Search Results for: truffles

Chefs can win 10 weeks of free black truffles

Posted on by David
Australian black truffle season has begun. Chefs who want to get a little inventive also have the chance to win an entire season's supply next summer—a pound of premium black truffles per week during the roughly 10-week season. I was dubious about the Aussie product until I went there, saw how they were grown, and spent a few weeks experimenting with them. We tend to think of truffles as a fall and winter product. They are. It's just that fall and winter in Australia are flipped from fall and winter in the northern hemisphere. Thanks to speedy air shipment, it's feasible to serve freshly shaved black truffles with sweet corn, tomatoes, and all those other great summer crops. Available June through August, they're not just...Read More

Truffles, cheese, and honey for dessert

Posted on by David
One of our favorite breakfast dishes in Spain is a plate of sliced Manchego cheese drizzled with honey and served with a bit of membrillo (quince jelly). For dessert, the ewe's milk tang and saltiness of Manchego pairs exceptionally well with black truffle. MANCHEGO CHEESE, HONEY & BLACK TRUFFLES Serves 2 6 oz. wedge of Manchego semi-curado (aged at least 6 months) 2 tablespoons of chestnut or acacia honey 10 grams black truffle crackers for serving Remove rind from Manchego. Lay wedge on its side and slice into 7-8 triangles of cheese. Arrange on a plate and drizzle with honey. (The easy way is to dip a butter knife in the honey and “paint” it on the cheese.) Shave black truffle over the top. Add...Read More

Decadent hamburger with black truffles

Posted on by David
Several high-end restaurants (we're talking about you, Daniel Boulud) serve a magnificent wintertime hamburger with foie gras and shaved French black truffle on top. We can't top that. When we decided to take our Australian truffle bounty and see if we could build a summer burger, we were inspired by the great bacon burger we ate last year at Cured in San Antonio. (Here's the recipe.) We knew the truffle would respond well to a bit of fat and to acid, so we plumped up the ground beef with some fattier ground pork and added a thick slice of heirloom tomato on top. Not caring to heat up the house making brioche buns (and we're not that good at baking bread), we purchased some great...Read More

Lemon risotto and Caprese salad with truffles

Posted on by David
What a luxury to shave truffles over some of our favorite summer dishes! I was surprised when several chefs suggested black truffles on a Caprese salad, but if the tomatoes have enough acidic zing, it's a match made in heaven. Our own tomatoes aren't quite ripe yet, so I have to resort to hoop house or hot house varieties. One trick to restore the “fresh tomato” flavor to these typically bland fruits is to give them a tiny sprinkle of salt, sugar, and citric acid. Citric acid is sometimes sold as “sour salt,” and is readily available in Indian grocery stores. (I mix up the seasoning in a ratio of 20 parts salt to 5 parts sugar and 1 part citric acid and store it...Read More

Stretching black truffles with alioli

Posted on by David
The good and bad side of fresh truffles is that you have to eat them up right away because they only keep for a week or two in the refrigerator, even if you let them breathe every day when you change the absorbent paper in the container. In the process of eating them up, it's easy to have a lot of truffle “crumbs” or extra shavings. The solution to that problem is truffle alioli, the Catalan answer to mayonnaise. We made a pretty big batch (nearly 2 cups) and used it to make potato salad (with sliced boiled potatoes, minced onion, chopped boiled egg, and minced celery) and to make a delicious chicken salad. The secret to great alioli is to store the eggs in...Read More

Corn ravioli with Australian black truffles

Posted on by David
I received a shipment of truffles from the Truffle and Wine Company (truffleandwineusa.com) early this month. The truffles are spectacular, but it's not like I can tuck them away to use weeks from now. They have to be eaten quickly, which means developing a bunch of ways to use them with summer produce. For the last 10 days, Pat and I have been cooking with black truffles, repeating some favorite dishes and trying to create some new ones. We'll be posting new recipes in quick succession in case you want to order some truffles yourself before the season ends next month. When I was working on the Robb Report story, I spoke to a number of American chefs who exulted in using the Australian black...Read More

Peddling truffles with Simon Friend

Posted on by David
When I researched the Robb Report story on Australian truffles, I had the pleasure of meeting Melbourne-based Simon Friend and his partner Bryan Burrell. They do business as Friend & Burrell (friendandburrell.com.au), but they might as well be called The Good Tastes Guys because they're Australia's go-to suppliers of gourmet mountain hams from Spain, Giaveri caviar, and big tins of Iranian saffron. The two former tennis professionals are also major distributors of black truffles from the Australian Truffle & Wine Company. As the Melbourne Truffle Festival was about to start last July, I joined Simon Friend on his sales and delivery rounds in Melbourne. The state of Victoria has its own truffle industry, but production is dwarfed by the Manjimup farm, a four-hour plane ride...Read More

Australian black truffles upend the seasons

Posted on by David
I did not realize how successful the Australians have been in cultivating black truffles until I had the pleasure of visiting Manjimup in Western Australia to see for myself. The Truffle & Wine Company's truffière in that little town two hours south of Perth is quite simply the most productive black truffle farm in the world. I was visiting on behalf of the Robb Report, where my article on the subject, “Move Over, Monsieur,” appears in the May issue. You can also read a copy here on the “Some Articles” page of HungryTravelers. I'm happy to report that there's now a reliable pipeline of supply from Manjimup to the U.S., and some of the country's top chefs have discovered the joys of pairing fresh black...Read More

Truffles on demand (more or less)

Posted on by David
I confess to being a truffle snob—and an ignorant truffle snob at that. Following some pretty spectacular truffle eating and hunting experiences in and around Alba in November 2004 (see Truffle Pursuit under the ''Sample Articles'' tab), I was convinced that nothing measured up to the white truffle (Tuber magnatum pico) and that nowhere in the world could compete with the white truffles of Piemonte. Slowly but surely, I am learning better. The people of Acqualagna, a small village of 4,000 in the hills of Le Marche, changed my mind when I paid a visit at the end of March. Located near the Furlo river gorge, the area has been known as a great truffle hunting ground for centuries. The white truffle—still the greatest, I...Read More
Pandemic or not, the truffle fair must go on

Pandemic or not, the truffle fair must go on

Posted on by Pat and David
New England agricultural fairs are all about livestock, crafts, and local crops. The highlight is often the weigh-in for the giant pumpkin contest. The prized squash generally tops the scales around a thousand pounds. The chief gastronomic fair of Istria is a little different—and the prize edible rarely weighs even a thousand grams. Taking place over nine weekends from mid-September through mid-November, Zigante Truffle Days (trufflefair.com) in Livade celebrates the overlap of seasons of black and white truffles. Despite the absence of three-legged races and tractor pulls, there's plenty of excitement to go around. With the relaxation of border restrictions as Croatia moves toward becoming a member of Europe's passport-free zone, travelers from across Europe flood into little Livade to sniff and buy truffles—and eat...Read More