Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse
Frederic Morin, David McMillan & Meredith Erickson
In their much-loved first cookbook, Frederic Morin, David MacMillan and Meredith Erickson introduced readers to the art of living the Joe Beef way. Now they're back with another deeply personal, refreshingly unpretentious collection of 150 new recipes, some taken directly from the menus of Fred and Dave's acclaimed Montreal restaurants, others from summers spent on Laurentian lakes and Sunday dinners at home. Think Watercress soup with Trout Quenelles, Artichokes Bravas and Deer Beer Belly — alongside Smoked Meat Croquettes, a Tater Tot Galette and Squash Sticky Buns.
Also included are instructions for making your own soap and cough drops and guidance on stocking a cellar with apocalyptic essentials — Canned Bread, Pickled Pork Butt and Smoked Apple Cider Vinegar — for throwing the most sought-after in-bunker dinner party.
In this book filled with recipes, reflections and ramblings, you'll find chapters devoted to the Quebecois tradition of celebrating Christmas in July, the magic of public television and Fred and Dave's unique take on barbecue (Brunt-Enf Bourguignon, Cassoulet Rapide), as well as ruminations on natural wine and gluten-free cooking and advice on why French cuisine rocks at a dinner party. (From Appetite)
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From the book
The point of a prologue is to make overarching sense of the chapters, to lay out the sequence of what you're about to read. To pop the hood and preview what's inside. But I'm not going to do that. Because this book is simply about where we are now.
Surviving the Apocalypse was a theme we dreamt up in 2014. We're well aware there have been a few instances (some extreme weather, more-than-extreme elections) over the last couple years when it seemed survivalism and talk of impending doom had jumped the shark. The cars were packed and the E.T. suits were zipped. The zeitgeist seemed to be closing in on us. Maybe the world was actually going to end. But this book was never about the headline.
This book is about how to build things for yourself.
This book is about how to make it on your own.
From Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse by Frederic Morin, David McMillan & Meredith Erickson ©2018. Published by Appetite.
What inspired this cookbook
"We're at a point in our lives at the top of the Joe Beef pyramid and the five restaurants we own — as well as Fred having three kids and myself having three kids — where there's this burden of leadership and this daily anxiety of making sure all the bills going to get paid, that all the customers are going to be fed, that our children will get to their hockey games and swimming competitions. It's made Fred and I reclusive.
"We're surrounded by people and forced to live this extroverted lifestyle, but on the other hand we've doubled down on being introverted somewhat and being prepared for the restaurants closing or being prepared for a snowstorm or being prepared for the roof to cave in or being prepared to get our kids out of this city and up at the lake and living off the grid quickly. It's made us crazy." — David McMillan
Read more in their interview with The Next Chapter.