Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse Review

Another Cookbook Of Sorts

David McMillan is an amazing chef from Montreal, and just like him, his cookbooks are truly amazing. Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse is the second book from Chef David, and like his first cookbook (The Art of Living According to Joe Beef) this one is just as fun and ridiculous as the first.

As once Anthony Bourdain said “The first Joe Beef cookbook changed forever what a cookbook could be. Anything that came after had to take it into account. Now, with this latest and even more magnificent beast, the rogue princes of Canadian cuisine and hospitality show us the way out of the numbing, post-apocalyptic restaurant Hell of pretentiousness and mediocrity that threatens to engulf us all. It makes us believe that the future is shiny, bright, beautiful, delicious–and probably Quebecois. This book will change your life.”

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Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Or not. Either way, you want this cookbook in your bunker and/or kitchen. Surviving the Apocalypse is full of crazy recipes! Within this pages, you will have a recipe for soap, burnt-ends bourguignon, deep-fried brains over creamed peas, and a lot more. Filled with recipes, reflections, and ramblings, in this book you’ll find diverse theme chapters. Some devoted to the Quebecois tradition of celebrating Christmas in July. As well as the magic of public television, and Fred and Dave’s unique take on barbecue (Burnt-End Bourguignon, Cassoulet Rapide).

Most of the book’s recipes could be tackled in a weekend or long afternoon,but there’s also one for sausage — “power franks” — made from bison, pork, and sheep casing, and in another exercise in excess, a four-page spread that tells the reader how to assemble a muffuletta stuffed with Époisses, ham, Comté, duck rillettes, slices of (pre-prepared) terrine, sliced black truffles, head cheese, pickled quail eggs, smoked beef tongue, and an omelet.

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At The End Of The World

If you are a Joe Beef fan, you love this cookbook, and you already know what to expect from this book. But if you don’t know Joe Beef style you should be prepared with a large kitchen, a meat grinder, some disposable income, an imagination, and low blood pressure.

In the end, whether you’re holing up for a zombie holocaust or just cooking at home, Joe Beef is a book about doing it yourself. About making it on your own, and about living or at least surviving with style.