Receta Beer-Braised Pork Belly and Arugula Salad
Chef Cosmo
Goss "Hop Chef"Gail Collins, the columnist who calls
the New York Times Opinion pages home, loves a good name. One of her all-time favorites is Butch Otter,
the Governor of the great state of Idaho about whom Collins wrote: “ That is
not really the point (of her editorial) but I always enjoy writing “Gov. Butch
Otter”. For me, there's a chef's name that I enjoy writing too: "Cosmo Goss". But unlike Ms. Collins, I have a really good reason to write it. He created a dinner salad that I've made twice in a week. And not because I ruined it the first time. I just wanted more. Cosmo Goss is a chef at Publican restaurants in Chicago. Cosmo was recently
named Brewery Ommegang’s “Hop Chef”, as winner of a cooking contest centered
on--you guessed it--beer. This wonderful salad is also a salute to Pork
Belly. As if it needed one: Pork Belly
is everywhere. And proof of its
popularity is its ever-escalating price.
Mine came in at 4.99 lb. When ground pork is 3.69, you have to wonder
why 4.99 for something that looks very much like extremely fatty bacon. However, one taste of this salad, with its sweet and slightly spicy dressing, golden slices of sauteed pear, tangy arugula and pork belly braised in an artisan ale will convince
you that 4.99 is a very little price to pay. Once you’re over that hump, onto the next one,
which is the cost of the requisite ale.
Note: Father Hennepin's canoe
is perilously close to the Falls!Ommegang Hennepin hails from
Cooperstown NY. It gets its Hennepin
- name from the first European explorer to visit Niagara Falls, Father Louis
- Hennepin. The ale is “brewed with grains of Paradise, Coriander, Ginger and
- sweet orange peel” according to its label. I couldn’t find the 16 oz. size
- Cosmo’s recipe calls for. My 1 pint 9.4
- oz bottle set me back 8.99. And this was at Trader Joe’s. If I knew anything about ale, I might have
been able to find a lower priced competitor.
But there’s no question that the braise benefited from this spicy golden
brew. You can taste it in the pork belly and the braising liquid which you use to make the 'dressing' for the salad. What’s more, once you’ve extracted what you
need to make the salad, you’ll have enough left over for a glass or two of
Hennepin to enjoy alongside it. To Cosmo’s recipe I added one other
ingredient. Tiny little boiled potatoes.
This made it a dinner salad, a supremely satisfying one-dish meal. I cut the amount of pork belly in half but
kept the dressing exactly as Cosmo instructed.
Here’s his recipe which is said to serve 8. I think if it’s dinner, it serves 4.
Recipe for Cosmo Goss' Beer-Braised Pork Belly and Arugula Salad
3 lb.
boneless, skinless pork belly
1 tbsp.
crushed red chile flakes
Kosher
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
16 oz.
Ommegang Hennepin beer
3 cups
chicken stock
½ cup
sherry vinegar
3 tbsp.
maple syrup
2 pickled
Calabrian or hot cherry peppers, seeded
2 cups of
Teeny Tiny Potatoes*
2 pears,
thinly sliced
2 cups
baby arugula
*Trader
Joe’s name for them. Substitute the
smallest red or yellow potatoes you can find, cooking them whole and cutting
them in quarters.
Rub pork
with chile flakes, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet; chill 2 hours.
2.
Heat oven
to 325°. Heat ¼ cup oil in a roasting pan over medium-high heat. Pat pork dry
with paper towels; cook until browned, 10–12 minutes. Add beer; cook until
reduced by half, 4–5 minutes. Add stock; boil. Bake, covered, until pork is
tender, 1–1½ hours.
Let pork cool; cut into 2" pieces.
Purée ½
cup pan drippings, plus vinegar, syrup, peppers, and salt in a blender.
4.
Put the
potatoes into a saucepan, cover them with an inch of water and boil for 15 to
25 minutes until they are tender where pierced with a knife. Cut them in halves or quarters depending of size of potatoes you used. Transfer to a
bowl.
5.
Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Cook
pears until golden, 4–6 minutes; transfer to a bowl.
6.
Add remaining oil and pork
to skillet, and cook until brown and slightly crisp, 5–7 minutes. Add vinegar
mixture; cook until sauce is thick, 2–3 minutes.
7.
Transfer to bowl with pears
and add potatoes and arugula; toss to combine.