Ultimate Guide To Truffle Oil
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September 20th, 2019
Truffle oil is a heady, fragrant ingredient that gives dressings, pasta dishes or sauce emulsions an instant hit of earthy truffle flavour. Loved by Michelin chefs, it’s a fantastic ingredient to experiment with in all sorts of recipes. Here’s our ultimate guide to truffle oil and some interesting ways to use it.
What is truffle oil made from?
Truffle oil is extra virgin olive oil that has been infused with shavings of truffle or truffle aroma. This gives the oil a heady, earthy flavour which is great for pepping up risottos, creamy pastas and carpaccio. Both white and black truffles can be used in oil. As the oil has a strong flavour, it is best used sparingly as a drizzle.
How should truffle oil be used?
Truffle oil should always be used sparingly, and it shouldn’t be used to cook with over heat. This is because heat alters the flavour and aroma of truffle oil, and it loses its distinctive earthiness. Instead, use it as a finishing oil and drizzle over soups, risottos, gnocchi or seared fish.
Truffle oil can also be used in vinaigrettes, or added to homemade mayonnaise for even more flavour. It’s incredibly rich, so use it lightly!
Here are some delicious ways to use truffle oil:
- Truffle Oil Vinaigrette
Mix a teaspoon or two of truffle oil with milder tasting olive oil, then make a delicious salad vinaigrette dressing with lemon juice and dijon mustard. Use your vinaigrette to dress leafy salads or even to drizzle over cheese or cured meats.
- Truffled Eggs
Give your scrambled eggs a real kick and add a dash of truffle oil just before serving. You can also anoint poached eggs with a little truffle oil, or stir it trough whisked eggs before making an omelette. Eggs and truffle is a match fit for a king!
- Garlic Truffle Fries
The new favourite on every menu in London – truffle fries are cooked with truffle oil, garlic and sea salt to create incredibly rich and delicious chips. Try it at home with thick cut potato for a very decadent side.
- Truffle Pizza
If you love making pizza with the best ingredients, truffle oil is a great addition to your store cupboard. Drizzle truffle oil over mushroom-topped pizza, to take a Friday night staple to a whole new level.
What varieties of truffle oil are there?
There are different varieties of truffle oil, and each is slightly different. Take a look at the most popular forms of truffle oil below.
White truffle oil has an intense aroma and complex, earthy flavours. It’s a spectacular finishing oil. White truffle is famed for its musky aroma and shallot-garlic notes.
White truffle oil tastes incredible drizzled over risotto, fish and carpaccio and is extremely versatile. You can also create rich and luxurious dressings for salads, or use it to drizzle over pizza for a delicious twist on classic flavours.
Black truffle oil is known for its slightly milder aroma than white truffle, although is still rich and has heady earth notes. Use black truffle oil for luxury dishes like fillet of beef or wild mushroom risotto to bring out the flavour of fresh truffle.
For something extra special, truffle pearls are playful and full of flavour. Get the creative juices flowing by using these beautiful little pearls of truffle oil to dress starters. You may choose to scatter the pearls over beef carpaccio or place a delicate pile in the centre of a creamy risotto to add the complex earthy, musky notes of white truffles in a whole new way.
Made with white truffle oil, pearls are delicious paired with potatoes, cheese, mushrooms, eggs – or combine them with all four, in a frittata!
