Pork, Jerusalem artichokes and beer

During the finals of the fourth edition of Premio Birra Moretti Grand Cru, the special mention for the dish that best interpreted beer as an ingredient went to Nicholas Bonati, with the recipe we present hereby. The young under-35 chef speaks about his mini-menu as the expression of his professional career until now.

I chose raw materials that are less used, such as pork belly, and created special pairings with Jerusalem artichokes and ginger.
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Pork, Jerusalem artichoke and beer

Recipe for 4 people:

INGREDIENTS
For the pork belly
1 kg pork belly
1, 5 l Birra Moretti “Zero”
2 garlic cloves
50 g ginger

For the Jerusalem artichoke and ginger millefoglie
500 g Jerusalem artichoke
200 g ginger
100 g clarified butter
10 g salt

For the beer sauce
Cooking jus

For the salt
50 g salt
250 g Birra Moretti La Rossa
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METHOD
For the pork belly
Put the meat in a marinade made with Birra Moretti “Zero”, garlic and ginger. Leave to rest for 24 hours at 3°C, massaging the meat every 6 hours. After this, place the meat with the marinade on a baking tin and cook it in a press at 82°C for 12 hours. Once the cooking is completed, keep it in the press and bring it back to 3°C, then put it into a vacuum pack and regenerate it in a Roner at 70°C for 10 minutes. To finish the dish, remove from the vacuum pack, heat up a pan and when this is very hot place the belly on the fat side so it becomes crispy.

For the Jerusalem artichoke and ginger millefoglie
Peel the Jerusalem artichoke and the ginger. Cut them into thin chips using a mandolin knife, then put the Jerusalem artichokes in water. Drain them. Melt the clarified butter and using your hands make the butter stick to each chip. Salt and start to create some layers inside a baking tin. On top of each Jerusalem artichoke chip put a ginger chip and continue until you obtain the desired height. Place a sheet of baking paper on top, put it into a press in a baking tin with a weight and cook at 155°C for 45 minutes. Once the cooking is completed, leave it to cool and divide into portions. When dishing out, heat it up in the oven at 145°C for 8 minutes and then under a salamander for 1 minute.

For the beer sauce
After having cooked the belly, remove the fat from the cooking jus, strain it in a Chinois and reduce it slowly until the liquids and fats are mixed, so as to obtain a lucid and tasty sauce.

For the salt
Put it into a steel box and add the beer. Place it close to a source of heat until the beer has evaporated and the salt as acquired all of its flavour.