My sister bought a 38g White Truffle from Culina, costing $247 ($6,500/kg). Myself, being pretty ignorant about truffles, was pleasantly pleased to have a feel of the truffle and smell it! It was odd shaped and looked very ugly. My sister took 45mins to clean this precious thing. It had to be wrapped up in papers, and had to keep out of water. The moment it touched water, it will rot. So she wrapped it up, placed it in a container and put it in the chiller before using it.
Then came the highlight of the day - Classic White Truffle Pasta. This was how she prepared the pasta. She cooked the fettuccine in boiling water before mixing with unsalted butter and fresh grounded black pepper. It was then scooped into our plates. Over each plates, she used a truffle shaver to shave the white truffles. After that, we added in freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. For once, we got ourselves a generous shavings of white truffles on our pasta, unlike if we were to dine in restaurants.
Information on Truffles. I was told black truffles can be cultivated while white truffles can only be grown from the wild. You can find out more by reading from here. I also found a write-up by Chef Jocelyn on her blog on White Truffle.
Recipe for Chocolate Truffles, (I can't remember where I got this from).
Ingredients:
227g Guanaja Valrhona Chocolate Feves (70%), finely chopped
1/2 cup Heavy cream
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for rolling
Method:
1. Put chocolate into a large heatproof bowl. Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Pour over chocolate in the bowl. Let it stand for 5 mins. Then stir till smooth.
3. Pour chocolate mixture into a shallow dish pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until mixture is cold and set but still pilable, about 30mins.
4. Using a teaspoon or a 1/2 inch melon baller, scoop balls of chocolate mixture, transferring them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper as you work.
5. Refrigerate truffles for about 10mins.
6. Using a sieve, dust each truffle in cocoa powder to coat, then quickly shape truffle into a rough round.
7. Refrigerate truffles in an airtight container until ready to serve, up to 2 weeks. Before serving, reshape into rounds, and roll each truffle in cocoa powder, if desired.
~ You can add in one tablespoon liquer to your preference. I omitted this as my family don't like liquer.
