by Ashley Gartland
photo from Creative Commons
For centuries, people have fallen hard for truffles. Truffle-focused recipes crop up in the first cookbook known to man, suggesting they were revered as early as first century A.D. Later, Roman emperor Nero called truffles the “food of gods”; French novelist Colette named them part of the royal family of fine cuisine, calling them “black princesses.”
Today, there still exists a global demand for truffles, and a lasting mystique surrounding them that is rooted in their hard to find nature. Finding truffles, which grow in symbiotic relationship with a tree’s roots and mature underground in humid, mild climates, requires not only skill but also luck. These rootless jewels never break the soil’s surface and so must be sniffed out and dug up by truffle hunters and often a truffle-hunting pig or dog.
In the Pacific Northwest, these foragers search for their treasure underneath Douglas Fir trees, where the bumpy, coal black Oregon Black Truffle grows (which, despite its name, is found from northern California to Washington). However, few truffle suppliers today harvest their products in a way that benefits the future of the industry.
“There is only one retailer that knows what he is doing in the Pacific Northwest truffle field. His name is Jim Wells and he is a truffle expert,” says local chef and truffle-enthusiast Kevin Blaylock.
Wells, who is a partner in Oregon Wild Edibles, has an encyclopedic knowledge of truffles and thus deeply understands the need to push for sustainable harvesting methods.
Currently, careless suppliers are irresponsibly harvesting unripened truffles and using practices that will damage the growing environment for years to come. Sustainable harvesting practices, on the other hand, would properly care for truffle growing areas, and also reduce the number of tasteless, infantile truffles that make their way to the market today.
These methods include adopting the European practice of using trained hounds to hunt truffles (only hounds, not humans, can locate fully ripened truffles without breaking the ground they grow under), and encouraging truffle hunters to test truffles for maturity during foraging outings. If foragers find they aren’t unearthing a high percentage of mature truffles, Wells says that they should move on to a new area and leave the remaining truffles underground to mature.
Sustainably rooted practices such as these will make certain only fully mature, properly flavorful truffles make their way to the market, and continue to improve the reputation of local truffles so that it may one day be on par with the renowned European varieties.
Though this woodland holy grail hasn’t yet earned the reputation of the robust Périgord black truffle, properly harvested Oregon truffles are prized by Northwest chefs and local gourmands for an earthy, sexy scent that draws comparisons to port, chocolate, and pineapple.
“The truffles we have in the Pacific Northwest are really different from the European truffles. They are a totally different species and grow under different kinds of trees,” says Blaylock. “We are privileged to have these in the Pacific Northwest because in my opinion ours are the finest in the world—and I’ve tasted them all over the world.”
The local black truffle season begins in November and can extend into March depending on the weather. Local chefs, like Chef Eric Bechard of Queen Anne’s Opal, source them in peak season to pair with rich cuts of game, beef, sweetbreads, and oxtails, among other preparations.
“I enjoy them sliced over something warm like a stew or risotto, and the peelings, knobs or hard parts can also be used in sauces,” says Bechard. “And, we use them in ice cream sometimes. Their flavor is versatile and works with cream or fat, meats, and fish.”
Oregon black truffle’s distinctive scent and flavor also allows them to shine in simple, straightforward dishes like fresh pasta tossed in a truffle cream sauce. “The truffles adhere to fats really well, like infused into oils or truffle butter or truffle salt. Those are some pretty simple things to make,” says Blaylock.
Once a treat enjoyed primarily in restaurants, truffles are now finding a place in home kitchens. Cooks may choose to simply tuck a few slivers of truffle into a winter salad or more ambitiously dedicate an entire evening to elegant truffle-focused dishes. Either way, cooking with truffles perfumes the kitchen.
The deterrent for home cooks has always been the high price of truffles, but they need not purchase a whole pound of truffles to infuse dishes with its character. An ounce or two of truffles—priced on average at $15 an ounce, says Wells—provides enough for an entire dinner party to enjoy. “Truffles are very potent so you don’t have to use very much to flavor a dish. One golf ball size truffle’s flavor may be enough for well over a hundred people,” says Blaylock.
It was that flavor—earthy, pungent, and oh, so addictive—that caused me to swoon at my first bite of those truffle-laced French fries years ago, and the flavor that’s kept me on the prowl for truffle fries ever since.
Try Eric Bechard’s recipes for Oregon Black Truffle Butter and Truffle Butter Mashed Potatoes.
A former Seattleite, Ashley Gartland now lives in Portland where she works as a freelancer writer. She writes about food, drinks and lifestyle of the Pacific Northwest and has previously been published in Northwest Palate, Edible Portland, and Seattle Metropolitan.