Paleo Cookbook For Dummies (45 page)

Slow cooking

Slow cooking
just may be the most perfect way of cooking on the planet. Meats and vegetables cook on low temperatures over longer periods of time than with other cooking methods, so the meat gets tender and the flavors blend together. If you're busy and like warm, hearty meals, you'll love how the slow cooker can make just about anything while you're running around with kids, toiling at work, or just relaxing.

Chapter 18
is devoted entirely to slow cooker recipes.

Steaming

Steaming is as basic at it gets: You bring a small amount of liquid to a simmer on the stove, place the food in a basket suspended above the liquid, and cover the pot. The hot steam circulates through the pot and cooks the food. This method is a great way to really lock the nutrition into your vegetables, brightening their colors and making them inviting to eat. You can even flavor the liquid by adding seasonings to the water, which brings out even more flavor as they cook.

Poaching

To
poach
foods, slowly simmer the ingredients in a liquid (such as water, stock, or broth) until they're tender and thoroughly cooked. The food retains its shape and texture without drying out, leaving it tender and delicious. Poaching is a great way to cook fish so that it's tender and full of flavor.

Grilling

Grilling
is a way to cook food over direct heat by placing the foods on a rack above a bed of charcoal or gas heated rocks.

Although grilling is certainly a warm-weather favorite and the center of many fun gatherings of family and friends, don't make it your everyday cooking method. Grilling food damages its proteins, producing carcinogens. Good evidence indicates that
heterocyclic amines
(HCAs) produced in meat cooked at high temperatures are carcinogenic. This risk increases when the meat is cooked well-done.

You can minimize your carcinogen exposure by using the following grilling tips:

Don't use grilling as your go-to cooking method.
Incorporate some of the other cooking methods in this chapter to your cooking repertoire.

Ditch the processed vegetable oils.
When using oils in marinades or directly on the grill, opt for saturated fats, which can withstand high heat without becoming rancid. Coconut oil and grass-fed butter are great options.

Incorporate lots of veggies.
When you eat grilled foods, pile on the vegetables. The antioxidants and phenols in them soften the impact of the mutations in the grilled meats.

Don't overheat.
Make sure you don't overcook or char the food, which greatly increases the carcinogens. Keep meat away from direct heat and don't let juices fall on the heat source. These juices cause flame-ups, which tend to char food.