18-01-2014
Like a red “B”eer cream… by Matteo Chiaudrero, chef at Tenuta La Cascinetta in Buriasco (Torino). This is the unique sweet recipe (the content is the end of a Birra Moretti bottle) that closed the mini-menu for the jury of Premio Birra Moretti Grand Cru 2013
How can you include beer in pastry-making? I needed an idea and the first thing that came to my mind was brewer’s yeast, which is rich in vitamin B, good for the liver. Hence the idea: a dessert that would be good for the liver while using beer. I increased the presence of vitamin B by using wheat germ (for the sweet part) and flax seeds (for the crispy note), the beer, instead, had a texture that reminds one of jam. Using mint and hop, together with white chocolate, I gave an aromatic character to the dessert.
Like a red “B”eer cream… Recipe for 10 people
INGREDIENTS For the cream with white chocolate and hop 270 g very fresh cream 200 g Birra Moretti La Rossa 57 g white sugar 3 g dehydrated hop 60 g white chocolate 1,5 g agar agar
Beer as ingredient: Birra Moretti La Rossa. Beer match: Birra Moretti Doppio Malto
For the liquid Birra Moretti La Rossa gelatine 350 g Birra Moretti La Rossa 0,9 g iota
For the brewer’s yeast and cherry honey ice-cream 2 l fresh milk reduced by 2/3 63 g white sugar 80 g cherry honey 70 g procrema 10 g organic brewer’s yeast
For the toasted flax seeds 150 g flax seeds soaked in water at 60°C and toasted in the oven at 130° for 30 minutes
To finish fresh mint flowers and seeds 2 drops of mint essence obtained by centrifuging the fresh leaves
METHOD Bring the fresh cream, the sugar and hop to the boil over a low heat, and as soon as the sugar has melted, pour the cream over the white chocolate. When the cream is smooth, add the cold Birra Moretti La Rossa and the agar agar. Put back on a very low heat and bring to the boil as slowly as possible. Cool the cream to reach room temperature. Blend, strain and put into a pastry bag.
Matteo Chiaudrero, chef of Tenuta La Cascinetta in Buriasco (Turin). Photo by Francesca Moscheni
Leave the flax seeds in water for two hours, dry them and toast them in the oven at 130°C for half an hour. For the cold mint extract, carefully clean a handful of soft mint leaves. Blanch them in water for a few seconds and then put them in the ice right away. Using a mechanic centrifuge, extract the water from the leaves. Distil the obtained water using a chinois wrapped with kitchen paper. In a bowl, put the drops of transparent extract. Form a game of cream bubbles, counting three drops of wheat germ every two drops of cream with white chocolate and cream. Put the mint flowers and a few tender leaves on as many drops as possible, using a pair of kitchen tweezers. Pour three tablespoons of beer gel over them and cover with a generous dose of crispy flax seeds. Finish with a tablespoon of yeast ice-cream and serve.
The recipes and the best moments of the second edition of Premio Birra Moretti Grand Cru
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