Cooking For Engineers Forum Index Cooking For Engineers
Analytical cooking discussed.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

white truffle infused coddled eggs
Goto page Previous  1, 2
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Cooking For Engineers Forum Index -> Recipes
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
counter



Joined: 07 Feb 2013
Posts: 44

PostPosted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That recipe sound really interesting...bt all truffles are expensive ?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All fresh truffles are expensive. The ones I love are Italian white truffles. I don't care about French black, as they have less flavor and interest. Oregon white truffles, according to my son who lives in Portland, are weak in flavor, which flavor quickly dissipates once the truffles are dug up. He had last week some "truffle butter" from a neighbor who trained her dog to find them. She got two, marble sized truffles! The truffle butter couldn't have been fresher, but word is the taste is still very subtle. "slightly fungal" was how my son described it. In my book, truffles are not about subtle, so much as intoxication. But there's good news: There is a very good, not wildly expensive white truffle oil to be had. It is the best I have tasted, the most true in sensationand flavor to real Italian white truffles. It's by Bella Famiglia and comes in little bottles. I know, I know. They say it's made with chemicals. My attitude is if it tastes like white truffles, I'll use it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
counter



Joined: 07 Feb 2013
Posts: 44

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the explanations Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're welcome. Just one more caveat: If you do try an "organic" white truffle oil, you'll be asking yourself what all the fuss is about. I've tried several, each more expensive and tasteless than the next; not one of them had a suggestion of real truffle; truffles themselves have zero oil in them, and they just don't keep their pungent flavor enough to flavor an oil, even if you soak them in oil. But if you pack a fresh truffle in rice or with some fresh eggs, the eggs or rice will definitely take on the flavor. With regrd to the rice, my bet is that the flavor will cook out as you cook the rice, however. If you want to experience something close to the real thing, my solution is to go for the fake, (Bella Famiglia) and save your money for a real Italian fresh white truffle sometime when it is in season - end of Oct to end of Dec, roughly. My son, who knows the diff, sez even the freshest of Oregon ones do not hold a candle to the real thing. But a couple of drops of the BF oil on the bottom, and between the two eggs and on top in that coddled egg recipe DO give you a delicious experience, like the real thing. I suppose in this world there are the purists and the eaters, and I'd be one of the latter)))) I guess one more thing you should know is that one NEVER cooks a fresh truffle. I once ruined a very expensive real one by slicing it into an Alfredo sauce for pasta that I was cooking. The truffles, to my horror, were ruined. I should just have sliced slivers over the served pasta.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:49 pm    Post subject: further to white truffle oils Reply with quote

Dilbert et al - I completely go for local produce when I can get it, which is often in Dutchess Cty, NY, in the summer and early fall. I like organic, too, but I don't feel strongly about it, and I don't associate the choice with a moral or political one. I'll buy your regular old broccalli any day before I pay 1/3 again for organic. I prefer local apples species to those from Washington. Are they organic? I don't even know. BUT: with white truffle oil, I am not interested in the nutritional value, nor with the purity. although I'd much prefer a sliced, fresh, $80 Italian white truffle! Barring their availability, I'm only interested in the white truffle flavor and scent...sorry, aroma...and the truffle experience and the joy they add to pasta or eggs or even a nice grilled steak. One only uses a couple of half-teaspoonsful at a time, so I don't care about organic here - if it tastes like white truffle, alrighta! When purity becomes bland, call me a Philastine, and pass the chemicals! Cheers! sp
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the pricing of organic stuff here is curiously convoluted - being on the fringes of Amish country, we get a lot of local organic stuff - and some of it shows up the the supermarket.

small local growers wrap up a couple heads of for example broccoli and sell it $.cc per "package" - the 'big farm stuff' is sold by the pound. if you put the local "here's a couple heads in a package' on the scale, the cost per pound is rather frequently _less_ than the non-organic big business stuff.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Goodness, Dilbert! Around here the "farmers' markets" sell for top dollar. $7 for bag of arugula weighing less than a pound, maybe 8 or 10 oz. Count your blessings. p.s. I am moving to Portland, Oregon, as soon as I sell my house. If the fresh white truffles won't come to Susan Pettibone, Susan Pettibone will damn well go to the fresh white truffles! LOL Actually, my son and his wife and their two kids live there. They have a chocolate bizz! You might enjoy their web page or facebook page. Facebook is amazing and fun; my kid, Charley Wheelock, just got back from an 8 day "Salon de Cacao" in Peru! All expenses paid. Put on by the Peruvian Trade Commission. The chocolate bizz is called Woodblock Chocolates and is googleable. It's a "bean to bar" chocolate manufactory, and the only ingredients are cocoa beans and cane sugar. Some bars have a light sprinkling of sea salt. Charley sources the beans and does everything from there on to market. The different beans (Trinidad, Venezuela, Ecuador, Madagascar, etc) make for splendid chocolate comparisons. A perfect bizz for Foody-Town Portland. He's the only one doing it in a serious way there, so nice niche, non?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Cooking For Engineers Forum Index -> Recipes All times are GMT
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group