Our Instagram has many posts on food dishes too
This page is a summary of essentials for beginners, there is more information throughout the website.
Congratulations on your Truffle Purchase
Packaging is only for transport home, not long term storage.
It will be either wrapped in a napkin, or nestled in wood wool to help reduce excess moisture.
To keep your truffle in best condition, keep it relatively dry by storing it in a sealed container within your refrigerator's vegetable crisper.
Check it's napkin (or wood wool) daily. If it becomes damp to the touch, change it's nappy (truffles are like babies, they don't like being damp)
{picture to come of truffle in a container, in the vegetable crisper -13July2024}
How long will it last?
A truffle is at it's best for 5-10 days,
This means the aroma is slowly dropping over time, and it will perform best during this time. With proper care, a good quality truffle will always have it's full flavour and will retain desirable aroma for several weeks. An older truffle is best cooked with something fatty to fully extract the flavour.
If you have a small truffle, simply make the most of it while it is at it's freshest.
If you have a large enough truffle for infusions, the first five or so days will be the most effective, as you use both the aroma and some of the truffle, then stop the infusions and focus on eating the remainder.
Cooking with truffle
Truffles are powerful, yet delicate too. The aroma can be lost, wasted(garnish) or even the taste destroyed, here are some hints on cooking with them. Generally a plain dish best showcases their unique flavour and aroma. They are a superb flavour enhancer, and with the correct techniques & ingredients, they are capable of 1+1=5 synergy.
Some key factors in releasing these qualities are temperature, oil/butter, and salt.
Too high a temperature will drive off a large amount of the aroma, (though not necessarily the flavour) whereas gentle heat will help release it into the food, where it is captured by any fatty substance like cream, butter, olive oil, meat fats, egg yolk.
Salt helps realise the flavour of truffle, even if you generally prefer to avoid salt in cooking. People vary in their ability to taste different things. If you find yourself wondering if you've used enough truffle, try a little more salt on a portion of the food, and if it increases the truffle presence significantly, then season the rest of the dish accordingly. Therefore, when using butter in any recipe, please ensure it is salted butter.
Serving Ideas
- A good demonstration of the above is also a traditional way to conclude a Truffle sale in France. Slices of truffle, on fresh sourdough bread, sprinkled with coarse sea salt.
- Mashed potato, on first thought one has doubts, but it really does wonders for releasing the flavour and is a great way to share it around the table. Truly a wonderful and simple way to get your truffle dosage. Use cream/butter/olive oil in the mashed potato in your favourite style, stir through finely shaved truffle and allow to sit for 20 minutes or so for the flavour to release, reheat a little and serve. Dont forget enough salt to make it tasty, it helps the truffle, even if you are usually a low salt person. {A Truffled mash potato was our introduction to this culinary delight}
- Chef's priviledge, trimmings normally go into the dish, or butter, but a little into a shot of vodka is amazing. (let sit for >20minutes) Alternatively 5-7g into a full bottle overnight, & like all good vodka store for an hour or two in a freezer prior to serving.
- A simple pumpkin soup with slivers of fresh truffles sliced over the served dish, allow to stand a minute and see the truffle melt on the surface. Quite dramatic when done at the table.
- Truffle butter. See recipe it is best used within 2-3 days {a week will see you lamenting the loss of good truffle}
Butter can be frozen for several months and retains most of it's properties. - Truffle oil: It is best to only infuse oil for immediate use. Eg. Make a salad dressing with a touch of balsamic or lemon juice. Great for the first Spring salads. Use a neutral flavoured oil, not "extra virgin olive oil", as the grassy notes noticably reduces the truffle flavour.
Do not attempt to make and store truffle infused oil for any length of time. Attempts to do so without sterilisationthe oil will go rancid, and the aroma would break down in a few weeks anyhow. ie. It's a waste of good truffle.
Commercial truffle oils rely entirely on artificial aroma (2,4 dithiapentane, and a few other components) for their overpowering strength. Thus they all seem to smell like garlic and burnt stainless steel. White truffles do have garlic notes to their aroma, but black truffles do not.