Back in 2010 we had an exceptional year—big beautiful truffles in abundance, and at a good price. On the Sunday before our dinners, I was still near Sienna, happy with the haul I’d be taking home tomorrow. Then I got a call from Denise Sacchini, Giorgio’s daughter, saying that there was one more truffle I needed to buy. It was a huge 604 gram truffle. I’d seen giant truffles on display at truffle fairs, but never anything this size. It’s the size that a Hong Kong restaurant owner would buy for tens of thousands of dollars to get his picture in the paper. I declined, respectfully. Denise persisted. I thought I had all I needed, and it didn’t have that kind of value to Oliveto, though it was offered at a very reasonable price. I called Maggie, and she thought I was nuts to pass on it, so I agreed. When it came in from the field, it was beautiful, though not particularly fragrant.

I could have driven to Alba, sold the truffle and made enough to buy a car, but Sunday night I drove to my regular pre-flight hotel in Milan. I became well known there for all the smells. In a marble bathroom, I’d clean the truffles all night, 12 pounds, so they’d pass Agricultural inspection at SFO when I arrived on Monday. By Tuesday night, our 604 gram truffle had bloomed with an extraordinary fragrance. It took an exceptional dog to find this adolescent so deep in the ground.

We want Truffle Dinners at Oliveto to be fun. Truffle Dinners aren’t exactly fun at $25 per gram in a stuffy dining room. We find that at $7-$8 per gram you can still have some fun. Once we have our truffles in hand on Monday we’ll put out the final menu and report on their condition and price.

In case you missed them: Truffle Tales #1, Truffle Tales #2, Truffle Tales #3, & the preliminary Truffle Menu

Tentatively – possibly – maybe – our truffles will be inexpensive, in the $7-8 per gram range. White truffles are shaved fresh by request and would be delicious on most of the dishes below. Also available is the ultimate experience of white truffles mortared in new olive oil and slathered on meat. Black truffles and wild mushrooms are integrated into the menu, as they are best served cooked.

Next to the shopping carts, protected from the deluge by the market’s overhang, was our hunter. He had big beautiful truffles, 60 to 80 grams—lots of them. He could have sold them for twice the price, thousands more, in Alba. But that was a 6-hour drive away. He had just gotten married and didn’t want to spend the next two days delaying the honeymoon. It was perhaps our greatest truffle triumph, except for that described in Chapter #4 of Tales of the Truffle Trade, next week.

Menu will also be posted next week.

Incase you missed them: Truffle Tales #1  &  Truffle Tales #2

When travelers want to experience white truffles first hand, they travel to the Piedmont region of Italy, specifically to the Truffle Festival in Alba. The Piemonte is a remarkable place to visit in late fall. Its vineyards are changing colors, with patches of reds, purples and yellows draping the already splendid landscape like a quilt. Alba is alive with smells and people and music.

Our truffle trips always began in Alba, rarely to buy, but mainly to understand that year’s quality and market. It’s a magical place to go in late fall, a sort of gateway to the truffle fairs in the rest of the country. I tried a selfie standup (never before shown) outside Alba’s newly developed truffle pavilion in 2010. Note the Hitchcock cameo.

Some things don’t change:

• Italian white truffles remain one of the world’s most wonderful intoxicants.
• White Truffles are mysterious—they’ve never been farmed successfully.
• The Oliveto Truffle Dinners are always the week before Thanksgiving. There’s a reason:

 

 

Truffle Dinners remain a favorite here. Menu to follow, as well as more… Tales from the Truffle Trade.

It was chilly this morning, yes? We’re starting to look at sweaters in the closet—it has begun. We’re looking forward to our favorite season for rich, full-bodied, soul warming food—Ribollita with new olive oil, great braises, food that calls for Barolos and Barbarescos, and of course truffles, all in the weeks to come.

This weekend—Tortellini of Black Futsu squash and sage in poultry brodo.

Lot’s more coming and Truffle Dinners are scheduled for November 13 through 17, now taking reservations.