We have been super busy the last month and haven't had time to get out an update. For this update I want to focus on why elite athletes and elite chefs both require locally sourced, seasonally appropriate produce and proteins. Basic cooking skills are a virtue. The ability to feed yourself and a few others with proficiency should be taught to every young man and woman as a fundamental skill…just as horsemanship, archery and facility with language was once considered “essential” manly arts, so too should be cooking…one might be reasonably expected to have a small but serviceable list of dishes and meals. 

You should know how to chop and dice an onion. Basic knife skills are a must. You should be able to make an egg omelet. Egg cooking demands sensitivity and touch. Given the woeful state of backyard grilling, a priority should be assigned to instructing people on the correct way to grill. No one knows how to properly grill a perfect steak – and equally important – how to rest a steak before serving. Cooking vegetables to a desired doneness is easy enough and reasonable to expect of any citizen of voting age.

Everyone should be able to roast a chicken. And be able to do it well. A standard vinaigrette (salad dressing) is something anyone can and should be able to construct. The ability to shop for fresh produce and to have some sense of what is in season, to tell whether or not something is ripe or rotten, should be tested at the same time as taking a driver’s test. How to recognize a fish that is fresh, and how to clean and filet a whole fish would seem a no-brainer as a basic survival skill.

Steaming a lobster or a crab – or a pot of mussels or clams – is something a fairly bright chimp could do. Every citizen should know how to throw a piece of meat into an oven with the expectation that they will roast it to the desired degree of doneness. One should be able to roast and mash potatoes – and make rice, both steamed and the slightly more difficult pilaf method. The fundamentals of braising and sautéing opens the door to countless other preparations. Everyone should be encouraged at every turn to develop their own modest yet unique and accomplished repertoire. - Anthony Bourdain

Potency and taste are inexorably intertwined. Top chefs and top athletes both seek the same foodstuffs for different reasons: an elite chef seeks flavor and taste above all else. The most vibrant taste is always found in the freshest ingredients. The elite athlete seeks nutrient potency above all else. The most potent produce and protein are always found in the freshest ingredients. The fresher and more natural the ingredients, the greater the vibrancy of taste and the greater the nutritional potency.

From the athlete’s perspective the better the food-fuel, the better the results. Potent, power-packed, nutrient-dense foods provide the raw building blocks needed for the construction of new muscle. Quality nutrients heal a battered body after an effective resistance training session, flooding shattered muscles with glycogen-replenishing natural carbohydrates and high BV amino-acid replenishing protein. Proper potent post-workout nutritional replenishment (replacing what the body expended during the training session) accelerates recovery. Intense training without quality nutrition is a recipe for disaster: over tonus, over training, is real.

If you insist on beating the body to a pulp, then starving it, it is only a matter of time before you break the body. Results stall when starved. At the other extreme, being overfed the wrong foods is a recipe for adding copious amounts of body fat and ruining your health. All calories are not created equal: shrimp and asparagus trump pizza and ice cream every single time. Does anyone seriously debate this? Quality matters.

Most real athletes really like to eat. Those athletes that are facile and comfortable in the kitchen are far more likely to succeed in their transformational efforts than athletes that depend on others to prep and prepare the quality food/fuel required each and every day, world without end. Those athletes that depend on mom, the girlfriend, a wife, or a local restaurant to provide them their daily nutrition are always at the mercy of others.

This is precarious and unnecessary. Basic cookery, fundamental preparation of repeating produce and proteins is not rocket science. As Bourdain eloquently and convincingly lays out, kitchen neophytes should learn at least those most basic of kitchen skills, ones that will enable them to seize control of their own culinary destiny. Why be dependent on others? Do others grocery shop for you? Do you have access to the power foods needed when you need them? Someone must obtain and prepare them. This makes things difficult and complicated.

If you can operate a can opener, you have more than enough brainpower to create a perfectly cooked, pan-sautéed, sirloin cheeseburger – with fried onions. And have it done within 10 minutes of walking into the kitchen, less wait time than carryout at the local restaurant. Season a thick burger with salt and pepper. Sear on each side for a few minutes. One burger chef trick: drop a couple tablespoons of water onto the hot burger pan when the burger is done searing. Immediately cover the pan with a lid. The steam cooks the meat to even, wonderful, still moist, final finished doneness.

Use a meat thermometer and pull the burger when the internal temperature hits 125 degrees. Let it rest for five full minutes. A thermometer creates perfect burgers every time. I put several slices of differing cheeses atop the burger when the steaming starts. Diced onions sauté alongside the burger as it cooks. I throw the onions and cheeseburger atop a buttered brioche bun, also steamed, with some sort of mustard or mayo aioli.

Check out this post on power nutrition options. It outlines preparation from steak to chicken to shrimp to veg. I have also included my recent Big Green Egg Adventure with chicken. I am always working to improve my cooking skills. Taste is king!

     

If you are a serious athlete, you need to get serious about cooking and feeding yourself. The better the food-fuel the better the workouts and the faster the recovery. Try your hand on the proteins and produce you find yourself regularly eating. That way you can assemble the kitchen tools needed and start getting in plenty of skill-building reps.  Learning how to cook is really a matter of repetition. One way to learn how to cook a hamburger properly is cook hamburgers dozens of times. Go online to get some amazing tips from real pros – and its free information. Regardless the foodstuff, repeatedly working with it hones your skills and improves results. Practice makes perfect.

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