I didn’t think it was possible to top The Art of Living According to Joe Beef, and yet here we are. With more recipes and more off the wall ideas to make you fall madly in love all over again, Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse: Another Cookbook of Sorts nails it. I mean there’s a recipe for soap!

There’s a chapter insert dedicated to the cellar and features recipes for canning and preserving. While the apocalypse is metaphorical, I’m a firm believer in knowing how to cut it on your own sans grocery store (at least for a day or two). The insert had me instantly transported back to my Grandma’s cold room filled with shelves of pickled veg and preserved fruit. Although my Grandma wasn’t making pickled pork butt or deer necks mind you. Other chapters are dedicated to over the top Sunday dinners, PBS cooking shows, Joe Beef and Liverpool House restaurants, as well as the history of Montreal and Quebec’s Christmas in July traditions.

Let’s be clear. The recipes aren’t from your conventional cookbook collection. Some recipes I find more thought provoking than a sense of wanting to run out and cook it tomorrow. While other recipes I want to make ASAP, but it’s not the most practical to attempt financially. I’m probably not going to cook horse, however, I would sell my left foot to be able to make the Gateau Renverse aux Truffes-just once. Yet, there are several I can’t wait to dig into. Chaga ghee has me super curious, and I know I would love to take a stab at making smoked apple cider vinegar for fun. I think that might be the point. Have fun.

This cookbook is so much more than a simple collection of recipes. It’s a humous reflection of our food culture, and nudge to reconnect to the kitchen, our families and things that grow in the backyard. So if you’d like some entertainment and a slap in the face to get off your phone and spend quality time with good people, good food, oh and good wine, this book is for you!

Speaking of wine. I naturally started with the Wine Gums recipe. I was having some issues with my candy molds, and opted to make the recipe into a small wine gum bundt cake. Who wouldn’t love a wine cake?? Promptly served with friends while watching hockey of course.

Wine Gums

Excerpted from Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse by Frédéric Morin, David McMillan and Meredith Erickson. Copyright © 2018 by Frédéric Morin, David McMillan and Meredith Erickson. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

We grew up on Maynard’s wine gums (favorite flavor: cassis).

Wine gums are on our dessert list, mostly at Vin Papillon but sometimes at Joe Beef: a little plate of six to eight wine gums per table to end the meal. We have experimented with many different wines and all have worked. It seems reducing wine with sugar is fail-proof.

Vanya was once dared by a tedious wine fan to blind taste our wine gums:she nailed three out of five.

You will need: One or more silicone chocolate/jelly/ candy molds

• 8½ sheets (17 g) leaf gelatin

• 1 cup (250 ml) wine

• ⅓ cup (70 g) sugar

• ⅛ cup (25 ml) liquid pectin

• Natural food color (optional)

1. Plunge the gelatin sheets into a large bowl of cold water and let sit for 10 minutes until softened.

2. In a small saucepan, combine ½ cup (125 ml) of the wine and the sugar. Warm until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes on medium heat. Do not bring to a boil.

3. Pick up the gelatin and gently squeeze it, removing the excess water. Place the gelatin in the pan, whisking until dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the pectin and whisk some more.

4. Pour in the remaining ½ cup (125 ml) wine and stir. Transfer to a small jug or other pouring vessel.

5. Place your wine gum mold(s) on a sheet pan. Carefully pour the wine gum mixture into the individual cavities all the way to the top. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 6 to 8 hours.

6. When ready to serve, take a toothpick and carve around the top edges of each gum, as you would with a knife to unmold a cake, then push the individual cavity inside out to release the gum. This enables you to get that true wine gum form, perfected. Keep refrigerated in an airtight container. Best eaten fresh.

Note Tasting jokes aside, we suggest these varietals for your gum-making adventures: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, and Savagnin.