This week I am cooking with truffles
It's the season, and it's a very good season, too, in Western Australia (where most of Australia's truffles are grown) and also in Victoria. Enough rain, enough cold weather, and lots of excellent truffles.
It's a hard season for producers because so much of the crop usually goes to restaurants. There are fewer restaurants, fewer people in restaurants, and fewer export opportunities. So my suggestion is to find a truffle supplier. There's a truffle pop-up at Victoria Market https://trufflemelbourne.com - and that website will give you lots more information about truffles and where to find them, including a soon-to-appear video of chef Scott Pickett (Estelle, Matilda) and me working together to create his stunning jerusalem artichoke and celeriac soup.
Another way to buy truffles is through Robert Perrone of Premier Foods, who does a truffle delivery in Melbourne. Best way to contact him is to message him on Facebook. You can find my interview with him on soundcloud.com/travelwritersradioIn the meantime, it's been truffles with everything at our place. Baked eggs with truffles, truffled hasselback potatoes, mushroom risotto with truffles, jerusalem artichoke and celeriac soup with truffles, scrambled eggs with truffles, potato gratin with truffles.....How to choose a good truffle? It should feel heavy for its size, and be without blemishes. Best of all, smell it. If you like the smell of it, go for it.
Truffles are expensive by the kilo, but since mostly we buy 30 grams (more or less), that's like the cost of a good bottle of wine, and it will go further. But don't keep a truffle for long: wrap it in kitchen paper and store it in a jar in the refrigerator. Or you can put it in a bowl of eggs or a jar of rice, to perfume the eggs or rice.