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Power Truffling Through Piedmont
Melissa Clark January 25, 2007The next morning, I awoke still tasting the truffles from the night before. As we drove north to a sweet country restaurant and food coop, I contemplated if at the end of this last day in Piedmont I would finally feel truly truffle-saturated. The Cascina del Cornale is the lovechild of Elena Rovere, who searches out and sells the finest locally made products available with a commitment to preserving the region's culinary heritage.
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See our slideshow of Piedmont's truffle bounty
We submitted to the proprietress' knowledge as she talked us through a tasting of the undiscovered cheeses and cured meats made by her neighbors. We shaved Elena's stock of small yet lusty truffles over a crisp green salad dressed in one of her pet projects, heady vinegar brewed from an ancient variety of pear on the verge of extinction. The combination of truffles, olive oil, sea salt and the sweet-tart vinegar was unexpectedly brilliant and offered a break from the richness of typical Piemontese cuisine, however short-lived.
Our next course was a brawny sausage called cotechino, made from pigs' feet and cubes of chewy fat. It was served atop a bed of crispy, browned cabbage, which relieved the heaviness of the meat. After a much-needed but very small digestivo also made from Elena's prized pears, we set off for a walk in the vineyards to kill time before dinner.
One thing that was becoming clear as our power-truffle journey extended through the region was that the truffles we normally see in fancy restaurants in the United States are bigger and far more expensive than what we tasted in Italy. The more expensive part made sense, but I wondered why the truffles I saw at home were so much bigger. Was it just because I was visiting too early in the truffle season? I put the question to John Magazino, who imports truffles for Bel Canto foods in the United States.
"The best, biggest truffles come to the States because we pay a lot more for them," he said. Truffles are extremely perishable -- they are shipped overnight in careful conditions then immediately sold and used within a week. Compared to a truffle-rich dinner at Ducasse in New York, for example, even our most expensive Piedmont meal (at Guido, about 250 euros for lunch) was a bargain.
For our last, blow-out meal at L'Osteria Del Vignaiolo in La Morra, we decided to try and order the biggest truffle we could, which turned out to be the size of an apricot. The waiter recommended the fontina fonduta to shave it on, and we nodded our consent while he made a show of sniffing and weighing the truffle to get it ready for our dinner.
Out came the dishes, piping hot from the kitchen. Out came the truffle slicer. All the other diners glanced over at us as the scent of shaved truffle drifted in their direction. Soon it would be their turn to pick, weigh and shave their trophies, but in that moment, the stage was given over to us. There was enough truffle to eat the top layer off the fonduta then to shave on some more, ensuring that every single bite of melted cheese was thoroughly smothered in truffle.
We finished and licked our spoons clean of every truffle-crumb, mourning the end of the trip. Had we reached the height of truffle contentment? Temporarily, for sure, since truffle satisfaction is as fleeting as truffle season itself.
See our slideshow of Piedmont's truffle bounty
Grand Hotel
A native of Florence, Paolo Basagni is Head Concierge at the Grand Hotel, where he has worked since 1967.
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