CHEFS are being too delicate, not to say stingy, in their use of black truffles, grower Tim Terry says. Perhaps it's the price, unfamiliarity or even awe, but often chefs just are not generous enough to give diners a real hit.
"Punters won't come back for more if they don't get the real experience," Tim says. "We have to get people eating them properly, so we have to educate the chefs to use them properly."
About 70 per cent of the black truffles, tuber melanosporum, grown at the two Truffles Australis trufferies at Mole Creek near Deloraine are exported.
The rest are sold in Australia.
They are hunted in the morning, graded, sealed in a foil bag that's then placed in a polystyrene box and posted
out to reach an interstate restaurant or retailer when
they are less than 24 hours out of the ground.
LOCAL VISION
"WE offer Tasmanian restaurants truffles cheaper than we offer them to the mainland restaurants because I want Tasmanians to showcase these things," Tim says.
"I want the chefs of the world to come to my little state and eat truffles how I eat them in France -- scrambled eggs where the plate is not yellow; it's black, covered in truffles, and you can almost dine on the aroma. That's how I want it to be. You are eating scrambled eggs at breakfast and you are thinking 'I should be having this for dinner with a bottle of red'."
Saffire, the luxury east coast resort, uses many of his truffles. But Tim wants to see them in the high street as well as the high-end restaurants.
"I want people to go into a local deli at Sheffield or Campbell Town and be able to have truffled eggs for breakfast," he says.
"That would be my ultimate thing for Tasmania."
And, to that end, Tim is donating truffles to Barb Harvey's Deloraine Deli in the main street of the town.
"They are cooking the dishes how I think it should be used, with lots of truffle on it," Tim says.
"So if you come in there, you can get a real hit of truffle."
Truffle prices have come down considerably in the past couple of years, from $3000/kg to about $1400/kg to $1500/kg to the grower.
The minimum order in Australia from Truffles Australis (www.trufflesaustralis.com.au) is 100g.
Fat of any kind -- butter, cream, cheese, oil -- will bring out the flavour of truffles.
And while truffles are a natural enhancer of other flavours, you want to let them shine. So keep the flavours you put with them simple -- eggs, pasta, potatoes and rice are good ideas.
BE GENEROUS
WHEN you get your truffle home, wrap it in a paper towel and keep it in a jar in the fridge with the lid on.
Change the paper towel every day and it will keep for as long as three weeks.
And then be generous -- use 6g to 10g a serve.
Wursthaus Kitchen in Montpelier Retreat, Hobart, is selling Truffles Australis truffles. It also has truffled butter and eggs and an ice cream with truffles.
Bottega Rotolo, in Bathurst St, also has truffles for sale and will have a truffle breakfast and demonstration class on July 23.
0 comments:
Post a Comment