'Nobody Knows The Truffles I've Seen'

Above, the rather charming title of restaurateur and raconteur extraordinaire George Lang's autobiography (below).

Florence Fabricant, in her "Food Stuff" column in this past Wednesday's New York Times Dining section, noted that this year's truffles are now arriving from Italy.

At anywhere from $120 to $169 an ounce, that's one pricey fungus.

There are ways of enjoying the essence of truffles far more inexpensively.

Two I've tried and found worthy are:

• Truffle Salt (below)

• Truffle Butter (below)

Here's the Times article.

Ah, Time to Break Out That White Truffle Nest Egg

Top-quality white truffles from Italy are coming into the market. Prices, for now, are comparable to last year’s, but if the crop is as good as expected, they may decrease somewhat.

Butterfield Market, 1114 Lexington Avenue (78th Street), is selling truffles for $140 an ounce. Truffette, 104 Avenue B (Sixth Street), has them for $120 to $150 an ounce, depending on the size. From dartagnan.com they are $169 an ounce, if they are available. BuonItalia in the Chelsea Market has started selling them ($150 an ounce) and on Nov. 13 and 14 from 6 to 9 p.m., will offer an array of truffle dishes, from crostini to polenta with egg, $16 to $29 a plate, at an informal tasting.

A number of restaurants, including Alto, San Domenico and Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, are serving special white truffle tasting menus. At Del Posto, 85 10th Avenue (16th Street), truffles are being sold by the gram, $8, so customers can have as much or as little as they like shaved over their food at the table.

“It makes no sense to shave truffles in the kitchen because the guest loses the impact of the aroma,” said Joseph Bastianich, an owner.

To understand the mystique of this rare and costly fungus, along with that of the black truffle, which is seasonal in midwinter, as well as other varieties (summer, desert, American, Chinese), there is a new book, “Truffles” by Elizabeth Luard (Frances Lincoln, $35 [$23.10 at Amazon]).



The author describes truffles as “a foodstuff whose appeal is entirely to the nose,” and provides legend, history, science, preparation and efforts at cultivation with some recipes.

Unfortunately, the pages are not scratch-and-sniff.

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The most useful thing I've learned so far this month is to make certain that any truffles I am fortunate enough to partake of are shaved at tableside.