Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [20]
TRUFFLES
Tartufi
Italy produces excellent black truffles, just as France does, but unlike the French, Italians don’t make much of a fuss over them. What they are capable of losing their heads over, and a substantial portion of their pocketbook, is the white truffle, which is found in no other country, or at least not with the characteristics of the Italian variety. The supremacy of the white truffle over the black, and—in terms of price by the ounce—over virtually every other food, is owed entirely to its aroma. One may describe it as related to that of garlic laid over a penetrating earthiness and combined with a pungent sensation that is like a whiff of some strong wine. But describing it cannot communicate its potency, the excitement it can bring to the plainest dish. In fact, only the most understated preparations are an appropriate foil for the commanding fragrance of white truffles.
What are truffles? They are underground fungi that develop, in a way no one has yet wholly understood, close to the roots of oaks, poplars, hazelnut trees, and certain pines. White truffles are found in Northern and Central Italy, in Piedmont, in Romagna, in the Marches, and in Tuscany. The most intensely aromatic and highly prized are the Piedmontese variety, from the hills near the town of Alba whose slopes also produce grapes for Italy’s most majestic red wines, Barolo and Barbaresco. A great many of those truffles that claim the Alba name, however, actually come from the Marches, whose market town of Acqualagna advertises itself as the capital of the truffle.
White truffles begin to form in early summer and achieve maturity by the end of September, their season lasting until mid-January. There must be copious rain during late summer and early fall for truffles to achieve optimum quality, weather that could seriously compromise the grape harvest. Hence the saying, “tartufo buono, vino cattivo,” good truffles, poor wine.
The locations where truffles are likely to be found are a secret that truffle hunters guard tenaciously. Trained dogs help them unearth their prize, and a well-trained dog with a talented nose is held to be nearly priceless, never to be sold except in direst need. Night, when odors travel clearly, is the best time to hunt. In the fall, in the dark woods of truffle territory, what appear to be the tremblings of solitary fireflies are the flashlights of the truffle hunters.
Buying truffles Fresh white truffles should be very firm, with no trace of sponginess, and powerfully, inescapably fragrant. Buy them the same day you intend to use them because, from the moment they are dug out of the ground, truffles start to lose their precious aroma at an accelerating pace. If for any reason you must store them overnight, or longer, wrap them tightly in several layers of newspaper overlaid with aluminum foil, and keep them in a cool place, but preferably not the refrigerator. Some hold that the best way to keep a truffle is to bury it in rice in a jar. It certainly improves the rice, but it’s uncertain how much good it does the truffle. The rice does protect it, absorbing undesirable moisture, but it also draws away very desirable aroma.
Preserved truffles are available in jars or cans. Jars have the advantage that they permit you to see what you are getting. Although they are never quite as scented as the fresh, some preserved truffles can be quite good. There is also paste made from white truffle fragments, packaged both in jars and tubes. I have always found the tube to be better. It can be used in sauce for pasta or over veal scaloppine. It is delicious spread over buttered toast, so much better than peanut butter.
How to clean Truffles exported to America have already been cleaned, but if you should buy them in Italy they will still be coated with dirt that must be carefully scraped away with a stiff brush. The most deeply embedded soil must be dislodged with a paring knife and a light touch. Finish cleaning by rubbing with a barely moistened cloth. Do not ever rinse in water.
How to use A whole white truffle,