Life List Item No. 31 Completed: Try Truffles

There's two different kinds of edible truffles; the little candy bon-bon forms, and then there's the stinky mucho expensive fungus from France or Italy. This posting deals with the latter.

One of the fringe benefits of going to culinary school is that I get to knock out most of the eating related life list items about every month or so. In my final quarter at Sullivan, one of my classes is Garde Manger Lab. In this class you learn a lot of the more advanced butchery techniques, classical and banquet preparations, and plate presentation. It's a lot of fun, but also I think it is one of the more challenging labs.

Falling under the category of butchery, this week our classes made pates (in my case, one made out of rabbits). So class, now that we each have a tube of what tastes like meat-flavored butter wrapped in bacon, what do we do next? We garnish it with more expensive food of course! The truffles came in a can (which I guess connoisseurs turn their noses up at). But at $68 for what was about an 8 oz. can, I don't see a lot of fresh truffle in my future. When the can was opened there was a distinctive "earthy" smell, and the truffles themselves resembled lumps of charcoal.

I would describe the taste as a mushroom on steroids. I mean there was definitely that meaty taste that all mushrooms have, but this was much more intensely so. It also tasted a lot more earthy and complex than your average porcini. All in all, a fun item to complete, but at these prices, hardly habit forming.