Snails and beer

Today we’re writing the first chapter of the A Tutta Birra column which will illustrate the recipes of the finalists of the second edition of the Premio Birra Moretti Grand Cru. The epilogue, on November 12th at Città del Gusto in Rome, saw the participation of 10 chefs and sous-chefs, all under 35, with their respective mini-menu, which included a savoury and a sweet dish, in which beer was the protagonist, both as ingredient and as a match. Each recipe will include the description of the dish, as thought by the chef himself. Today we start with the winner’s savoury recipe, namely that of Christian Milone from Gastronavicella at Trattoria Zappatori in Pinerolo (Turin), class of 1979. 

Snails and beer
"An artisanal brewer and his small kitchen with a specialty: snails cooked in beer. But also a dish from my land that pairs them with leeks. All this has given me the idea for a recipe that tries to create a perfect contrast between the sweetness of the leeks and the bitterness of the beer included with different textures and preparations that can totally express its aromatic qualities".

Recipe for 6 people

INGREDIENTS
for the snails
36 snails
tapioca flour
leeks

for the beer foam
1 kg of Birra Moretti Doppio Malto
2,8 g of lecithin
for the tomatoes in a beer infusion
Ripe tomatoes
Birra Moretti Grand Cru

for the malt “earth”
390 g of flour
105 g of barley malt
100 g of blended hazelnuts
25 g of Muscovado sugar
60 g of butter
75 g of Birra Moretti Grand Cru

METHOD
for the snails
Clean the snails under running water. Then cover them with lightly salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 1 and a half hours. Let them cool down under running water and remove the shell. Prepare a liquid base with water, Birra Moretti Doppio Malto and the finely chopped leeks. Place the snails in the liquid and continue to cook over a small flame for a couple of hours until the snails are tender. Filter the liquid, add the tapioca flour (140 g per 1 kg) and reduce on a low flame until you obtain a syrupy consistence.

for the beer foam
Weigh 1 kg of Birra Moretti Doppio Malto, melt the lecithin and emulsify with a blender until you obtain a foamy mixture.
for the tomatoes in beer infusion
Using some round, ripe tomatoes, cut out the inner gelatinous part leaving the seeds. Leave in the birra Moretti Grand Cru infusion for six hours. Dry on some kitchen paper when you’ll need to serve them.

for the malt scented “earth”
Mix 350 g of flour, 85 g of barley malt, 50 g of blended hazelnuts, 25 g of Muscovado sugar and 75 g of Birra Moretti Grand Cru in a Thermomix. Bake the mixture at 90°C for 9 hours. Sieve everything. Mix 40 g of flour, 20 g of barley malt, 50 g of blended hazelnuts, 60 g of butter and 3 pinches of salt in a Thermomix; at this point add to the mixture you previously prepared.

serving
Place a spoon of malt scented “earth” on the plate – possibly of porous stone – put the snails on top, the tomatoes infused in the beer and season with a little reduction of the snails’ cooking water. Finally cover the snails with a spoon of beer foam and decorate with rocket sprouts.