How about this for a resume?<\/p>\n
Now, picture this:<\/p>\n
A slightly built Frenchman, with the leathered looks of an outdoor life, his wooly toque is in place, with mud caking his heavy boots. A sturdy satchel slung over his shoulder, he trundles through the woods of southern France with a little dachshund at his heels. <\/p>\n
C\u00e2line looks like your run-of-the-forest dachshund. <\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled. She has a special talent.<\/p>\n
Jean Spati is a life-long truffle hunter or rabassier. C\u00e2line is his talented partner. Each year, on average, she digs up more than her weight in truffles, those warty-looking lumps that last year sold for $700 to $1400 a kilo, depending on their variety and quality.<\/p>\n
Accompanying the master and pooch on their foray is one of the gastronomic outings included in the five-day cooking school at Hostellerie Crillon le Brave, an exquisite country inn located some 40 minutes northeast of Avignon. <\/p>\n
It was a brisk, clear day when we set off for the woods in early February \u2013 the peak of the truffle season in this area.<\/p>\n
Monsieur Spati and C\u00e2line were after Provence\u2019s most flavourful, black, Perigord truffle, the Tuber melanosporum. <\/p>\n
We had been walking for about five minutes when all of a sudden, C\u00e2line began to wag her tail frantically. Her excitement was palatable. Nose thrust to the ground, she raced ahead, scurrying back and forth. Then, with great gusto, she started to dig. Spati was right behind her. He used a handmade trowel shaped like a small ice pick to secure the truffle before C\u00e2line could damage, or, horrors, eat it. A truffle-scented biscuit from satchel was the pooch\u2019s prompt payment for mission accomplished. <\/p>\n
Although many breeds and either gender can aspire to the job, raw talent, followed be specific training, is the key. The best pups have a \u201cgood nose and a memory for old digs,\u201d Spati told us. In days gone by, pigs, with their properly sensitive snouts performed the job. Nowadays they have fallen out of favour because, \u201cit\u2019s not easy to keep a 300-pound sow from eating the treasure.\u201d <\/p>\n
Truffles grow anywhere from four- to 20-cm underground, isolated, and without roots and most prevalently around oak trees. For centuries they have been prized as a culinary specialty.<\/p>\n
To the ancient Romans, because of its vegetable origin, but lacking a seed, the truffle was an object of great curiosity and believed to be an aphrodisiac. During the Middle Ages, when truffles were considered a fruit of sin, they disappeared completely from dining tables.<\/p>\n
While black truffles are prevalent in winter in Provence, the town of Alba, in Piemonte, is white truffle heaven. The season for these \u201cwhite diamonds, (tuber magnatum Pico) begins in September and runs until Christmas. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s precisely why Fausto Di Berardino, owner of Coppi Ristorante on Yonge Street has made an October pilgrimage to Piemonte for the past 22 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minute you arrive in Alba,\u201d Di Berardino says, his face lighting up at the mere thought of the experience, \u201cyou are assailed by the unmistakable aroma of truffles. People are giddy with the whole heady experience. It\u2019s quite amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHunting for truffles easily becomes a passion. Enrico the truffler and I go out each morning at 4 am with two dogs. It\u2019s dark and quiet, misty and mystical. The dogs work hard and by, 8 o\u2019clock they\u2019ve have had enough.\u201d <\/p>\n
Truffles have to be eaten fresh. Throughout the season di Berardino gets a shipment air freighted in each week, at a cost of $5,000 a kilo. \u201cWe went through more than six kilos last year,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Although they can lend their unusual, aromatic flavour to myriad foods, bland dishes such as pasta or risotto showcase the pungent aroma and delicate flavour best. <\/p>\n
Favourite dishes at Coppi Ristorante include homemade taglierini topped with shaved white truffle. \u201cPasta, olive oil and white truffles. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone also goes crazy for risotto and white truffles,\u201d ii Berardino adds. My mother always said, \u201cThat\u2019s the way a truffle should die.\u201d<\/p>\n
His own personal favourite is Uovl al Tegamino – fried eggs, sunny side up. The eggs sit out overnight, in their shells, on top of a truffle, so they absorb the flavour. The next morning, they\u2019re fried with a pinch of salt. Nothing else.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get any better,\u201d says the man with a big passion. <\/p>\n
Urbane November 2006<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How about this for a resume? A misshapen, far-from-beautiful lump, the product of the freakish marriage between fungus and tree root; Utterly aromatic \u2013 think musty, woodsy, earthy, sexy Indescribably delicious; Commands prices that make caviar seem as cheap as chips Sets a chef\u2019s hearts racing. Now, picture this: A slightly built Frenchman, with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":204,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions\/219"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beyondlavenderhill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}