Paleo Perfected: A Revolution in Eating Well with 150 Kitchen-Tested Recipes

by America's Test Kitchen (editor)

Featuring 150+ creative paleo recipes and extensive nutritional guidance, America’s Test Kitchen goes beyond steak and bacon to reveal the many possibilities of the paleo diet Eating paleo doesn’t have to be boring. Whether you’re a strict paleo adherent or you just want to eat paleo from time to time, this collection of foolproof, practical, and innovative recipes is an invaluable resource. We’ve tackled the challenges of cooking paleo-friendly meals that taste great—so that your time in the kitchen is guaranteed to be well spent.   Packed with test kitchen expertise, this book not only contains 150 foolproof recipes but will also teach you how to bake with nut flours, how to make a pan sauce without butter or wine, and how to make paleo-friendly pantry staples like crackers, coconut yogurt, and even barbecue sauce. With recipes that taste this good, you won’t even miss the sugar, dairy, or grains.

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

334 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 29, 2015

About the author

America's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America's Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook's Country, in 2008.

Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!

Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've recently made some big changes to my diet. It all started with a three-week challenge to eat more vegetables (and stop trying to survive on bread and cheese). I had a plan and a structure and a time-frame, and after the first week without my daily sugar dose, food started to taste amazing. Taste explosion!

I was already paging through my America's Test Kitchen stockpile to flag Paleo-friendly recipes, so I was pretty damn thrilled to discover they'd just released Paleo Perfected. It is done in true ATK style with colourful photos of every recipe as well as a detailed explanation of techniques or ingredients that they settled on to perfect that particular menu item. Also, there is a handy intro about eating the Paleo way as well as a guide to restocking your pantry and your cupboards with ingredients and tool that will help you along the way.

I'm going to update this review as I go. Here is what I've made so far:

Paleo Wraps (pg. 24) - a little difficult to get the skillet heated to the right temperature, but I blame my stovetop rather than the recipe, as the step-by-step instructions are helpful in learning how to test the skillet. The wraps themselves are light and tasty, though definitely not as sturdy as their flour and corn-based cousins.

Sweet Potato Hummus (pg. 35) - delicious! I can't get enough of this stuff, and it's so easy to make. The sweet potato is baked in microwave, so this can be from your grocery bag to your mouth in under fifteen minutes. Hands-on time is like thirty seconds to throw it all in the food processor. The kids snarf this down.

Kale Chips (pg. 40) - Nutritionally, I was super excited to make these for my chip-eating husband, and they were good for like ten minutes after they came out of the oven, but then they seemed to wilt and become chewy and tough. I probably didn't dry them well enough before baking, but I'm not going to make them again. Not enough of a flavour delivery for the work involved. I'd rather eat my kale in a salad or an omelette.

Ultimate Beef Stew (pg. 141) - A little time-consuming - I had to seek out marrow bones and celery root - but the payoff was in the flavour. Rich and meaty, so tasty. When I make this again, though, I will add more carrots, and I'll probably sub in white potatoes for the celery root. That stuff is way too expensive!

Shepherd's Pie (pg. 167) - I used store-bought beef broth so this came together relatively fast, and if you try not to fool yourself that the mashed cauliflower topping is going to taste like potatoes, it's a rich, savoury comfort food worthy of a spot on the weekly rotation. Even my kids ate it.

Brussels Sprouts and Bacon - As soon as I saw bacon in the title, I thought, "yes," and these were so delicious that I immediately bought another 2-lb bag from Costco. I've only ever had Brussels sprouts once in my life, and they came out of a microwave pack and were so disgusting, I thought they would forever be on my "do not" list. But now I'm a convert. I made my kids try them...because that's what good moms do.

Fish Chowder - Fish is not my cooking strength, but it's pretty straightforward in a chowder format. Puréed cauliflower substitutes for heavy cream, but the texture doesn't suffer; it's still thick and creamy. The resident chowder expert asked for seconds, and when I make it again, I will definitely double the recipe.

[Jennifer Barr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love cookbooks. I collect them. This one disappointed me. The problem is these cooks who developed these recipes are not paleo. They are professional conventional cooks trying to replicate popular conventional dishes in a paleo format. They're following "the rules", so to speak, with ingredients, but they're missing the point.
People turn to a paleo diet for a variety of reasons but mostly because health is a primary concern. This diet is concerned with nutrient density, gut healing, and lower carb weight loss, among other benefits. These are the benefits that are lost on these cooks as they try to make every recipe a "perfect" paleo version of North American meals. So all the baking is filled with starches, they recommend discarding the giblets when making broth, and they thicken mayonnaise with agar agar, which is hard on the digestion. My mayo recipe is very simple and requires no thickeners, if it did, I would likely use gelatin, which is very nutrient dense and healing for the digestion. I've never seen agar agar in a paleo recipe before. These are just a few examples of what you get when you buy a cookbook made by people who don't live by the example they're profiting from.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent marriage of America's Test Kitchen standards and experimentation with a fine variety of Paleo foundation recipes and general recipe diversity. Even a few new tricks. Emphasizes quality ingredients and best clean sources in the way to would expect from any quality paleo book.

Unexpectedly, as I have all the standard paleo cookbooks, I plan to cook my way through this one.

This is a fairly strict view of paleo eating, with no potatoes included but ghee allowed. There is no alcohol even in cooking, though wine vinegars are used. Surprisingly and perhaps refreshingly, there is no section for desserts, sweets, and treats. Aside from a paleo wrap, roll, pie crust and cracker, there is little paleoification of standard grain-based eating. It doesn't sweeten Paleo by sweetening Paleo.

Not much emphasis on organ meats here, though there is detailed coverage of pate, and nothing on fermenting. There is no discussion of "cheat" tolerances or 80/20 rules, or "safe starches" or autoimmune protocol or macronutrient rations or other variations on paleo-style eating. Eggs are used extensively even in non-egg-centric recipes, so it may not be as friendly to egg intolerances as some might require.

It's straight down the line meat, fish, and veg for the most part, with lots of eggy breakfast options and a number of interesting appetizers, done flavorfully and healthfully and in the style of contemporary, somewhat multi-cultural, American tastes for flavors and recipe styles. Nothing revolutionary or wide-ranging, but solid and comprehensive, attractively presented, and appealing not just to look at but to work through in a kitchen.

[Diane Fogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth a look or two. Definitely a book I would read again. Full of lots of great information!
Lots of good recipes to chose from. I found several I copied for our use. For instance New England Fish Chowder, Sweet Potato Gratin, Cauliflower Rice and Beef Jerky just to name a few. There are recipes I would never use, but that's only because they aren't to my taste preferences. Not only are they Paleo, but they are gluten free as well, which is why I was looking to begin with. We are not fans of Spaghetti squash so I didn't copy any recipes with it in, but they do look interesting. However I wouldn't get my hubby to eat them, lol.

[Bonnie Brzozowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have used the blueberry muffin, cashew dip, and seeded crackers recipes in this and all have been fabulous! The blueberry muffins are the best paleo version I've ever had and the dip and crackers are perfect. Many other recipes look great and I will definitely be trying them. This book is a really good overview of all the key recipes you need to make paleo work (e.g. broth, condiments, ghee). The recipes are surprisingly simple.

[Amanda Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the way ATK's staff explained why they did things the way they did and the science behind the recipes, but each recipe had a TON of ingredients and almost every recipe included ghee. They even had a recipe for ghee just in case you want to buy a crap ton of butter on your paleo diet?

There were a few recipes I would like to try, but overall I think this might just not be the go-to recipe book for my home.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes are not original, but I loved that they discussed why the recipe worked and when it did not. I found it interesting that they spoke of how to "grind" your own ground pork and beef. I am looking forward to using the shrimp ceviche recipe.

[Francelia Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Read

This book is definitely a book that I have not regret buying. The recipients are easy to follow and tasty. My family enjoys all of the dishes and I am looking forward to trying more receipes

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't see any revolutionary techniques, but this is a solid collection of real food recipes with the same scientific approach and attention to detail I expect from ATK.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes might be perfected but they aren't practical.

[Wendopolis · Rating 2 out of 5]

No nutritional information, which is a major fail. When catering to a specific diet, there definitely needs to be a breakdown for each recipe.

[Karen Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many ingredients, so little time!

[Allison Altepeter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how ATK explains things. Hubby and I use to tune in on PBS and yes, we get cooks illustrated magazine. But having eaten Paleo for years and now transitioning to strict keto (low carb Paleo), this cookbook leaves much to be desired. Why no canned tomatoes but tomato paste is fine? Why the stress on fresh (ie expensive) when frozen works? Why add flours and honey to so many recipes?

As another reviewer commented: the research team that created these recipes didn't really research the 'why' behind the diet so much as memorizing what they thought were the rules. For those familiar with Paleo, I'd recommend this book for a few recipes - seafood chowder, making mustard, liver pate, some info on cutting veggies, etc. It's worth a check out from the library or the $2 I spent at Goodwill.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've checked out possibly all of the Paleo books from my library system which as 27 branches, so yeah, a lot! This is one of the best ones I've found yet.

There are pictures of every dish, the instructions are simple and the recipes don't require you to comb amazon to purchase an exotic ingredient you'll only use for one recipe.

I'm purchasing this book for my home. This is a huge deal! I don't buy cookbooks! I copy recipes from them but don't buy them. That's how great this one is!

[Josianne Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually read the magazine version of this, with only 73 recipes. I always like the explanations given by the Test Kitchen editors on how they came up with the recipe. Unfortunately, there's a lot of tomatoes in this recipes

[Marcie Marzullo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical meals and pictures for each recipe.

[Tonya Kockx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great recipes and good, clear instructions

[Yvette Barton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually really like America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, but this one was meh. I made 10 recipes from it and would only bother repeating one of them (the Korean-style beef stir fry).

[Kym · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paleo Perfected is a wonderful mash-up between a fairly restrictive diet and the cooking geniuses at America's Test Kitchen. The ingredients and preparation techniques are doable for the home cook. Some ingredients may need to be ordered online if recipes are being put together in a small town without a health-oriented store. Each recipe includes a photo, and most include variation ideas. Because it is from ATK, the recipes are tested and refined to perfection. Just like the title suggests. This cookbook is a keeper!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most recipes are too complicated.