06-02-2014
Turbot cutlet with lager breading, a “classic” by Moreno Cedroni. The chef of Madonnina di Senigallia will open the Identità di birra day on Monday February 10th, at 10.15. He will be followed by Luciano Monosilio (at 11.05), Daniele Usai (11.55) and Luigi Salomone (at 12.45), the winner of the third edition of Premio Birra Moretti Grand Cru (photo credits www.klatmagazine.com)
In the beginning it was a guilty and adulterous fling. Then the two lovers came out into the open. Now the wedding plans are at full swing. Chefs and beer. Not just the other way of matching a dish, the B(eer) side of the glass. But also a way in which contemporary chefs interpret the hopped and malted drink as an ingredient. A shady ingredient, full of character. Sometimes a difficult one, in fact. Perhaps not very Mediterranean, someone whispers. But somehow flexible and fascinating.
The wedding between signature cuisine and beer will be certainly celebrated on Monday February 10th in Sala Blu 2 at the MiCo, during Identità Milano’s Identità di Birra section, in collaboration with Birra Moretti. Some chefs who have been studying the topic for years, will present a «hopped» version of their cuisine. Among them, Moreno Cedroni of Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigallia, someone who is at ease in avantgarde, like in a pair of old shoes. “Before it became popular – he says – when as chefs we weren’t even induced to include beer in the list, I was already offering my clients my Turbot cutlet with lager breading and the Sea bass with potato purée and black truffle and aubergines with a dark beer foam”. A match, that between beer and fish, that is pure hard-core.
Daniele Usai of Il Tino in Ostia (Rome) (photo by www.necessitafotografica.com)
Another chef to work with beer is Daniele Usai of Tino in Ostia, Rome. He often surprises his clients by offering them a craft beer as a welcome, perhaps together with some raw fish or an oyster. “In this case – he reveals – the match works very well with Morbraz, a fresh beer made with desalted ocean water, fresh and light and naturally rich in marine scents”. Ostia however, means sea. “Some types of beer are a natural match for fish. In fact I believe you can create a tasting menu in which the whole fish based meal is paired with beer”. Among the creations Usai will present in Milan, there’s a risotto in which beer “will also serve for the cooking. This is why I chose one that wasn’t too alcoholic and rich in hop, so as to get all its aroma without surcharging the dish with the bitterness of the hop flower”.
Luciano Monosilio, Pipero al Rex, Rome
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Roman, now living in Milan, sommelier, he's reporter of Il Giornale. He's been writing about taste for years