Eloise with BLW a lot of food only gets gummed and sucked, so the more juicy it is the better. This is the same for meat, if you cut strips of meat with the grain they can hold it and suck it and get protein from the juices. Obviously you need to make sure the meat isn't over cooked and leathery or pink and about to run off your plate (I hate 'rare' meat personally) I'm only just getting the hang of getting meat tender and chicken I find the hardest as I am so paranoid about salmonella!
BLW is ideal for babies with intolerances as their GI tracts are more sensitive, so BLW will allow their bodies to adjust naturally and over time. It took my DD's body over a year to get to grips with grapes, raisins and dried apricots!
True BLW is about offering them food in both it's raw and cooked state, I didn't bother with that. But it is about letting them do it at their pace, some babies can take months to actually eat anything, others (like my DD) are gluttonous pigs from the out set! Definitely use this to complement the milk feeds, I found within weeks of starting she actually cried for solids, but like I said she was a little pig! I'm not sure DS will be quite such a breeze!
It is fun, but it is also VERY messy! I still look back at photos of DD and chuckle. I think we should start a BLW photo gallery? What do you reckon?