What happens when a leading Canadian cheese connoisseur and a top Canadian wine authority pair up to write a book? I’d tell you, but my mouth is full. The Definitive Canadian Wine and Cheese Cookbook proudly focuses on Canadian cheese and spirits — two of my favourite food groups. The culinary component of this new cookbook is written by Gurth Pretty, professional chef and food writer (author of The Definitive Guide to Canadian Artisanal and Fine Cheese). The co-writer is a Canadian and international wine consultant, Tony Aspler, an authority on Canadian wines and the author of The Wine Atlas of Canada, what many consider the bible on the subject.

This book introduces the many types of Canadian cheeses in a variety of recipes, but also pares them with Canadian wines and beers. In addition to the 100-plus recipes, there is a section on the principles of matching cheese with wine or beer. The cooking instructions and times are constructed with care and easy to follow, even for someone who is inept (like me) around the kitchen. The recipes cover the full gamut of dishes from brunch, hors d'oeuvres, main courses, side dishes, salads and desserts. Recipes range from a minimal prep time of 10 minutes to two hours. One of the most appealing aspects of the cookbook is that the usual wine snobbery is put aside. Aspler’s suggestions for almost every recipe include not a certain brand but a type of wine, beer or spirit. Aspler includes two separate lists of wine: Canadian and international. In most cookbooks, beer is an afterthought, but The Definitive Canadian Wine and Cheese Cookbook list suggestions for adventurous beer and food pairings as well.

The book explains such fundamentals as the differences between cow, goat and sheep cheeses as well as raw and pasteurized milk cheeses. There is information on various types of cheeses: soft to hard, the big bad blues and the stinky ones, as well as guidelines on how to properly buy, store and eat cheese. With the renewed interest in serving a cheese course at dinner parties, the book explains how to choose a cheese for before or after a meal, what fruits pair well with it, how to cut specific varieties of cheese and, of course, which spirits pair best.

Though the book is geared towards the adventurous foodie searching out artisan foods, it offers plenty of substitutions for the supermarket shopper who can’t find all the ingredients listed. The dishes range from dinners like the “bisonroni” with Limburger (a delicious play on the beef and pasta casserole) to courses such as pork tenderloin and cendre des pres strudel that will wow dinner guests at the most formal of occasions.

This book does its best to represent each of the provinces — even Saskatchewan, which doesn’t have any cheese producers, wasn’t left out and is represented by an exceptional bison recipe, bison and chanterelle stroganoff à la Maudite. The book is also a nice tip of the hat to Canada’s multiculturalism with some interesting takes on fusion recipes — chorizo moussaka anyone? The photos and recipes in this cookbook make it a delicious addition to any foodie, oenophile or bièrophile’s library.