Chefs Warehouse

Yes, you might be wondering to yourself, “Why is that black truffle in a bowl of arborio rice?” Well, the answer is simple enough. If you place a truffle in a dish with rice and seal it for a few hours, the rice starts to take on the scent of the truffle. We’re talking about truffle rice here, correct. Oh, and you can do the same thing with eggs too, the scent from the truffles is strong enough to actually pass through the eggshells into the egg itself. Just a few simple ways you can use this magnificent fungus.

Black truffles are found just below the surface of the soil, sniffed out by dogs, though pigs were used in the old days, but apparently eat too many truffles, thereby defeating the purpose of using them. They can vary in size from 2cm in diameter to the size of a large orange, but as the “dynamite comes in small packages” saying goes, you really don’t need a lot of truffle to flavour something. They possess an incredibly pungent scent that chefs love to work with and anyone fortunate enough to taste will never forget. After flavouring the rice and eggs with truffles, Liam plans to let them sit in a reduced veal stock with Madeira and Port which he’ll turn into a gelatine that can be used to flavour many dishes.

Chefs Warehouse now has Tasmanian-grown truffles in stock. Yes, down under they have some seriously good truffles, made by Truffles Australias, who have a comprehensive site with plenty of truffle information. Truffles are going for R4,000 p/kg, with a minimum order of 300g (the one pictured here is 78g, about the size of a ladies fist). to order, simply call or email us and we can arrange them for you.