The Organic Chef: Canadian Chefs Harvest the Best of Farm and Field

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Fruits, vegetables, and meats, either produced by ecologically
responsible farming methods or harvested from the wild are the focus of
this recipe collection.

Chefs from tony restaurants across Canada have contributed recipes that
glorify the organic ingredients indigenous to their region and prove
that the products of Canadian farms do not have to result in a boring
cuisine. Given the emphasis on local specialties, many of the recipes
are not practical outside their region: how many readers have access to
medallions of caribou, loin of wild boar, morels, or black pansy petals?

Even in the company of such concoctions as oysters in nasturtium flower
butter, prairie pheasant with wild berry chutney, and purple potato and
garnet yam terrine, there’s one recipe that deserves recognition for
having single-handedly captured the very essence of
yuppiedom—“warmed Canadian goat cheese with arugula and a sun-dried
tomato vinaigrette.”

Each recipe is introduced by a brief note highlighting the chef and/or
some feature or ingredient key to the recipe. Breads, soups, fish,
poultry, meat, vegetables, salads, and desserts are included, with
approximately equal emphasis. There is a directory of sources for
organically grown foods and a rather inadequate index.

The recipes are determinedly upscale and many are sufficiently complex
to challenge the average home cook. While not likely to receive much use
in the average kitchen, the book provides some enjoyable reading—and
refutes any suggestion that Canadian cooking must be stodgy.