Truffle oil

Huile de truffe

What it is

The molecule that makes it, 2,4-dithiapentane, was synthesised in a Berlin laboratory in 1941 and only identified in white truffles a quarter of a century later, in Milan. Almost every bottle on sale is neutral oil dosed with the lab version: one note, held at full strength, where a real truffle carries dozens that fade.

In the kitchen

It does not cook off and it does not dilute, so it goes on at the table by the drop, never into the pan and never into hot fat. If a dish tastes of nothing but truffle oil there is no rescue — start the sauce again.

Goes with

Potato Egg Parmesan Carnaroli rice Button mushroom Olive oil

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