# White truffle oil?



## eastshores (Oct 23, 2008)

For a long time.. I've seen people talking on TV about a drizzle of truffle oil.. or shaved truffles.. being just this insanely good thing to do for food. I know truffles are mushrooms with intense flavor but I've read that the flavor is hard to describe because good truffles are unlike other mushrooms.


So my question here is regarding how I might know what a good truffle oil is? I bought some on a whim because a place I go that has overstock items had white truffle oil by the name of "Sonoma Harvest". The stuff smells kinda strange to me but then I don't know what it should smell like.

Would you recommend a particular brand that would be good? I guess without comparing I wouldn't know. I do know that this particular oil was not expensive, but at 6.00 I would expect retail to be 12-15.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I haven't had the luxury to try different brands (let alone remember them), I've bought a small bottle once in a specialty food store and thought it was really good, with a strong truffle fragrance and taste. 

To me the flavor and fragrance is not unlike that of garlic, but more "earthy" and mushroomy if that makes any sense. I remember blind tasting truffle oil (without knowing what kind of oil I was tasting) at a time in my life when I couldn't smell anything at all, and I could have sworn it was garlic oil. 

I like to drizzle it on pasta dishes sometimes, as well as on my wild mushroom risotto.


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## eastshores (Oct 23, 2008)

Hmm an earthy garlic is what this smells like. It's probably good.. but perhaps I should actually eat a white truffle before I know what a white truffle oil should be. Thanks for the info it does at least help me know that this stuff isn't too far off the mark. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif


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## quetex (Oct 3, 2010)

Hmmm, I bought  a very small bottle of truffle oil at Sun Harvest last week for $16.00 and then found a different brand at local grocery store for $6.00, bought that one too. Opened one monday and almost passed out from the strong rotten smell. Thought holy cow it must be spoiled so I opened the other bottle (different brand) and whew it smelled the same, had to open the kitchen door to get some fresh air in, lol. Tried some on a grilled ribeye instead of the usual olive oil but did not notice any different taste, just the horrible smell at first. Could not smell or tatse it after cooking though. What else is this stuff normally used for?


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

QUETEX said:


> Hmmm, I bought a very small bottle of truffle oil at Sun Harvest last week for $16.00 and then found a different brand at local grocery store for $6.00, bought that one too. Opened one monday and almost passed out from the strong rotten smell. Thought holy cow it must be spoiled so I opened the other bottle (different brand) and whew it smelled the same, had to open the kitchen door to get some fresh air in, lol. Tried some on a grilled ribeye instead of the usual olive oil but did not notice any different taste, just the horrible smell at first. Could not smell or tatse it after cooking though. What else is this stuff normally used for?


Oils typically lose all flavor when cooked - you never want to cook or heat a quality oil such as a quality olive oil or a truffle oil!

I suggested some uses in my previous post - but certainly use it as a finishing oil, a few drizzle over your plate. The truffle oil smell is one of its biggest attributes - if to you it's the same as "rotten", then maybe that's not an ingredient you're going to like much.


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## benway (May 24, 2009)

Some people really dislike truffle oil claiming that it smells like compost or tastes like dirt.  The stuff goes bad just like olive oil and has the same skunked taste to it as expired olive oil.  The stuff has a way of sitting in the supermarket for a long time since it is an ingredient that few people buy.


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## eastshores (Oct 23, 2008)

I'm surprised there aren't more people with experience with this type of oil. Thanks for your comments. I think the oil I purchased is fine but I've heard of it going bad. I was hoping to somewhat experience a truffle through the oil but chances are that's not a good representation.


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## chef_matt (Mar 18, 2008)

Also, you can check out Oregonolivemill.com i think that is that addy they do a white truffle oil that is really good.  I have personally tried it..

Matt


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I've never had the pleasure of eating real truffles but I have bought white truffle oil from an italian specialty store to use at home, and have also bough truffle butter.  The oil is a bit overpowering and has a bit of a chemical taste to it, but I don't know if it tastes like real truffles.  I don't cook with it but I have drizzled it into risottos as a final step and I have tossed it into my roasted asparagus as well.  One drop goes a long way.  I store it in the fridge like I do walnut oil.

The truffle butter I have used to baste turkey or sautee into veggies.  Same thing, a little goes a long way.  I store it in the freezer and it keeps much better than truffle oil.


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## golikpaul (May 6, 2011)

While we're talking about truffle oil, I love to pan-sear a big slice of a good aged provolone in a teflon pan and serve it on a bed of baby arugala with a splash of white truffle oil. Makes an awesome appetizer.


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## woodyviking (Aug 11, 2011)

hi all....white truffle oil or black for that matter is a synthetic product... i would walk out of a restaurant if i saw it on a menu, its terrible terrible terrible. "Their one-dimensional flavor is also changing common understanding of how a truffle should taste," Daniel Patterson "one of the most pungent, ridiculous ingredients ever known to chef." G Ramsey.


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## mimi68 (Sep 5, 2011)

Sorry,
Truffles are mushrooms. There is no oil in them, neither can they effuse any flavor into oil. 
Truffle oil made in a test tube. It is usually 2.4 dithiapentane and oil. It has no relationship to truffles what so ever. Most self respecting chefs wouldn't consider using it in their kitchens.


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## chef matt (Aug 25, 2011)

Truffle oil is synthetic and is not real. You would NEVER find it in a professional or reputable kitchen. The taste of an actual truffle is better than the oil ever could or will be.


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## chefhow (Oct 16, 2008)

Actually there are truffle oils that are truely made from truffle peices and oil.  The way they do it is to heat the oil during the pastuerization process and then add the truffle to the cooling process infusing the flavor.  While not many are made this way a select few are and are VERY expensive.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Truffles do not have oil . It is truffle peelings steam seeped in oil. You can make your own


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## nadeest (Nov 6, 2010)

French Fries, there are apparently some exceptions to that rule about not heating truffle oil as I used it in my International Cuisine class today.  I was making Sauce Perigourdine and the instructions called for me to drizzle a bit of truffle oil in a saute pan, then saute shallots in there until they were lightly golden.  The sauce seemed to turn out well, and the chef was pleased with it, so I must have done something right.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Nadeest said:


> French Fries, there are apparently some exceptions to that rule about not heating truffle oil as I used it in my International Cuisine class today. I was making Sauce Perigourdine and the instructions called for me to drizzle a bit of truffle oil in a saute pan, then saute shallots in there until they were lightly golden. The sauce seemed to turn out well, and the chef was pleased with it, so I must have done something right.


Nadeest, glad to hear your sauce turned out well and your chef was pleased with it. I'm not saying that heating up truffle oil will ruin your dish, but it's a waste of expensive flavored oil when you could use regular oil instead.

Try this as an exercise:

1) Drizzle a bit of truffle oil in a saute pan, then saute shallots until they are lightly golden. Put aside.

2) Drizzle a bit of regular oil in a saute pan, then saute shallots until they are lightly golden. Put aside.

Have a friend, coworker, girlfriend, wife, family member etc... feed you the two samples while you close your eyes. See if you can guess which one taste like truffle? My guess would be: neither does. But it's an interesting test to make for yourself.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Sauce Perigourdine.  When this sauce was first used there was no such thing as Truffle Oil. Chopped Truffle peelings were used. So I guess everyone has their own interpretation. It was mostly used with Filet Mignon or Chateau Briand, r heavy steak dishes.


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## lillyfoodie (Sep 13, 2011)

Hello, 

Mmmmmm, I love truffles! I'm from NYC and the truffle seasons in restaurants are crazy....people go nuts for truffles. You should try some black truffles in summer and white truffles during the winter months. Black truffles are expensive but not as much as the white ones. I once paid $150 for a TINY bowl of pasta with freshly shaved white truffles at the French Laundry in Yountville! 

IT IS SOOOO WORTH IT!

I live in Sydney now and we get beautiful black truffles from New South Wales. Amazing.

By the way, truffles are not mushrooms. Truffles are tubers that grow UNDERNEATH the mushrooms. Easily confused.

And also, somewhere on this thread someone said not to go near truffle oil and that not even the best restaurants even keep a bottle in their kitchens. NOT TRUE....LOL. I used to work for one of the best chefs in NYC (probably #2 after Thomas Keller) and he keeps bottles of truffle oil in all of his kitchens lol......it was never drizzled on dishes with freshly shaved WHITE truffles but nontheless it was there in the kitchen.

Happy Truffle Hunting!


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## lillyfoodie (Sep 13, 2011)

Truffles smell like sex to me  

Perhaps you should try to make a basic parmesan risotto and then drizzle a small amount of truffle oil over it when you're done.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Truffles are not mushrooms, they take years to form and basically they are an organic growth. They used to be refered to as Black edible diamonds because of their value. Years ago sniffed out of ground by trained pigs. Today the pigs are worth to much so they trained dogs to do it

     . Many chefs make there own truffle butter and truffle oil essences. Truffle butter is ground truffle peelings and 93 score butter combined and then frozen into stick or cylinder shape. Then served as a slice on top of somthing. Truffles have a slight musty odor  and if sliced for cold food decoration are sliced on a slicing machine and stored in sherry wine in a jar.


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## nadeest (Nov 6, 2010)

We used that sauce with Beef Wellington.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Only posting because the error is starting to perpetuate. The sauce is actually named sauce perigueux, not perigourdine. Sauce perigueux used to mostly be an espagnole finished with madeira and truffles; but there were always a lot of ways to skin that cat, and now that espagnole isn't much in favor there are even more. One way or the other, a rich, reduced stock, a fortified wine, and truffles are not optional..

Dishes served with perigeuex are sometimes said to be perigourdine (i.e., in the style of Perigord). For instance, "'Beef Wellinginton Perigourdine' is a Wellington sauced with a perigueux." 

BDL


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

BDL is 100% correct.  Most good places used to turn and peel truffles therefor they used the peelings from them.


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## nadeest (Nov 6, 2010)

BDL, I'm sure that you are correct, but that is the way that my instructor titled the recipe, and I copied the spelling exactly.  Btw, we did use madeira and demi-glace in this recipe.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

NADEEST !

I was a culinary instructor and I made errors. So does everyone else.


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## nadeest (Nov 6, 2010)

I sure as heck do too, ChefEdB!!!  That is why I said that I am sure that BDL is correct.  Thankfully, I haven't burned water lately, though.


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