This is recipe #2 in our current truffle "adventure." Galya and I were faced with quite a few days of truffles and not enough free days in which to use them. A little research led to a couple of ways to extend the life of a truffle, since keeping it in the fridge, keeps it around and aromatic for only a few days. Truffle oil and truffle butter are the two basic choices, and butter sounds better.
Truffle butter is a great way to make a little truffle go a long way, stirring it into hot pasta or dotting it on hot rice or vegetables. It's also a way to insure that you have the flavor and scent of truffle ready and waiting. Fresh truffles don't last forever; the scent fades and, soon, they go bad. Imagine the horror of unwrapping your last truffle, only to find it ugly and shriveled! Look into your future, and if you don't see yourself using that fresh truffle before it's too late, consider making and freezing some truffle butter to keep your world whole for just a little longer.
White Truffle Butter
The ratio is up to you. In the butter pictured, we used one pound of good butter and one quarter ounce of white Alba truffle. Don't use too much butter, thinking you can stretch the truffle and make it last forever. You can always add more plain butter when making your final dish, but if you need more truffle flavor, you would be forced to include a lot of butter in the recipe. So, a little bit concentrated is probably better.
Ingredients
7g white Alba truffle (one small truffle, in this case)
1 pound butter
salt, optional
Directions
Bring the butter to room temperature. In a bowl, whip the butter until smooth and creamy using a heavy spoon.
In another small bowl, finely grate the cleaned truffle. Fold the grated truffle into the softened butter, stirring until the truffle is evenly distributed.
We recommend that you season to taste with salt, which is good if you plan to spread the truffle butter directly on bread or crackers, in addition to using the butter in your hot dishes.
Give the butter a few hours at room temperature, which allows the flavors to blend, then it's time to refrigerate it. We put the bowl directly in the refrigerator to harden, then broke it into quarters for these pictures.
From here, you can put the butter in a ziplock bag and freeze it, breaking or cutting off pieces as you need it. They say you can keep it, frozen, for up to a month. Who "they" is and what happens after a month is the question. Frozen foods are safe for a long time, and truffle butter should be no different. The flavor probably fades over time, so my advice is enjoy the truffle butter in the next month, and don't tempt fate.
White Truffle Butter
The ratio is up to you. In the butter pictured, we used one pound of good butter and one quarter ounce of white Alba truffle. Don't use too much butter, thinking you can stretch the truffle and make it last forever. You can always add more plain butter when making your final dish, but if you need more truffle flavor, you would be forced to include a lot of butter in the recipe. So, a little bit concentrated is probably better.
Ingredients
7g white Alba truffle (one small truffle, in this case)
1 pound butter
salt, optional
Directions
Bring the butter to room temperature. In a bowl, whip the butter until smooth and creamy using a heavy spoon.
In another small bowl, finely grate the cleaned truffle. Fold the grated truffle into the softened butter, stirring until the truffle is evenly distributed.
We recommend that you season to taste with salt, which is good if you plan to spread the truffle butter directly on bread or crackers, in addition to using the butter in your hot dishes.
Give the butter a few hours at room temperature, which allows the flavors to blend, then it's time to refrigerate it. We put the bowl directly in the refrigerator to harden, then broke it into quarters for these pictures.
From here, you can put the butter in a ziplock bag and freeze it, breaking or cutting off pieces as you need it. They say you can keep it, frozen, for up to a month. Who "they" is and what happens after a month is the question. Frozen foods are safe for a long time, and truffle butter should be no different. The flavor probably fades over time, so my advice is enjoy the truffle butter in the next month, and don't tempt fate.
I've made compound butters before, usually with cinnamon or maybe rosemary, but this is kind of a cool idea.
ReplyDeleteConfession time: I have never had a truffle in my life, but I'm thinking that I should do something about that. I'll let you know what I think.