Bagnoli truffle ✦

Truffe de Bagnoli

What it is

Its aroma is phenolic and bituminous — tar and iodine, closing on bitter almond as it ripens — and chefs refused it outright for a long time. It is dug in Italy around Bagnoli Irpino and in France as the truffe de la Meuse or de Lorraine, and alone among truffles its perfume survives cooking, which is what eventually saved it.

In the kitchen

Do not shave it over anything. Weigh two or three grams into a terrine farce or a sauce and let it cook in — dosed like a black winter truffle it takes the whole plate, and the bitterness is not a flaw to be cooked away.

Goes with

Butter Egg Potato Pork Chicken Cream Chestnut Foie gras

Same species

Bianchetto truffle Musky truffle Burgundy truffle Chinese truffle Oregon white truffle Pecan truffle

In season alongside

Epazote Fresh ginseng Horseradish Tara no me Acorn Alexanders

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us