Beyond Bacon: Paleo Recipes that Respect the Whole Hog

by Matthew McCarry, Stacy Toth, Paleo Parents

Beyond Bacon pays homage to the humble hog by teaching you how to make more than a hundred recipes featuring cuts from the entire animal. While bacon might be the most popular part of the pig for those following the paleo diet, there is a plethora of other delicious and nutrient dense cuts to enjoy.

Pastured pork is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), the "good fats" our doctors want us to eat - not to mention high in Vitamin D, a deficiency for most Americans. Beyond Bacon breaks the myths behind this often eschewed meat and shows you how create delectable dishes that are grain-, legume-, dairy-, and refined sugar-free. Beyond Bacon allows you to improve your health and the environment by focusing on sustainable swine.

Don't let the dried out pork of your youth scare you away! All the recipes in Beyond Bacon are elegant yet approachable, making it the ultimate cookbook for the foodie in you. You'll In Beyond Bacon , Stacy and Matt show you that there is much more to pork than just the belly. Not only are the recipes creative and inspiring, but they also teach the reader that you can enjoy food, while having great respect for the animal. Along with unbelievably delicious recipes, the photography by Aimee Buxton takes you on a beautiful journey that has yet to be seen in the Paleo community. This book is a stunning masterpiece, front to back, nose to tail. - Hayley Mason and Bill Staley of Primal Palate, authors of Gather, 30 Day Guide to Paleo and Make it Paleo

Beyond Bacon breaks down the preconceived notions of pork that many people in the United States have come to adopt. It is not just a book filled with gorgeous recipes and photos, but a truly informative resource that will push the boundaries of what you thought you knew and give reason to start using ingredients that are fresh, wholesome, and respectful to the whole hog. Beyond Bacon is an innovative cookbook and it is astounding how many delightful dishes can be made when putting the entire hog to use. I for one, am excited to step outside of my comfort zone and begin rendering my own lard, preparing sausage from scratch, and incorporating more healthy pastured pig into my overall diet. -Danielle Walker author of Against All Grain

Can you be an animal-lover AND a meat-eater? My answer is yes, and this book goes beyond (literally) what I ever could have expected to confirm that for me. We know people are crazy for bacon, but that opens the door for some seriously thoughtless consumption, tempting us to forget the lives of the animals we're eating. Stacy and Matt bring front-and-center the concepts of loving, appreciating, respecting and understanding our food. And that's what living a truly nourished lifestyle is all about. -Liz Wolfe of Cave Girl Eats, author of Modern Cave Girl

A delightful book that teaches you how to use the whole pig, which is the most affordable and environmentally sustainable choice you can make. This is what our great-grandparents used to do, and it is what we should all do again. As Matt and Stacy say, 'Out with the new, and in with the old. -Kelly Brozyna of The Spunky Coconut, author of The Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Health, Nutrition

304 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2013

Reviews

[Alexa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a few things you should know about me before reading on:
1)I cook a whole lot. I often wonder if I spend more time in the kitchen than I do doing everything else combined.
2)I am not what you would call a “reader.” I very rarely read non-fiction books for pleasure. It is hard to engage me long enough to get really interested in something unless it has a great story line.
3)I don’t like cookbooks much. I think this goes back to #1. I am not the kind of person who looks up a great recipe, goes out and gets everything I need for it & comes home to cook it up. I am more the kind who opens the fridge, freezer, and/or pantry and uses whatever I have to whip up a meal. Cookbooks just don’t usually fit into that.

Enter Beyond Bacon...
I ordered a whole pig from my favorite local farm last year and have been cooking my way through it. When Stacy announced that she and Matt were working on Beyond Bacon, I was excited to have some new ideas to add into my family’s menu rotation. I saved several of the more uncommon cuts so that I could try them using recipes in the book. When I was lucky enough to get a preview copy, I flipped through it and was immediately drawn in by the amazing photographs. The food looked incredible. Kudos to Aimee! I got it home and hoped to get some time to check it out. Then it got lost in the shuffle of life with kids. When I finally got a moment of quiet, I decided to reach for it. That was it. It had me at Bacon. I sat and read the entire thing. For several hours. I thought everything looked and sounded amazing, but still wasn’t sure about using a cookbook for my family’s meals, so I decided to look for recipes that I could make using just with what I currently had in the house. I hoped to find maybe one or two. I started writing them down and once I got to fifteen recipes I stopped writing. That’s right, over fifteen recipes with no special grocery shopping needed! Finally a book that just used wonderful real food ingredients that I buy anyway. Amazing!

Things I love about Beyond Bacon:
*Wonderful information at beginning
*Layout of the pages was very easy to navigate
*Mouth-watering pictures of every recipe
*“Notes” or “Tips” listed on many recipes were extremely helpful
*Engaging story and/or information in the intro paragraph to each recipe
*Division of the recipe sections by preparation
*Farm house aesthetic
*Recipes with real, whole foods without too many hard to find ingredients
*Focus on pastured meats from sustainable, local sources
*Encouragement and ideas for nose to tail eating
*Great index listing both recipes and ingredients
*Easy to follow instructions (even on more difficult preparations)

Things I would’ve loved to see:
*Full recipe list in one place (They are listed in the front of each section.)
*Sample menus/combinations (There are some suggestions at the bottom of several recipes, but it left me wanting even more.)
*A few more green vegetable recipes. (My family eats a whole lot of green veggies.)


I set out to start testing and wanted to start with a cut I had been saving for months, the jowls. I set myself to work on this one recipe and I worked my way through the it (with lots of help from my little kitchen helpers). Once I was done with the recipe, I had a lovely pot of broth just asking to be used and some extra fat that I had trimmed from the jowls. I flipped through again and found the egg-drop soup, lard and crispy lardons. I got four recipes out of my one jowl recipe! I love it when nothing goes to waste and we all eat well because of it. I had planned on only making that recipe before writing this, but then I just couldn’t help myself. I had to try more, so off I went to cook. We are still eating our way through all the wonderful food!

Recipes I’ve tried so far:
*Lard - Was incredibly easy to do following the instructions in the book. I have only ever done it in the crock pot before and mine has often been dark. It was a beautiful snowy white this time!
*Asian Short Ribs - These were incredible! I’m still thinking about how good they are. Darn. Now I have to go order some more short ribs.
*Egg Drop Soup - I loved this! What a wonderful way to have some protein with your healing bone broths. This will likely become a staple for me.
*Ham Pot Roast with Horseradish Mustard Glaze - Meat was flavorful and tender.
*Hawaiian Pork Roast - The sweetness of the pineapple was delicious with the flavor of the meat and spices in the marinade.
*Perfect Pork Chops - Just like Stacy says in the book, I think me and steak have officially broken up. Pork chops are my new one and only.
*Crispy Lardons - My kids ate these for an evening snack. With a spoon. Enough said.
*Green Papaya Salad with Poached Jowl - Amazing flavors in this one! Will definitely be making again!
*Mashed Cauliflower - The creaminess was delicious. I added some fresh herbs and loved it!
*Faux-Tato Salad - The only one that got mixed reviews, but we were never big potato salad people anyway. I was intrigued by cooking jicama as I have always eaten it raw. It does cook up to a potato-like consistency, but I think I still prefer it raw.
*Sauteed Green Beans - A huge crowd pleaser. Will enter dinner rotations immediately.
*Rosemary Carrot Mash - Another huge pleaser! We make carrots all the time but have never mashed them. So yummy!
*Baconnaise - I am a huge fan of mayonnaise but hate all the junk that is usually in store bought versions. I’ve made my own many times, but this one is going to be my new favorite, for sure.

Ones I plan to try soon:
*"Corn" Dogs
*Sauteed Cabbage
*Triple Chocolate Freezer Fudge
*Scrapple
*Mexican Chorizo
*Lengua Carnitas
*Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits
...Who am I kidding? I want to try them all!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't eat Paleo anymore. I wish I did, but hubby won't, and I'm not willing to cook two separate diets. Still, I enjoy incorporating as much Paleo into our diets as possible, and this was a great book for that. Fun to read, I actually devoured the whole book...cover to cover! The recipes I tried were great, although I'll admit that even this book wasn't able to convince hubby to try offal. lol

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, but then, I love bacon! Some unusual recipes to try: bacon jam and deserts using lard.
This helped me to understand the paleo diet more.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not often that I get a cookbook and read cover to cover and truly enjoy every bit.

With Beyond Bacon, Paleo Recipes That Respect the Whole Hog, I stayed late into the night reading every single page from front to back! It is so much more than just a cookbook!

By the end of my reading, I had learned a few new things I ignored about this beautiful animal, the hog, was thoroughly impressed by Stacy and Matt’s eloquent style, was salivating from all the mouth-watering photography, and had selected a number of recipes to try immediately...

Stacy and Matt, the authors of the Paleo Parents blog and Eat Like a Dinosaur (A Recipe and Guidebook for Gluten-free Kids), dedicate this book to the entire animal, from understanding how important it is that the hogs live and grow in a humane environment and how that affects the quality of their lives and their meat, to rendering your own lard, making your own cracklings, to explaining the health benefits of eating pork, dispelling the myths around the “risks” of consuming pork products, clarifying how to purchase the whole hog and recommending how to communicate with your butcher to get the right cuts for your needs, to beautifully presented, photographed and easy-to-follow recipes that include savoury dishes and sweet “thangs” that will intrigue and inspire you.

The book is more than a book with recipes; it’s a well-written, well-researched, respectful praise to this animal, this omnivore, which is perfectly in balance (when raised humanely) with its environment both for us, its predators, and for the plants and animals lower than it on the food chain.

I was thoroughly captivated by the history and health lessons, which capture all of the important facts, yet are short and concise and do not bore or overwhelm.

And yes… drum roll…the recipe section is brilliant! With over 100 recipes that are I'd say 95% new and not on the Paleo Parent's blog, Stacy and Matt cover everything from the basics, breakfast, mains, sides to of course desserts.

The first recipe that captured my eye was Schweinehaxe, a dish that we’ve had many times in Germany and with which I hadn’t thought of experimenting at home… now I will! And then there’s Piggy Pot Pies made with Homestyle Biscuits, Savory Bacon Jam, Salted Caramel Bacon Sauce, Lard Pie Crust, Dutch Apple Pie, Salted Mocha Biscotti… just to name a few that look and sound so decadent that you cannot believe they are actually Paleo and healthy for you!

And oh, there are even two recipes for ice cream, one with bacon and another with prosciutto…the thought of that is just insanely tempting…

The book is simply a work of art, beautiful from the front cover to the back. Its rustic look is elegant and inviting for the foodie in all of us. And since it's a hardcover and printed on great quality paper, it will withstand the beating it will get in my kitchen, because it's going to be one of my favourite go-to recipe books from now on...

Thumbs up! I totally recommend buying this! You will not regret it.

[Kyle Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been excited for a long long time to receive a copy of this book. And wholly pig they did not disappoint. This is way more than I expected. The recipes alone are worth the price of the book. But the recipes aren’t all that they provide you with.

The book starts off with a foreword by none other than Joel Salatin. If you don’t know who Joel is, Google it. You will love him, I guarantee it. Then Stacey and Matt layout the whole process of the pig. From why you should focus on pasture raised pig, what cuts to get to the sciencey side of benefits of the pork to the so called Hazards of pork.

The most informative part for me was the basics section. How to smoke pork, how to render lard (this is a must, it is so good), frying, making your own sausage and more. Oh and I almost forgot, pork stock might be the best stock I have ever had. I made the Egg Drop Soup, wow.

I don’t think I can remember all the recipes we have tried so far. We are lucky and have easy access to quality pork, but here is a short list.
Egg Drop Soup
Cracklin Pork Belly
Rendered Lard
Apple Bacon Stuffed Pork Chop
Perfect Pork Chops
Potato Crisps
Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits
And a few others I can’t remember.

This book is for anyone. You die hard Paleo Carnivore or your stay at home mom that is scarred to cook. I just love the respect they have given the pig. I think a lot of people miss this about their food. They just consume it and never have a connection with it. If I am speaking to you this can be your gateway. They make it comfortable and will make you feel confident when you met your farmer or butcher for the first time.

[Jennifer Knick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Bacon is broken into three sections - a love letter to pork, kitchen skills, and recipes. A love letter to pork is the science section of the book. It explains the importance of finding pastured pork and how it relates to nutrition. It also answers questions such as does pork affect your blood and will pink pork kill me. If you have any doubts that pastured pork is a health food, read this section first.

The next section will help you get started in the kitchen. It covers the kitchen basics that our grandmothers knew as common knowledge but haven’t been passed down to our generation. This is where you will learn how to smoke meat, how to deep fry without creating a greasy mess, how to stuff sausage, season bacon, render lard, and make bone broth. These skills are essential to cook real food.

The final section is over 200 pages of recipes. Main dishes include favorites such as asian short ribs, egg drop soup, apple and bacon stuffed pork chops, spaghetti alla carbonara, sweet and sour pork, and corn dogs. The side dishes round out the meals with pork fried cauliflower rice, maple sage roasted butternut squash, and prosciutto and fig salad. The dessert section is my favorite. The hard part is deciding what to make first - salted caramel bacon sauce, triple chocolate freezer fudge, dutch apple pie, or salted mocha biscotti.

Beyond Bacon belongs in all ‘real food’ kitchens.

[Alison Golden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Bacon is a beautiful book and unusually for a cookbook, has given me confidence.

Part-reference, part-recipe book it is fabulous achievement by authors Matthew McCarry and Stacy Toth.

I've always been a little scared of pork, frightened by my elders cries about its potential for disease if not cooked "through and through" and then put off by the slabs of rubbery chewiness that landed on my plate and which I was expected to slog through.

But recently, with the help of this book, I have been overcoming this fear, buying whole parts of pig directly from the farmer and dealing with such delicacies as trotters, hocks and head in addition to the more usual chops, shoulders and hams. And without question, my home-rendered pork fat is a beauteous sight to behold. :-)

The recipes are wonderfully photographed so that you will never see pork again as the cheap cut your family could afford and instead see it as a delicacy of the finest quality. This is a great addition to your cookbook library, especially if you buy your pork (and you should if you can) direct.

See this book as a love letter, an ode, a serenade to the humble pig, it will change your mind forever.

[Kari Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hog Wild for Beyond Bacon!

"With Beyond Bacon, we hope to expand your horizons so that you, too, fall in love with the whole hog." Matthew McCarry and Stacy Toth have done just that!

Beyond Bacon is more than a cookbook! The authors provide great advice on how to find pastured pork, how to order a whole pig, and then what to do with every piece. I love the stories and quotes from friends and family members throughout the book. You feel like you get to know the authors on a personal level. There are snippets before each recipe which tell you why they chose to create the recipe or a story related to that food item/recipe. Matt and Stacy know food, know what our bodies need, and provide great recipes. And of course, the food photography by Aimee Buxton is amazing!

My two favorite recipes (so far) are Grilled Cubed Pork Kabobs (AMAZING!) and 50/50 Burgers, Take 2. I am sure I will find more favorites along the way. I cannot wait to try their method for making bacon.

All in all, this is a beautiful, informative, and inspiring book that I am ecstatic to own!

[Tye Botting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often I don't like background information in cookbooks, but Beyond Bacon has just the right amount to really set the stage and get you excited to dive into the recipes that follow. When you get to the recipes, there's something for everyone - things you wouldn't normally expect, either from pork or in general. But they're all GOOD so far! I definitely urge you to try before you react. For example, the lard fudge and bacon pumpkin pancakes are wonderful! The recipes are simple and easy to follow and the accompanying photography is beautiful and mouth-watering. Of all my cookbooks, paleo or not, this is right up there with the best. This is one time I actually want to go "Jules and Julia" and work my way through the whole book. Highly recommended whether you're paleo or not. There's no compromise here and so far everything stands on its own. Buy it!

[Anne Mockus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stacy Toth & Matthew McCarry of the Paleo Parents fame have created a masterpiece. I was lucky enough to help test recipes and receive a review copy of this book. It is beautiful in every sense of the word & a great resource for everything porcine. I wouldn't have considered attempting to eat an animal nose to tail but they've made it so approachable it is no longer a foreign concept. This book is for everyone from your amateur cook to your dedicated foodie. The recipes are delicious (and I've tried more than a few) and the photographs are stunning. My mouth starts watering when I just open the book. We've had this sitting on our coffee table & everyone who's come to our house has looked through it and asked how they get their copy. While Stacy & Matt's approach is for grain free and Paleo followers anyone with a taste bud would appreciate this.

[Elisabeth]

Just received this one from Amazon and it looks like a big improvement over their first cookbook: Eat Like a Dinosaur. It's a beautiful book, much more visually appealing. I'm much more enticed to make the food. There's still a frustrating amount of non-paleo recipes in a book that purports to be paleo, I.e. those that contain sugar. (I now have a brownie craving I didn't have before cracking the book open. THAT'S NOT HELPFUL! THAT'S SABOTAGING MY EFFFORTS! /rant) But the rest looks amazing. A lot of the recipes are for odd cuts of pork and offal that you don't normally see in the store, so it seems like you need to order a half or whole pig to get the ingredients. Kind of frustrating, but maybe it'll push me to finally order that pig I've been meaning to order for years.

I haven't tried any recipes yet. I'll post back later (maybe) when I do.

[Orleatha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to keep this short and simple for those folks (like me) who just want the quick-and-dirty deets.

*This is more than a cook book – it has great information on the why’s and how’s of eating nose-to-tail as well as why a humanely raised animal is not only good for us but for the environment

*Full of swoon-worthy food-porn

*The food is AMAZING! We rendered our own lard (thanks for the tip about NOT using the crock pot); We made our own bacon (took about a week but SO worth it!) We made yucca fries with the lard that we rendered – these were so good that we made them three times in a week.

Do yourself a favor and get this book!

[Katrina Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this out at the library and have tried two recipes, the bone broth one and the soup one (a bit modified for my allergies) and they were quite tasty. I wrote down one or two others but had to return the book. I am seriously considering buying it. These people understand mouthfeel and taste.

Right now, I'm giving it a four, because I'm not sure if I can find all the ingredients and I wish I could know what might substitute well, particularly in the baking dishes.
Also the pictures of the beautiful pig feeling the rain made me teary and sad for pigs in general. I get that it's there to show they live a good life thought.

[Sammm · Rating 5 out of 5]

My copy is actually an eBook with the ISBN13 9781936608195; however, when I tried to create a page for that edition, Goodreads showed a warning saying that it cannot be done, as an edition with that ISBN13 has already had a page on Goodreads - this page. Some Kindle editions do share the same ISBN13 with their eBook counterparts, which seems to be the case here, so I figured I'll just add this edition despite I don't really have it as Kindle.

Actual review... If I do have time to write it, probably won't come up till next year. Just know that I'm very satisfied with this book. =]

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Bacon is an absolutely beautiful and well put together book. I highly recommend this cookbook, which is so much more than just recipes. Stacy and Matt do an amazing job describing the ins and outs of pastured pork and the importance of eating nose to tail. All of the recipes are great, I can't decide which one I like the most. The only bad thing about this cookbook, is that we can't keep our pork products stocked!!

[Mycala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the recipes are a bit more labor-intensive than I have time for, but if someone else had time to do all the cooking, I would happily indulge. Book has a paleo slant, so no flour or sugar in here. Some ingredients are not the sort of thing the average kitchen has stocked. (Hey, different strokes for different folks.) Found two or three things in here I wouldn't mind trying, but at this time I don't see this book going on my permanent cookbook shelf.

[Cc Cheney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Beautiful and tasty too!
I love the beautiful pictures with each tasty recipe. The recipes are not just Paleo or Primal... They are for anyone who wants to have a delicious pork dish tonight! Yiu will find favorites- sweet and sour pork but the ones you haven't tried before are the treasures! Try the bacon jam or sweet potato biscuits!
Well done Paleo Parents!

[Elisabeth Kirchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creative recipes, insanely beautiful photography, and an inspiring message about the importance of respecting your food and where it comes from; this book has it all! From biscuits to head cheese, there is a recipe for everyone and every occasion. I do not follow a Paleo diet but I still find the recipes inspiring and delicious. This cookbook is awesome and I would absolutely recommend it!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally, I could've done without the first section of the book, as I was far more interested in the recipes. That being said, I loved the recipes. Lots of detailed instructions, very clear, and nicely laid out. I have several recipes from here on our meal plan for this month, and can hardly wait to try them!

[Sile Mcdermott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything that I have tried from this book has been exceptional!

Stacy and Matt know what they're doing. This book have me the courage to order my first whole pastured animal. I don't know if I can go back to conventional pork again...

[Bethanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic cookbook! With TONS of porktastic info in the front! HIGHLY recommend this book, epseically for pork paleo cooking. I have a complete review with recipes tried on my blog. www.greenandgrateful.com

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulously written, photographed, and organized book! More than a cookbook - a very beautiful educational tool about the importance of pork and more importantly, how it fits into a healthy, whole foods diet. A great resource for bacon-lovers and foodies that want to respect the whole animal.

[Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! The photography, typography, and design of the book is absolutely beautiful! The recipes are great too, and there is a full range of recipes, including desserts-- who would have thought?! Everything I have made so far has been tasty.

[Natasha A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all the pig options, that use the whole thing. I like that there are things in here that I'll probably never eat, but that it's teaching me how to do it anyways. Can't wait to order my first 1/4 or 1/2!

[Sarah Gilroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome cookbook. To me, a great cookbook has to have inviting pictures, down to earth writing and amazing recipes. This definitely fits the bill! Plus, it's all about pork which gets left out of so many cookbooks.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE this cookbook! I can't get over some of the recipes they have made using pork. I'm not sure I'm ready to go total Paleo yet but this book would be the one to push me there. This book also makes me want to find a pastured pork!

[Barrie Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Searching for an healthy way to feed my family, I came across Paleo and found this book and I'm so glad I did! Bacon is a big hit and the fact that we can eat it is awesome! I'm not a fan of cooking but I found these recipes to be easy to follow and taste great. A winner with my family!

[Joi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many amazing recipes in this book. I especially love the use of the whole hog. My favorite go-to recipe is the pork fried rice. Praise the lard!

[Lindsey Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just picked this up at their book release party and it is so beautiful! Another Paleo cookbook I need two copies of - one to display and the other to use in the kitchen!

[Yahaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book with amazing recipes. Each one I've tried has been a hit. This book got me to use lard, which I've never done before! Now I want to get a smoker and some pork belly.