Some "luxury" foods have always been a bit out of my reach for reasons of penury. Caviar is one of them - I think I've tried it twice in my life (once at a tasting at Selfridges and the second time at Bob Bob Ricard).
The other that springs to mind is the truffle - your average specimen costs about £80. I've bought truffle oil before, and even preserved ones in a jar, but the only time I'd had fresh truffles was at my birthday meal at Launceston Place last year (oh, and there was this one dish I had from Dolada, but let's not go into that).
So when I found out about Mister Truffle, a business that imports the best seasonal truffles and sells them by the GRAM, I thought, "Oooooh".
Because it meant I could even afford to cook with truffles myself - to make that silky truffled pasta, to shave wispy slices over my scrambled eggs, to pimp my steak sauce - bringing a taste of luxury to my home without having to mortgage my house in the process.
But before I could press click to order some truffles for myself, Mister Truffle offered to send me some for free to ask me if I could do something different and come up with a new recipe.
A challenge! And I do love a challenge.
A few days later, a neatly wrapped box arrived. Inside was 10g of vacuum-packed Black Winter Truffle.
Having done some research, I knew the truffle had to be used within days to capture the precious scent and flavour at its best, but I also wanted to relish it as much as possible, so I decided to make truffled eggs or rather truffle-infused eggs.
I had a vague idea about how to go about this, but it was surprisingly difficult to find exact instructions on t'internets.
How to Make Truffle-Infused Eggs
This is what I did in the end:
- Clean the truffle with a toothbrush dipped in brandy, and then blot with kitchen paper (this is for hard-shelled truffles like Perigord - for softer truffles, clean gently with a dry basting, pastry or mushroom brush).
- Line a sealable tupperware with two sheets of kitchen towel.
- Place the truffle in the tupperware with as many eggs as you can fit (I chose Clarence Court's Burford Browns, duck eggs, quail eggs, and a random free-range).
- Seal the tupperware so it's airtight and leave somewhere dry and cool for 3 days.
Retrieving the eggs (and resealing the truffles inside), I decided just to boil a few of them at first to savour their flavour as simply as possible.
The results were most pleasing - earthy, meaty, the sexiest soft-boiled eggs I have ever tasted.
Thrilled by the successful experiment, I polished them off tout de suite and then turned my attention to the truffle - stay tuned ...
Mister Truffle
Truffles by the Gram
www.mistertruffle.com
Summer Truffles now in season - 97p per gram
Love it! 'the sultriest of ceps, like the forest floor after the rain.' Good stuff MiMi
ReplyDeleteExactly how I do them
ReplyDeleteThen slow cook the eggs at 65C and serve the liguid, just cooked yolks on top of a risotto ... mix together with a fork for delicious truffly glossy risotto !
Matx
Oh wow, "like the sultriest of ceps, like the forest floor after the rain." is enough to almost make go out and actually pay for a truffle. Almost.
ReplyDeleteI never realised how easy it was to infuse the eggs. Now I want to do that and scramble the buggers just to see what it's like.
Love it "Clean the truffle with a toothbrush dipped in brandy"
ReplyDeleteScreams to me "It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told"
These sounds really amazing though...
:^)
" like the sultriest of ceps, like the forest floor after the rain."
ReplyDeleteOof, yes please. Gorgeous writing.
@SingaPoured - Cheers sir!
ReplyDelete@Mat Follas - Oh, you have to go all cheffy on us, don't you? It's like you think you're on MasterChef or something ... ;P
@The Grubworm - Dude, go for it!
@Pavel - Thanks Pavel. I'll have a nice bottle of Chianti to go with it.
@Suzler - Thank you :) x
Now that sounds like my kind of breakfast....
ReplyDelete