Trifling with Truffles

Text: Ester Laushway

Photo: Per Karlsson, BKWine

Copyright 2008, Ester Laushway & BKWine

You have to hand it to the French. They can ferret out any edible delicacy on earth, or under it, no matter how unappetizing it may appear. Whereas other nations might squirm at the sight of snails, or flinch when faced with frogs’ legs, the Gauls just instinctively home in on delicious morsels, regardless of what they look like.

Take the truffle, the “black diamond” of French cuisine. To the untutored eye, it resembles a well-aged horse dropping, yet the French recognized it as buried treasure centuries ago, and not just for its culinary merits. Henri IV, born in 1553, was convinced that his conception was due to the fact that his mother had eaten a hefty portion of truffle salad that day, and two hundred years later, Madame de Pompadour regularly fed truffles to Louis XV to revive his amorous ardour.

Contrary to the common belief that the French Promised Land for truffle lovers is the Périgord, it is Provence which produces 80 per cent of the black, so-called “Périgord” truffle, or tuber melanosporum. Locally known as the rabasse, it has achieved cult status. Every winter, worshippers of the subterranean fungus gather at several truffle markets in the region to sniff, prod, purchase, and to exchange truffle lore.

Unprepossessing as it is in appearance, the smell of a fresh, ripe truffle can send a strong man reeling at ten paces. Its aroma – woodsy, earthy, giddying – will overpower everything around. “One time the postman brought me a package and said:’ You can’t tell me there aren’t truffles in there – my whole van is reeking of them’!” The speaker was one those elegant ladies you encounter at French markets, with a wicker basket on her arm, a silk scarf around her throat, doing her shopping at last year’s truffle fair in the village of Rognes, north of Aix-en-Provence.

The price of truffles that day was a dizzying 1,200€ a kilo, because of the lack of rain in 2007, without which truffles cannot thrive and ripen. Yet everything is relative: when judged by Paris standards, this would be considered a downright bargain.

A prime truffle does not just advertise itself by its intoxicating perfume, but by its looks as well. It should be deep black, with not too much earth on it (which hides flaws and boosts the cost), have a pleasing shape and be firm to the touch. The ultimate test is to canifer it– cut off a sliver – and check that the interior is black, with delicate white marbling, but it is practically impossible to find a seller willing to put his truffles to the knife.

Supplies have fallen dramatically since the beginning of the century, when there were about 1,000 tonnes of truffles grown in France. At that time, there were at least 600 tonnes produced in Provence, whereas now, the annual harvest in all of France is only about 40 tonnes.

As a truffle addict, I have not just bought them, but gone on a truffle hunting expedition with friends, in a truffière -- a truffle plantation. Planted with trees, generally oaks that have been inoculated with truffle spores, truffières are gradually replacing wild truffle-grounds, which are becoming increasingly rare, because natural woodlands are no longer being maintained the way they used to be.

Waiting for us was Jean-Luc, with Dick, his blind truffle dog, at his side, and a screwdriver, the tool of the real truffle pro, sticking out of his anorak pocket. “Cherche!” he crooned, and Dick pulled him along on the lead for a yard or so, stopped, sniffed, gave a perfunctory few scratches, and looked bored. Jean-Luc dug delicately around the spot where Dick had paused and lifted up a handful of the red earth for us to smell. The olfactory punch that hit us -- musky, dizzying -- was one of those moments that stay with you, a sensory high you can still relive years later.

A little more careful excavation, and there it was, gleaming darkly in its earthen bed – a real, “live” truffle! From then on, it was hard to keep up with Dick. He trotted along, nonchalantly pawing a spot every few minutes, a few times faking it, just to get an extra bit of bread and to keep his master on his toes. In less than two hours, we had close to two pounds of truffles, the smallest no larger than a walnut, the biggest the size of a baked potato.

Jean-Luc, who has the tracking flair of a bloodhound, often goes out by himself, “just with my nose and my screwdriver.” He looks for characteristic burnt patches around trees, for bumps or cracks in the earth, and for la mouche. A breed of tiny flies partial to ripe truffles can be detected by sweeping a bare branch back and forth, parallel to the ground. The spot from which they fly up marks the truffle’s underground lair. Jean-Luc once found a monster truffle that weighed over a pound using that method.

If you do not wash freshly dug truffles, they can be stored up to two weeks in the bottom of your refrigerator, where they will defy any hermetically sealed container and permeate everything. It is best to let them have their way and store them with the ingredients with which you plan to cook them: for a truffle omelette or brouillade (scrambled eggs), for example, put them together with the eggs for three to four days.

Always add truffles at the last moment to anything cooked, and if you really want to attain truffle heaven, try them freshly sliced, on toasted bread drizzled with olive oil, with sea salt sprinkled on top! The taste does not, could not, live up to the overwhelming aroma, but underlines it nicely, with a nutty, earthy flavor, hinting of mushrooms and hazelnuts and a slight aftertaste of black chocolate.

On the next family walk in the woods, I found myself taking a branch and swishing it hopefully around the base of every oak tree we came across. No little flies rose up, and my entourage did not hide their scepticism, but I am hooked!

Truffle Recipes

Brouillade aux Truffes (Scrambled eggs with truffles)

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Preparation:

When the eggs are set, add the crème fraîche. Serve at once.

Fresh Pasta with Truffles

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Serve at once

Truffle Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Serve.

Truffle Tips

Avoid buying truffles before Christmas, when they are the least ripe and the most expensive.

The bigger the bumps, the better in general the truffle. It should be firm to the touch, deep black with delicate white marbling on the inside, and when fully ripe, give of a powerful aroma reminiscent of nutmeg.

Without being washed, truffles can be stored for about two weeks in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator. Scrubbed carefully clean with a nail- or toothbrush under running water, and dried, they can be wrapped in aluminium foil and frozen.

Truffles are best not cooked at all or as little as possible.

Do not pair them with too powerful a wine. A wine with a strong bouquet will fight the truffle aroma and the two will cancel each other out.

© Copyright Ester Laushway & BKWine, 2008

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