Truffle

A big star of French Gastronomie !

History :

Truffles are mushrooms buried. This black diamond grows essentially into chalky grounds, that's why, in France, it will mostly grow in the South West.
The truffle is unevenly round and globular. Its surface is not smooth but granular. Its color is black but sometimes brown and for a special type, white.
This mushroom appear in spring and grows until its full maturation in august. The harvest happens during autumn.

Its harvest is very specific because as it grows underground, men can not find it by themselves. They usually have dogs well trained to find it.

It exist a full variety of truffles; but only four are accessible for being eaten. The black truffle from Perigord, the summer truffle, the white truffle from Piémont and the truffle from Bourgogne.

Truffles have existed for centuries and wasn't always popular.
During those times, the Egyptians, the Greeks, or the Romans, use to eat them with many dishes but for therapeutics purposes.
Then during the middle age, it was very not popular; people use to consider it like a produce of the Devil.
It was during Renaissance that it was reborn with François 1st or Louis the XV, who used it as a luxurious ingredient.
In 1711, a french botanist, Claude Joseph Geoffroy classify the truffle as a mushroom.

Nowadays, Truffles are ingredients of luxury and specially because it is very rare. In 1914, 1800 tons of truffles were harvest every year in Périgord as now, we only harvest 200 tons in the entire France.    


Gastronomic description :

Truffles are easy to cook with but the hard part is to know how to compliment your dishes with it well. For example, you won't cook a fresh truffle the same way you would cook a truffle in a can.
A fresh truffle is a mushroom "alive" which will produces aromas for many days. A can truffle is a dead mushroom which will produce aromas for around 1h30 after it went out of the can.

It is important to know that the aromas are fragile and cooking a truffle for too long can destroy the flavours.
 
If you can access a fresh truffle, it is always better than a truffle in a can. A truffle in a can will have a great effect into ingredients which the flavour is not too strong, like for example eggs, or bechamels, or even butter.

A fresh truffle can be cut into salads or be cooked in a sauce or with a meat.

How to cook a truffle :

Except for the black truffle, cooking a truffle too long can destroy its aromas. It is necessary to not cook it long. Not more than a few minutes. It is even recommended to eat it raw.
The black truffle, can be cooked longer. It keeps its flavors in all forms of cooking and for short or long cooking.

Before you begin to use it, don't wash it, just use a soft brush on it in order to take the dust away. It s also important for it to not dry out. You can put it inside of a bottle of olive oil to perfume the oil. You can then use the oil flavored to cook with it or to dress salads for example.

Truffles are exceptionally strong in flavor but it is important to be careful when you cook it. Even if inside the flavors are stronger, we recommend you to not peal a truffle. Its peel and inside have grown together, and it is together that they will offer all the richness of their perfume and flavors. If you really want to peal them, don't throw the peels away, put them inside of a bottle filled with olive oil, it will be perfect to perfume the oil.


How to preserve a truffle :

The flavors of truffles are unfortunately very volatile and it is necessary to be meticulous in order to preserve a truffle.
First, don't let a truffle outside. The best is to preserve it in a fridge inside of a Tupperware inside of which you put one or two sheets of absorbing paper. The best way to preserve a truffle for a long time (6 to 12 month) is to freeze it. Its flavors will be preserved like if the truffle was fresh.

If the truffle is cooked inside of other ingredients like rice or eggs... it is best to place the dish one or two days before eating it inside of a closed Tupperware for the flavors to get even stronger and mix well with the other ingredients.


What are the best ingredients to compliment the truffle taste :

Potatoes, rice, eggs, pasta are very good with truffle. They absorb the flavors very well.
But garlic for example, compliment perfectly the aromas of truffles. Chives are also great with it, onions and leeks cook very well with it.
If you make truffle macaronis, it is best to add a little bit of your favorite cheese, (strong flavored is top !), Parmesan would be for example perfect.

Fat is an excellent compliment for the truffles. For example, it is great to prepare some truffle butter or even create a truffle cheese.
For the special occasion like Christmas, you can also put a slice of truffle on your best Foie Gras.

For Christmas, with your turkey, you can also create a stuffing using truffle and put it inside of your turkey, never put truffle slices under the skin because it would be too close to the source of heat and it could kill the flavors of it.

Finally, for dessert, you can prepare 48h in advance a brie, that you cut in two halves, and put slices of truffle inside. Envelop it into cellophane paper and place it in the bottom of your fridge.