At the top of my “to make” list is Anthony Bourdain’s mushroom soup. I especially love his suggestion at the end of the recipe: “…if you really want to ratchet your soup into pretentious (but delicious), drizzle a few tiny drops of truffle oil over the surface just before serving. Why the hell not? Everybody else is doing it.”
That about sums up truffles: pretentious, trendy, overused and – yes – ridiculously delicious. These rare and rather ugly mushrooms are a staple of high-end Mediterranean cooking for a reason: they add a depth of flavor, what the Japanese would call umami, that is unmatched in any other wild mushroom. And they’re oddly versatile – they seem perfectly at home in both sweet and savory cooking, even if the heady, wild, petrichor flavor always threatens to crowd out other elements of a dish.
The largest importer of gourmet truffle products in the U.S. is Sabatino North America, which opened its first, flagship boutique for the home cook last month at 130 Newbury Street: Sabatino&Co Roma. I headed down to the store, eager to try some truffle products and talk to CEO Gabriel Balestra, whose family has been producing truffles for generations.
Some highlights: a balsamic vinegar aged to the point of sweetness, rich, syrupy and – apparently – just lovely over strawberry ice cream; thick and creamy natural skin lotions, with ingredients that made me smell like an Italian kitchen all day; and the best honey I have ever tasted, infused and enriched with little specks of black truffle floating on top of amber foam.
The honey is really just a work of art, and at the time of my visit it was blissfully available for all browsers to sample, which I did quite generously. I knew I had to have it, so I asked the price – just over $20. For honey. Ack. “It lasts a long time,” the salesman said helpfully. “It wouldn’t in my house,” I answered sadly. I do, however, plan on splurging soon – it’s so good that I really do think the cost is worth it, for a special occasion.
The store also, of course, has well-packaged truffle oils and salts. Take Anthony’s word for it – I’m sure they’d be great on top of some soup.