readers new to Primal eating might noticebut certainly wont misswhat these recipes dont includespecifically the grains that bulk up so many modern dishes. Despite the current love affair with whole grains, the fact remains that they provide few nutrients and introduce substances like gluten, lectins and phytates that disrupt our physiology rather than support it. Their minimal amount of protein, micronutrients and fiber are more efficiently obtained through more nourishing sources like antioxidant-rich vegetables and fruits and hearty meats. After all, it really isnt the grains themselves we relish in dishes but the savory sauces and meats, the flavorful herbs and veggies and other toppings that we add to them!

Youll also find that another staple of the modern diet, dairy, plays a limited and optional role in Primal recipes as it did for our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Although some dairy foods like pastured butter and aged cheeses can offer outstanding flavor and richness to Primal dishes, the preponderance of dairy in our modern diet again often displaces foods to which our genes are perhaps better adapted. The occasional and intentional use of dairy ingredients like pastured butter and cream in these recipes highlights their best nutrition and taste; however, non-dairy substitutions offer flavorful alternatives for those who dont wish to include dairy.

What you will find and truly savor in Primal fare, however, will reward both your senses and well-being. Welcome to a whole new eating experience: its all about fulfillmentand vitalityfrom here on out!

Variety equals optimum nutritionand taste. The typical modern diet revolves around a depressingly narrow selection of foods more limited than even our parents and grandparents enjoyed. The restriction not only diminishes the nutritional value of our meals, its frankly unsatisfying. Primal cuisine restores our ancestors culinary abundance and then some by taking full advantage of a wide-ranging 21st century assortment of meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and herbs. With the likes of rosemary and bay-infused roasted lamb, tangy herb and caper marinade, and blackberry ginger mocktails, dinner will never be the same old, same old again.