Featured Recipe: Hot Oysters on the Radio Serves 4
Ingredients 12 big, meaty oysters
Coarse salt for partially filling pan
4 slices bacon, finely diced
¼ cup (120 g) peeled and finely diced small potatoes
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup (80 ml) whipping cream (35 percent butterfat)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
¼ cup (30 g) finely grated aged Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper
¼ cup (30 g) dried bread crumbs
¼ cup (55 g) unsalted butter, cut into 12 equal pieces
Instructions 1. Shuck the oysters, pouring the liquor into a cup and keeping the oysters on their bottom shells. Set the oysters and liquor aside. A good trick for cooking the oysters is to fill a big cast-iron frying pan about half full with coarse salt, put it in the oven, and preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C), then heat the pan for an extra 15 minutes. This will help to accelerate the cooking process.
2. Place the potatoes and salted water to cover in a small pot over medium-high heat. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until slightly softened. Drain the potatoes, let cool, and pat dry. Meanwhile, in another frying pan, crisp the bacon over medium-high heat until light brown. Add the potatoes to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes, or until tender. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat.
3. In a bowl, rapidly whisk together the egg yolks, the cream, and whatever oyster liquor you were able to gather. Add the chives, Cheddar, a pinch each of salt and pepper, and the bacon-potato mixture and whisk to mix. Divide evenly among the oysters, spooning it on top. Dust the tops with the bread crumbs, then finish with a piece of butter.
4. Pull the cast-iron pan out of the oven and carefully nest the oysters in the hot salt. Return the pan to the oven and cook for 4 to 7 minutes, or until the tops start to turn golden. Serve immediately.
Finalist, IACP Awards 2012, Chefs & Restaurants Category
Winner of Food52’s Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, 2012“As I leafed through the pages I came to be charmed by their story and the unconventional way the book is laid out. There is a sense of history to the book and their deep love of Montreal is evident throughout. There is richness in detail and usually a lovely idiosyncratic story for each recipe that makes the book as much of an engaging read as a straightforward cookbook.”
—Judge Alice Waters, Food52’s Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, 2012
“One of the best cookbooks of the year. . . the stories by Frédéric Morin and David McMillan are worth the price.”
—Edward Ash-Milby, Buyer at Barnes & Noble
“This bizarre and spectacular book isn't like the other on my list—but then again, it's not much like any other book I know of, cooking-related or otherwise. . . a kind of artist's statement for an idiosyncratic and unlikely restaurant.”
—Mother Jones, Favorite Cookbooks of 2011, 12/3/11
“Proof of Morin's and McMillan's creative culinary genius.”
—USA Today, 11/22/11
“Joe Beef is a Montreal restaurant worthy of a special trip north, as David Chang attests in his foreword to this “cookbook of sorts.” The free-form tome embodies the delicious chaos of the place, and the eccentric interests and oversize appetites of the men behind it—chefs and co-owners Frédéric Morin and David McMillan. There’s history here, including the tale of Joe Beef himself, the 19th-century Irish immigrant, Canadian tavern owner and “friend of the working man” for whom the restaurant is named. In addition to recipes, there are chapters on the history of Montreal eating (spotlighting the
casse-croute tradition of ramshackle snack shacks) and on trains—old-school rail travel being one of Morin’s enduring obsessions.
Cook this: Spaghetti
homard-lobster in bacon-brandy cream; stuffed dining-car calf liver in Parmesan-mustard crust; Joe Beef foie gras and cheddar cheese “Double Down.”
—Time Out New York, The Season's Best Cookbooks, 11/15/11
“I believe everyone should eat at Joe Beef at least once. And I think everyone should buy this cookbook.”
—Food Republic, 11/14/11
“Inventive, meaty, badass cooking. And with these chefs, you get the sense that food and only food is what matters.”
—BonAppetit.com, BA Daily blog, 10/18/11
“Beautiful, hip, both feminine and masculine at the same time. . . . The book conveys an entire atmosphere, a way of relating to food, yes, but also time, and love, and communication. The recipes are sexy, but in the way that Montreal is sexy. If you have been to Montreal, I'm guessing you know what I mean.”
—Eating from the Ground Up, 10/11/11
“If one judges a cookbook by its idiosyncrasies, this fall's best comes from Canada.
The Art of Living According to Joe Beef, by Frédéric Morin and David McMillan, will teach you how to cook a horse steak, make absinthe, tour Canada by train and cure a hangover (kale with bacon and fried egg). . . . But what makes this cookbook so great—and Momofuku Ko chef David Chang's "favorite restaurant in the world," according to his foreword—is the confidence, humor and lack of pretense that allows Morin and McMillan to serve a mound of caviar next to a martini garnished with a Vienna sausage. Oh, those Canadians.”
—Departures, 9/15/11
“This book, from the folks behind the Montreal restaurant David Chang calls his "favorite restaurant in the world," covers a fantastic range of topics. Sure, there are recipes, but there is also a history of the restaurants of Montreal, a paean to the trains of Canada, "Le Grand Setup de Caviar," a thirty ingredient smorgasbord, a martini recipe that calls for a Vienna sausage garnish, and plans for building a smoker yourself.”
—Eater National, 9/12/11
“From the acclaimed Montreal restaurant come personality-packed tales of food and drink, like instructions for building a smoker and distilling absinthe.”
—DETAILS, The Year's 10 Best Cookbooks, September 2011 Issue
“Touching on many of this fall's themes—and simultaneously defying categorization—is
The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts by David McMillan, Frédéric Morin, and Meredith Erickson. While it is tied to a restaurant (Montreal bistro Joe Beef), it makes nods to regular folks, too, including, for instance, instructions for building a backyard smoker. But with recipes for Swedish sandwiches, recollections of favorite train trips, and a love letter to French burgundy, this is one cookbook that—happily, for us—eschews all the trends.”
—Publishers Weekly, Top 10 Fall Cookbooks, 6/27/11
“A savvy page-turner full of meats, oysters, attitude and irreverence.”
—Publishers Weekly, 6/20/11
“Fred, Dave, and Meredith are a significant part of what makes Montreal dangerous—and delicious—to anyone who loves food. The words
Joe Beef are synonymous with good food and good times.”
—ANTHONY BOURDAIN
“This is the most amazing cookbook of the last ten years. As a longtime fan of the restaurant and its staff, I can tell you that Joe Beef is more than just an eatery. It embodies a way of looking at food and life, a zeitgeist, that I thought was impossible to capture in print. I was wrong. If you want to cook in a gutsy, honest, meat-centric, modernist aesthetic—then look no further.”
—ANDREW ZIMMERN, award-winning chef, author, and host of
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern “Eating at Joe Beef is the most heartwarming, delicious time you will have north of the border. Fred and David are truly talented artisans and gastronomes dedicated to flavor, technique, and downright old-world hospitality. Read this book; it’ll make your mouth water.”
—FRANK CASTRONOVO and FRANK FALCINELLI, chefs/owners, Frankies Spuntino
“This cookbook is crazy delicious, just like the restaurant—full of fun, flavor, philosophy, and food.”
—BONNIE STERN, founder, Bonnie Stern School of Cooking
“Fred and Dave
sont des vrais (are the real thing). They were hunting, fishing, foraging, butchering whole animals, and growing their own vegetables long before it was cool. I could go on about how these boys cook (like masters), but you’ll discover that in these pages.”
—RIAD NASR, executive chef, Minetta Tavern
“
The Art of Living According to Joe Beef captures Fred and Dave’s complete vision: their unique style of cooking and a warm and wacky atmosphere that always seems to be ahead of the curve. This is everything we love about Joe Beef, without having to fly to Montreal.”
—VINNY DOTOLO and JON SHOOK, Animal and Son of a Gun restaurants
“Filled with historic facts, quirky cooking techniques, and food that holds nothing back, this book is overflowing with ingenuity. It reflects, indeed, the art of living according to Joe Beef.”
—CHUCK HUGHES, chef/owner, Garde Manger
