I need a really nice truffle oil for pasta, but don't know which to buy as the price varies so much and from experience with other items, price isn't always the pointer. I'm not expecting something for nothing though.

If anyone in the cooking trade has a recommendation, I'd love to know. Thanks.

That reminds me years ago when I bought a small bottle of the stuff, it was a cheap brand. In the staircase the bottle somehow fell to the ground The ensuing stench was indiscribable, it smelled like a chemical plant, and it was impossible to clean the stench away - it stayed for weeks. That's my experience of cheap truffle oil.

After that I bought a bottle of somewhat higher quality, I tried it in sauces and on pasta, always in microscopic quantities. It was fantastic but I was surprised to see how quickly I got fed up with this finally very particular aroma, one drop too much and it was really obtrusive. Two years later the bottle was still half full in the fridge, and finally I threw it away.

What I would do today is fill a small bottle with fine but very neutral olive (?) oil, add one or two small pieces of truffle and wait for a few weeks. This way at least you know what you've got.

I wouldn't use olive oil, the taste is too strong. Use something like sunflower oil instead.

quote:

Originally posted by Ewan Aye:
I need a really nice truffle oil for pasta, but don't know which to buy as the price varies so much and from experience with other items, price isn't always the pointer. I'm not expecting something for nothing though.

If anyone in the cooking trade has a recommendation, I'd love to know. Thanks.

Most of the offerings I have seen have been from the same manufacturer albeit at wildly differing prices. My recommendation? Buy the smallest you need and use it quickly. A week or so after opening all the truffle whiff has gone.

Actually, you're far better off using the fresh product anyway, and then French or Italian. Pricey, yes, but there's no comparison.

You need to find an oil with the Truffles infused and not "flavoured oil. Cheap Truffle oil is awful.

The only fresh Truffles you can buy are within a couple of weeks of being picked and are extremely expensive. The only way to store them long term is in oil.

Thing is, when I've looked at truffles in oil, it always says after opening use within 5 days. Well, with a jar of maybe 4 black truffles in oil for a tenner, I'm never going to use them all within 5 days! Even for a dinner party there would be at least two or three meals there.
I've seen infused oil on line and it seems that the internet is the place to buy.
Now the question is; black or white?

Oils

Actually, frozen truffles are now available. Still not keen on the truffles in olive oil - what do you want to taste, the oil or the truffle?

You'll be able to buy fresh truffles in a couple of months - black has the stronger taste.

Chinese truffles can also be found - the French think they lack flavour, buy they're much cheaper.

quote:

Now the question is; black or white?

No question at all, white. I'm sounding very posh I know but black truffles just taste of metal to me, no thanks.

Oh and on that website, they write that you can associate truffle oil with nearly everything. I say this is nonsense in the most absolute way.

If you have fine, fresh fish and desperately want to destroy its flavour, you're right, use truffle oil. Bloody rubbish.

Truffles are good with things that enhance their own flavour - e.g. pasta or an omelette. To my knowledge it is extremely difficult to use truffles as a flavouring to meat or fish without ruining them.

quote:

Originally posted by count.d:
You need to find an oil with the Truffles infused

Yes but again, most of those oils are chemically flavoured, the bits swimming in the bottle being actually pieces of virtually tasteless asian truffles.

Personally I would go to a small specialist shop. You'll pay a fortune but chances are the quality will be a lot better, because the shopkeeper knows he will instantly get heavily told off when his stuff turns out to be not as good as the price suggests.

I went to a deli yesterday -one of those places that have lots of shelves full of stuff you never see anywhere else, a real Aladdin's Cave, but they don't do truffle oil!
Looks as if I'll have to buy on-line, which is probably the best choice anyway.