It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like X'mas

These “diamonds of the kitchen” are the embodiment of gastronomic luxury. Xie Huiqun relishes the ways you can create a truffle-centric menu this festive season.

- Xie Huiqun

The captivating aroma of a fine truffle is a many-splendoured thing. “Of garlic, honey, wet earth or grass,” describes Giorgio Richiardi, a judge with the Centro Nazionale Studi del Tartufo (National Centre for the Study of Truffles) of Alba, Italy, who judges at truffle competitions held at both the national and regional truffle fairs in Piedmont. Like with wines, the judges would look out for consistency, integrity and, above all, the aroma of the truffles.

Truffles, according to the National Centre for the Study of Truffles, are the “fruiting bodies (sporocarps) of fungi” and are in the genus Tuber, and must live in symbiotic relationships with certain trees (oak trees seem favoured). The New Larousse Gastronomique, the quintessential culinary encyclopedia, writes that “truffles are eaten raw or cooked, cut into strips or slices, diced or shredded, in the form of juice, fumet or essence, or simply for their fragrance”. It goes further to describe that if you place truffles in a basket with some eggs, those will make the best-boiled eggs ever – a testament of the prowess of their scent.