EDMONTON — In foodie circles across North America, it’s becoming de rigueur to assume the role of hunter-gatherer when planning the next meal.

But if you’re not actually interested in shooting, plucking and prepping your own Canada goose, you can still get a taste of the foraging life with a browse through a new culinary adventure book by Whitehorse native Michele Genest. It’s called The Boreal Gourmet Adventures in Northern Cooking. Genest will be signing copies of the book in Edmonton at Audrey’s on Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:30 p.m.

The Boreal Gourmet is part cookbook, part travelogue and part love story — a tale of the author’s infatuation with the north, the food that is foraged there, and the people from a multitude of cultures who settle and bring their food histories along with them. But lest you think that The Boreal Gourmet is only of interest if you live in the Yukon, think again. As Genest points out, the boreal forest is one of the largest intact forest ecosystems on Earth, covering 2.3 million square miles, stretching from the Yukon, all the way down through parts of Alberta and the other Prairie provinces, into northern Ontario, Quebec, Labrador and Newfoundland.

Even if you don’t live in the boreal forest (Edmonton is in the aspen parkland region), Genest includes ingredients found in other northern communities, from goose raised in Peace River Country, to rose petals and rose hips that grow with abandon in Edmonton’s own river valley.

Toronto-born, Genest is a former big-city foodie who moved to Whitehorse in 1994. A world traveller who had foraged for fresh foods while living in Greece, she was familiar with the notion of incorporating wild ingredients.

But it wasn’t until she arrived in the North (where she started out merely visiting her sister) that she became aware of the broad range of wild foods that northern cooks brought to the kitchen. And it wasn’t just elk or caribou or moose. There were mushrooms, wild greens including spruce tips, fish and soapberries with which to experiment.

“Coming to live up here, there were lots of different cultures and approaches to foods that people brought with them to the North and these beautiful, fabulous wild ingredients that people were interested in incorporating into their cuisine,” recalls Genest, 54.

Genest has hunted wild game — she went out with a group that felled a moose in 2002.

“It was quite an experience and I haven’t repeated it since. It’s a very big deal to shoot a large animal, or be there when it’s shot, and then to do the field dressing,” she says.

Less rigorous, and perhaps just as rewarding for Genest, is the annual hunt for fresh berries, including high bush cranberries (also common in the Edmonton area), wild blueberries, juniper berries and raspberries.

“Berry picking was a fall ritual among the people I knew,” says Genest, who writes a regular food column for a northern publication called Yukon, North of Ordinary.

Some of the ingredients in The Boreal Gourmet can be found with relative ease, in season, in the boreal forest. Others are tougher to get your hands on, such as the treasured birch syrup Genest discovered. She stumbled on to a producer at an agricultural fair who tapped some 80 litres of sap from birch trees in the woods of central Yukon to yield one litre of syrup. (You don’t drape your pancakes with this stuff, says Genest, who came up with ways to combine small amounts of birch syrup with ingredients such as walnut oil and cider vinegar to make salad dressing.)

While the book is a fascinating ramble if you’re interested in all manner of creative approaches in the kitchen, there are also recipes for less-exotic items such as a savoury salmon cheesecake. Some wild game dishes also work well with substitutions such as bison or beef short ribs. Still, there is something about hunting and gathering that Genest says can’t be underestimated.

“The real attraction and lure of wild food is that you can go out and pick it yourself and bring it home and cook with it and in that way participate in the landscape you’re living in. I was hoping The Boreal Gourmet would strike a chord with people across the country. You can find wild leeks in Ontario ... people in Alberta will be intrigued with what you can do with rose petals and rose hips. Wild roses provide an introduction to the whole world of Middle Eastern cuisine.”

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Braised Moose Ribs with Espresso Stout and Chocolate

This recipe is reprinted with the permission of Harbour Publishing Co.

In the likely event that you don’t have moose ribs, Genest recommends substituting bison ribs or beef short ribs. The stout is available at the Sherbrooke Liquor Store.

Makes 6 servings

2 ounces (60 grams) salt pork, blanched for 10 minutes in simmering water, cooled and diced

2 tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil

5 pounds (2.25 kilograms) moose ribs

1 large carrot, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 dried ancho chilies, crushed

1 tablespoon (15 mL) smoked paprika (if not available substitute regular paprika)

1 tablespoon (15 mL) cumin seed, crushed, and dry roasted in an iron frying pan until aromatic

1 tablespoon (15 mL) oregano

1 tablespoon (15 mL) tomato paste

25 fluid ounces (750 mL) can plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

2 bottles (341 mL each) Yukon Brewing Company Midnight Sun Espresso Stout

2 tablespoons (30 mL) birch syrup (can substitute with a combination of 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of maple syrup and one tablespoon (15 mL) lemon juice)

2 tablespoons (30 mL) soya sauce

1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt

3 bay leaves

3 squares (3 ounces/85 grams) unsweetened chocolate

juice of 1 lime

1/2 bunch of cilantro

Brown salt pork in olive oil for 10 minutes in a heavy casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove salt pork and brown ribs in batches over medium-high heat, reserving ribs on a platter.

Turn heat to medium and saute vegetables for about 5 minutes, or until they’ve softened. Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Add garlic and spices to vegetables and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add tomato paste, work in thoroughly, then add tomatoes, espresso stout, birch syrup and soya sauce, salt and bay leaves.

Stir, bring to simmer and add the moose ribs, making sure the liquid almost covers the ribs — use another one half bottle of stout, if necessary.

Put the casserole into the oven and reduce heat to 320F/160C. Cook for 3 to 3-1/2 hours. Remove from oven, cool, and store in fridge overnight.

The next day, take out the casserole about 4 hours before you’re ready to serve. Two hours before, heat the mixture to a slow simmer in a 320F/160C oven.

Finish the sauce on the stove top on low heat — first take out the ribs and reserve them on a platter, covered. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Add the lime and cilantro, return the meat to the sauce briefly to warm up, and serve. Pour extra sauce into a gravy boat for the table.

Rice, quinoa or polenta are all good accompaniments, and so is Swiss chard braised in a saute pan with garlic and balsamic vinegar.

lfaulder@edmontonjournal.com

Go to my blog, Eat My Words, at edmontonjournal.com/blogs to find out how to win a copy of The Boreal Gourmet. Entry deadline is Friday at noon and prize must be picked up from the Edmonton Journal downtown.