Cultivating a proper taste for truffles - By: Rob Colbourn01

One gourmet blessed with command of language explained truffles' flavour as "mushrooms to the power of ten with a hint of garlic"-hardly a shy and retiring flavour. Cooking with truffles, however, requires a delicate touch and a lot of practice, because the truffle-trained palette is more than a little discerning.

The longer you study these mysterious, exotic rare fungi, the more you must accept that people who buy and savour these precious delicacies do not live in the same world, breathe the same air, read the same books, or travel in the same circles as Larry Lunchbox. One must accept that the ability to pay four-digit prices for a pound of mushrooms puts a person in a place that carries privileges and pre-requisites beyond a working person's. The people who know how to accoutre their dishes with truffles have no ethical qualms about eating rabbit or veal. The idea of conspicuous consumption is anathema to them; and the word "no" means nothing to them.

For everybody else in the world, the art and science of all things truffle require some explanation. Truffle 101 focuses on slicing or shaving, and, yes, there is an app for that. The upscale cookware vendors sell specially designed and chef-tested truffle slicers. Of course, if you must ask, you cannot afford one. You use your truffle slicer to apply the precious don't-call-it-a-mushroom on food or into soups and sauces just before eating. The leading truffle site wisely suggests, "Shave raw white truffle on pasta, risotto, salads, eggs, sauces, or with poultry or other white meats such as rabbit or veal. White truffles also pair well with hard Italian cheeses, proscuito and salami."

In advanced truffling, you begin capitalizing on truffles' miraculous capacities for transforming ordinary ingredients into a gourmet mélange beyond adjectives' reach. For example, a leading truffle website declares, "Experts recommend that veal, rabbit, fish, and soufflés...can be glorified with thinly sliced truffles. Cream and cheese sauces avidly take up their flavour." For people who seldom prepare dishes worthy of glorification, the question, "Got a recipe for that?" rises very naturally to the lips. The trufflerati suggest these:

Stuffed rabbit with white truffles-The simplest of the three recipes, this dish requires that you age your skinned rabbit with truffles between the skin and meat. The longer you age the meat, the more it "avidly" takes-up the flavour of the truffles. Prepare your rabbit according to your preferences. As you prepare the meat, sauté the truffles in fine creamery butter with parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, dill, and a tangy white vintage. After properly plating and garnishing your rabbit, sauce with the truffle sauté.

New York's best cheese soufflé with white truffles-Your egg mix will contain Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, dry sherry, Gruyère, cheese, sour cream, kosher salt, Dijon mustard, dry mustard, and cayenne pepper. Bake as you usually do, and then serve the soufflé sauced with truffles lightly sautéed in whole creamery butter and a splash of a tangy white vintage.

Truffle-avec pate--stuffed filet mignon-If you run a bistro, you may title this dish "The One-Percenter's Beef Wellington." Age your extra thick cut USDA prime filet mignon as usual; then, carefully slice a pocket into its centre. Do not cut all the way through the filet, or you will lose the stuffing effect. For the twenty-four hours before you prepare and serve the filet, stuff sliced truffles into the pocket, and wrap your steak in a garlic-and-olive-oil soaked cloth, keeping the meat properly chilled at 40-degrees Fahrenheit.

Prepare your goose- or duck-liver pate as usual. Remove your truffles as you carefully broil your filet nearly medium-rare. As you broil, bake your pate in a 350-degree oven. When your filet is done, place the baked pate in the centre pocket, applying the truffles as garnish atop the steak. Topping with béarnaise sauce is appropriate. Serve on a sizzling hot plate with a select vintage red wine.

About the Author

For a fine dining experience, why no try truffles in your special meal, and you can buy truffle online for all requirements.

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