The Real Secrets of How to Make Truffles
Truffles, a highly coveted white and purple variety of edible fungus, have gained a large amount of notoriety in the culinary world for their unusual flavor and medicinal properties. For centuries, people have tried to make the best truffles using recipes dating back to the Middle Ages.
Truffles are made by salting onions and spices. Depending on the method used, truffles can be made as individual tiny and very large cakes or can be molded into shapes such as balls or wedges.
Tasty flavors such as cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, pimento and allspice are enhanced by the addition of truffle salt. White truffles are more concentrated than the purple variety and are the most expensive. They are usually found in the finest restaurants, as well as being sold in supermarkets.
Tarts are another item traditionally prepared with the use of truffle salt. This type of truffle salt is used to suspend the liquid extract while drying and then shaping the dough and frying it. But aside from the aroma, there are many other interesting facts that you can learn by making truffle salt.
Invented in Italy, truffle salt is an underground supply of concentrated form of the favorite fungus, the Penicillium. It was first discovered and used by the Romans as a source of food that was hard to digest. The process used to obtain this type of salt is similar to that used in the creation of an emulsion when heating oil.
In Englands heart, truffles are believed to have been the fruit of the salted pink grape called the cassis. But this is simply an old folklore and not confirmed. According to tradition, they were originally considered only edible by a certain class of nobility. Even now, the cassis and wine are reserved for special occasions and are not served for general consumption.
Salt, freshly ground into a fine powder, and mixed with water, it is most commonly sold as a flavoring for bread, and as an additional ingredient in savory dishes like whitefish, oysters, caviar, sausages, and smoked fish. The actual method of how the salt is created is a secret to some food enthusiasts, but it seems to produce a kind of funkiness in the dish.
Some believe that by adding salt to sauces before cooking can make them taste even better, and some also see the savory flavor of salt in cooking as essential to the creation of the most mouth-watering dishes. Add salt to a vegetable-based sauce such as tomato-based, cream-based, cream-based or even without added ingredients and you get a flavor that is smooth and creamy.
A great cooking tip is to combine salt with sugar and then add it slowly to boiling water or stock and simmer until it is heated through. This kind of mix-and-mash sauce is delicious and is often used to reduce the fat content of meat.
Recently, a French company called Tassimo, which specializes in the making of truffle salt, introduced a line of five different kinds of salt varieties that are now available at supermarkets throughout the United States. They include Aged French, Lemon Flavor, Lavender and Brown Sugar Salt. Although the basic way in which they are made is the same, the different forms of the salts has allowed Tassimo to create five new flavors, including English toffee, toffee caramel, chocolate and cinnamon.
The fourth flavor that Tassimo introduces is a truffle dijon. This salty butter flavor is a delight to eat, no matter whether you are eating a steak or a boiled potato. It has a rich buttery flavor that is blended with Rosemary, parsley and thyme.
