Cooking For Engineers

[counter]

That recipe sound really interesting...bt all truffles are expensive ?

[pbone]

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.

[counter]

Thanks for the explanations

[pbone]

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.