I typed up a blog yesterday but the internet blocked out as I was posting it so it got deleted..and i figured i would write more today to make up for yesterday...
So here we go!!!
Yesterday my hosts took me on a family trip to Norcia, the capital of the prized, and best black italian truffle. So we went on the one hour trip 5 of us in a small 2 door ford fiesta..just to remind everyone im a pretty big build of a guy, and I was sitting in the back seat of a small ford fiesta with two kids...hehehe..it was only bad because i was stuffed and it was hot in the car..and micheles son matteo is car sick as well...so we stopped a few times...but ti was worth it because when we got to Norcia, there started to be signs of places that grow the truffles, and pronounce it as private property which means no one cant hunt for truffles on that property...anyways when we got to town we walked around this small citty, going from stall to stall checking out what the region of Umbria has to offer. Basically lots of truffles, about 4-5 varieties ranging from just ok that cost about 85 euro a kg...dont smell like anything bu tjust a mushroom...and then there are ones that cost 800 euros a kilo, which is what my hosts baught 2 and we'll have it with pasta...mmmm pasta and truffles... ok back on track adn then there were ones (white truffle the most expensive prized truffles in the world) that cost thousands of euros a kilo....I smelled a bunch of them blindly and got tested on it by my hosts...who are trufflewizards since it grows here in the region they live in and have lived in all their lives...and i passed. Although in some of the stands, I was stumped because they didnt smell fresh which meant they might have not been taken care of properly...all in all it was fun to learn about truffles....which might I add brought out a bit of my host michele..see michele used to go truffle hunting every year, but hes been busy working on the house and therefore not been able to hunt, but it must have lit a fire in him because he said we would go today...but today the weather was so nice and dry like yesterday, that he said lets wait one more day since tomorrow should be nice again...which means the truffles grow even larger...the ideal growing conditions for truffles is a very dry enviroment on the hilltop...so instead we went to the store to buy a shower for the bathroom we built..and then i came upstairs to cook dinner...I made Orzo with pecchorino cheese ina butter olive oil sauce, and then we had veal steaks with ratatouille and then tiramisu for dessert..thats my day...although I am really looking forward to truffle hunting tomorrow...not many people let alone chefs get that chance...depending on how many and if we find any...I would like to make truffle oil, since that is all I can really do with it if I want to bring it home in 5 months...but we'll see...anyways ciao
yehuda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ciao Yehuda
ReplyDeleteGreat to read your blog,. We were at Norcia this weekend, The 800/Euro were Melanosporum, aka Perigord or Black Winter Truffles, fantastic ! But the White Magnatum are finished, so maybe what you saw was Bianchetti, which are sometimes passed off as the expensive white, but really only cost aroudn 120/kg/. Im glad you didnt buy these ! www.trufflehunter.co.uk