Anyone here ever tried truffles (not the chocolate kind)?

[LeftinOH]

I am curious. And...what do you do with them?

[Major Nikon]

1. You shave them and use the shavings to flavor various dishes

So while they are expensive by the pound, a little goes a long way.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. Is there a difference in taste between white and black?

Or only in the concentrated amount of flavour each packs?

[Major Nikon]

5. I've never tried both in the same dish

White truffles generally come from Italy and are traditionally used in Italian dishes while black truffles are more French in origin and used more predominately there. So I've had Italian dishes flavored with white truffle and French dishes with black truffle. In both it adds a very nice flavor that's hard to describe. It doesn't taste the way you might think a mushroom would taste.

[Turbineguy]

2. I had a hamburger with truffles.

Yes. It was extraordinary.

[Little Star]

4. I've never had truffles but...

would like to give them a try.

I had bookmarked this website just incase I needed it:
http://www.mssf.org/cookbook/truffles.html

It has some recipes that sounded pretty good.

[cbayer]

6. They are very distinct and very hard to describe.

Probably the best way to find out if you like, love or loathe them is to buy truffle oil or truffle butter.

While they are best used almost immediately, getting them fresh can be outrageously expensive unless you are where they grow.

We were very lucky to have been gifted some this summer.

My favorites are shaved into risotto or a simple pasta or on a homemade pizza. You can also put them in a container with eggs or rice for a few days. Both will absurd the flavor.

As noted above, a little will go a very long way, but they do not keep unless you put them in oil.

Give them a try. I am one who loves them.

[Warpy]

7. I had them in a very fine restaurant in Quebec

They were shaved very fine and incorporated into a fairly light sauce. Of course I loved them.

I also had them in a terrine at a friend's house. They weren't quite as nice there, mostly because the seasonings weren't balanced and it was too much meat for me.

Lesson learned: leave very expensive ingredients in the hands of extremely competent cooks.

Oh, I duplicated that Quebecois recipe minus the truffles within 5 years and it was almost as nice with varietal mushrooms of several descriptions, nice enough that I have never bought truffles even with an Xmas windfall or at tax refund time.

I did drool a bit over the picture of the record sized truffle in the news last week.

If you find yourself in possession of truffles this year, I suggest a trip through the pages of Julia Child's cookbook to find a stellar recipe or two. Do shave them fine if they're in a lump, they work a lot better when the maximum area is exposed.

Once you have them, you won't forget them.