truffle season, is anyone indulging?

[GQgeek]

I'm headed to the market this weekend to try and score some. I'm going to buy some oil and authentic balsamic vinegar as well. Screw the turkey, risotto with white alba truffles sounds much more interesting for xmas. Who knows if I'll have any luck, but we shall see. Montreal is a good food town so I'm hopeful.

My only decision is if I find them, do I hog them all to myself and eat truffle dishes for a week straight, or share them at my dinner party?

In the meantime, I shall be perfecting my risotto and attempting a couple of Keller's recipes sans-truffles, so that I don't botch the recipes if/when I manage to acquire them.

Btw has anyone tried white oregon truffles? They apparently have a different taste from the italian variety, but do manage to stand on their own merits. If I can get the italian variety I won't be trying them this weekend, but their season is longer so maybe in a few weeks.

 

[tbabes]

The white truffles are getting out of season; peak month is November. Bought a couple of specimens for Thanksgiving dinner -- shaved raw over the risotto. Black truffles are coming in season now, and I will prepare a couple of dishes with the for Holiday meals.

 

[GQgeek]

My experience with truffles is still rather limited. Doesn't it extend until the end of December for the white truffles? Or do they just become impossible to find after a certain point?

I'll try the oregon truffles since their season is a bit longer if I can't find the italian variety. I was just thinking though that my timing couldn't be any worse, with xmas coming up and all...

 

[Britalian]

Good luck and I hope you enjoy.
I tried some on a risotto for the first time a few weeks ago when we visited a truffle festival in Tuscany. I'll try and get someone's photos of the day.

Balsamic earns the 'traditional' designation only after 12 years, and tastes wonderful; 20, 25 or 30 year stuff is even better, increasingly thicker and expensive. Worth it though.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by Britalian

Good luck and I hope you enjoy.
I tried some on a risotto for the first time a few weeks ago when we visited a truffle festival in Tuscany. I'll try and get someone's photos of the day.

Balsamic earns the 'traditional' designation only after 12 years, and tastes wonderful; 20, 25 or 30 year stuff is even better, increasingly thicker and expensive. Worth it though.

I've head the truffle festival is incredible. When I plan a trip to italy I'm going to attempt to make it coincide. I'd also love to do one of those cooking vacations in tuscany some time.

 

[itsstillmatt]

My mother's neighbor in France is a major supplier of truffles for restaurants all around the country. One time I was able to go on a truffle hunt with him and it was a wonderful experience.

Likely, I will not search out truffles this year, but I always appreciate them when they end up on my plate.

 

[vaclava krishna]

I was at 1 store in Manhattan, that had a truffle promotion, as you received free rice with the purchase.

 

[globetrotter]

I had some in Nov and Dec this year. there is nothing like truffle risotto

 

[oldseed]

i prefer the cocoa over the fungus

seed

 

[Violinist]

I think truffles are overated. I've always thought so, and I've tried them in their various applications in some top flight restaurants in NYC, Paris, here in Montreal, and most recently at the Epic at the Royal York hotel in Toronto. I think truffle oil is nice, and so is a truffle by itself... but the price is rediculous and the entire industry is based on the same hysteria and backwardness that the diamond trade is. God help Africa if they discover Truffles there. All the yuppies will be mortified to find out they're eating blood truffles. And Leo will have to make another movie about it, except this time he befriends a talking pig.

 

[GQgeek]

Well, people get all excited about them because they're only available for a short time every year. When they're available, they're a special treat. If you could only get beef for 2-3 months a year, people would get all excited about that as well. Do people go overboard when talking about them? Sometimes. It's like anything else that's expensive. Some people are going to go all crazy about it just because they know how much it cost and it's just another way of flaunting money.

Oregon truffles are slowly catching on so they may impact prices all around once more chefs start using them. They're not really any worse than the french or italian ones, just different. They're also 1/10th the price. have a longer season, and seem to be more plentiful.

 

[globetrotter]

I'm sorry - if you don't understand the fuss about truffles, you haven't had any good ones. there are a lot of "luxury" foods that I don't like, like caviar or lobster, but if you have some fresh truffles on your eggs or pasta you will understand the value immidiatly.

I want to try the oregan or the "pecan" truffles, I haven't yet, but I can't think of another food that I find so atractive as truffles.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

I'm sorry - if you don't understand the fuss about truffles, you haven't had any good ones. there are a lot of "luxury" foods that I don't like, like caviar or lobster, but if you have some fresh truffles on your eggs or pasta you will understand the value immidiatly.

I want to try the oregan or the "pecan" truffles, I haven't yet, but I can't think of another food that I find so atractive as truffles.

You're dead-on about him possibly not having had good ones. I've had them in restaurants where they just weren't fresh enough and didn't have their usual aroma. It's tough with truffles due to the scarcity and demand. Sometimes you just can't get the good ones. I believe yields were particularly bad this year, and overall production has declined a lot since the early 1900s.

On the subject of Oregon truffles, they initially got a bad rep at first because people didn't know how to harvest them and so they'd pick truffles that weren't ready for consumption. It's now being developed as a serious industry, so the harvesters are better educated and more skilled than they've ever been.

There are a couple companies on the internet that will ship you fresh oregon truffles if you can't find them locally, but I'd recommend searching them out in your area first, since then you can pick your truffle.