Optional: shaved black truffles
Tuber melanosporum, the Périgord truffle: black and warty outside, dark and finely marbled within, with a musky, earthy scent that wakes up with gentle heat and fat.
Kinds
- Périgord / winter black
- The real thing — near-black inside with fine white veins, and the strongest scent.
- Summer truffle (Tuber aestivum)
- May to August; pale brown inside and far milder. Cheaper, so use it generously.
- Burgundy truffle
- The autumn form of the summer truffle — darker and more aromatic.
If you can't find it
Specialist shops, in season — and expensive.
1Truffle paste
A little, at the end
You lose most of it. Most truffle oil is synthetic; use it rarely, if at all.
Cooked with, here
about 30 g well-aged comtébutterbutter plus a little neutral oilchivecreamday-old brioche loafdijonegg Knowing it
- Where to buy
- From truffle merchants and good delis, by the gram: firm, heavy, and smelling strongly through the paper. Much of the crop now comes from Spain as well as France and Italy. Truffle oil is almost always synthetic flavouring.
- Worth knowing
- Store it in a sealed jar with eggs in their shells or dry rice for a day or two — the scent moves into them. Unlike white truffle it likes a little warmth: grate it into hot butter or a sauce, or slip slices under chicken skin before roasting. Never cook it hard.