The Truffle Underground

Author: Ryan Jacobs
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
ISBN: 0451495705
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
“The ultimate truffle true crime tale”*: A thrilling journey through the hidden underworld of the world's most prized luxury ingredient. *Bianca Bosker, New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystal-laden tables, the truffle supply chain is touched by theft, secrecy, sabotage, and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival truffle-hunting dogs. Naive buyers and even knowledgeable experts are duped by liars and counterfeits. Deeply reported and elegantly written, this page-turning exposé documents the dark, sometimes deadly crimes at each level of the truffle’s path from ground to plate, making sense of an industry that traffics in scarcity, seduction, and cash. Through it all, a question lingers: What, other than money, draws people to these dirt-covered jewels? Praise for The Truffle Underground “Investigative journalist and first-time author Jacobs does a remarkable job reporting from the front lines of the truffle industry, bringing to vivid life French black-truffle farmers, Italian white-truffle foragers, and their marvelously well-trained dogs.”—Booklist (starred review) “In The Truffle Underground, Ryan Jacobs presents a lively exposé of the truffle industry, reporting on the crimes that ‘haunt the whole supply chain.’ . . . Even if truffles are beyond your pay grade, there is plenty of enjoyment to be had in the sheer devilment portrayed in this informative and appetizing book.”—The Wall Street Journal “You’ll never look at truffle fries the same way after reading this book. . . . You can practically smell the soil as you follow truffle farmers and bandits through the groves and fields of France and Italy where the fungi are harvested and stolen.”—Outside, “Five Favorite Summer Reads” “[The] book is a rigorously reported, carefully written, endlessly interesting immersion in a high-stakes subculture.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Jacobs takes us on an eye-opening journey through the prized mushroom’s supply chain and the global black market for these tubers in this tale of theft, deceit, and high-stakes secrets.”—Real Simple

Truffle Boy

Author: Ian Purkayastha
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 031638397X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
"[Ian Purkayastha] has a true, deep expertise in everything he sells--caviar, truffles, fish. He knows the stories that we need to sell the stuff tableside . . . he can disrupt the entire luxury foods market." ---From the Foreword by David Chang Ian Purkayastha is New York City's leading truffle importer and boasts a devoted clientele of top chefs nationwide, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, David Chang, Sean Brock, and David Bouley. But before he was purveying the world's most expensive fungus to the country's most esteemed chefs, Ian was just a food-obsessed teenager in rural Arkansas -- a misfit with a peculiar fascination for rare and exotic ingredients. The son of an Indian immigrant father and a Texan mother, Ian learned to forage for wild mushrooms from an uncle in the Ozark hills. Thus began a single-track fixation that led him to learn about the prized but elusive truffle, the king of all fungi. His first taste of truffle at age 15 sparked his improbable yet remarkable adventure through the strange -- and often corrupt -- business of the exotic food trade. Rife with tales from the hidden underbelly of the elite restaurant scene, Truffle Boy chronicles Ian's high stakes dealings with a truffle kingpin in Serbia, meth-head foragers in Oregon, crooked businessmen and maniacal chefs in Manhattan, gypsy truffle hunters in the forests of Hungary, and a supreme adventure to find "Gucci mushrooms" in the Himalayan foothills -- the land of the gods. He endures harsh failures along the way but rebuilds with tremendous success by selling not just truffles but also caviar, wild mushrooms, rare foraged edibles, Wagyu beef, and other nearly unobtainable ingredients demanded by his Michelin-starred clients. Truffle Boy is a thrilling coming-of-age story and the incredible but true tale of a country kid who grows up to become a force in the world of fine dining.

The Truffle Book

Author: Gareth Renowden
Publisher: Limestone Hills Ltd
ISBN: 0473102412
Category : Truffles
Languages : en
Pages : 149

Book Description
Gareth Renowden explores the truffle forests of France and the truffle markets of Italy, discovers the new truffles of the American Northwest and the new plantations of Australia and New Zealand, and dispels a few myths along the way. There's advice on setting up a truffière, training a dog to find truffles, how to buy truffles and avoid expensive mistakes, and how to cook the defining truffle dishes.

Field Guide to North American Truffles

Author: Matt Trappe
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 1580088627
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Book Description
The second most expensive food in the world after saffron, truffles are treasured, coveted, and savored for their mysterious and exotic flavor. This complete field guide shows chefs and fungi aficionados how to forage for and identify the wide variety of truffles that grow in temperate forests throughout North America. Written by expert horticulturalists who have studied, classified, and enjoyed truffles for decades, the FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN TRUFFLES makes these celebrated underground jewels accessible to all. • The first full-color illustrated guide to identifying North American truffles by their key features, including profiles of more than 80 species of truffles. • Includes more than 80 photographs of rare and hard-to-find truffle species. • Features flavor profiles, delectability index, and culinary tips for each species. • Perfect size for carrying in a pocket or daypack. Reviews"It's the first book of its kind, complete with photographs, cross-sectional views of indigenous truffle varieties, guides to seasonal availability, and foraging tips for hundreds of kinds of truffles (both the edible and inedible kinds), as well as tasting notes and cooking tips." —Saveur

Taming the Truffle

Author: Ian Robert Hall
Publisher: Timber Press (OR)
ISBN: 0881928607
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
Whether the world's best truffles are found in Piedmont or Perigord inspires impassioned debate, but the effects of dwindling supply and insatiable demand for the elusive, ultimate mushroom are unquestionable: prices through the roof, intrigue and deception, and ever more intensive efforts to cultivate. The secrets of when, how, and where to collect truffles have benn passed from generation to generation since ancient times, but artificial cultivation remains the holy grail. Here in the most comprehensive practical treatment of the gastronomic treasure to date, the art and science of the high-stakes pursuit come together. Their enthusiasm and expertise leavened with wry humor, the authors explore the newest techniques; they describe the commercial species in detail along with their host plants, natural habitats, cultivation and mintenance, pests and diseases, and harvesting with pigs, dogs, truffle flies, and even the electronic nose. Pursuit of the fungus that costs more than gold is not for the faint of heart nor for those in a hurry, as under ideal conditions, truffle production in artificial truffieres can begin after three years but results may not be seen until a decade after planting, and maximum yields not for another decade still. So there is time to read and prepare, and no better source than this one.

Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog

Author: Jamie Ivey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510715495
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
There is a moment every morning when the countryside takes a pause. The birds stop singing, the dogs choke back their barks, and cats pause mid-stride. Everything waits. It's in this vacuum that a man working alone has the best chance of finding truffles... The plot of land was perfect, just what they'd been looking for, offering expansive views across the valley and within walking distance of the local village. There was only one small problem, there was no house. And yet the land was affordable and came, the agent promised, with a possible income from a copse of truffle oaks. Just after the birth of their first daughter, after leaving the London rat race behind, here was a chance for Jamie and his wife to finally realize their dream of owning a property. With one final salivating glance at the oak trees the decision was made. All they needed now was a dog. And their quest to find and train a truffle dog turns out to be as full of hidden discoveries as a truffle hunt itself. With delicious humor and superb storytelling, Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog is sure to delight anyone who loves dogs, food, and rural France.

Truffle Hound

Author: Rowan Jacobsen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1635575192
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Guaranteed to spark America's next great culinary passion, a James Beard Award-winning author explores the secretive and seductive world of truffles, the elusive food that has captured hearts, imaginations and palates worldwide.

The Mushroom Hunters

Author: Langdon Cook
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345536274
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
“A beautifully written portrait of the people who collect and distribute wild mushrooms . . . food and nature writing at its finest.”—Eugenia Bone, author of Mycophilia “A rollicking narrative . . . Cook [delivers] vivid and cinematic scenes on every page.”—The Wall Street Journal In the dark corners of America’s forests grow culinary treasures. Chefs pay top dollar to showcase these elusive and enchanting ingredients on their menus. Whether dressing up a filet mignon with smoky morels or shaving luxurious white truffles over pasta, the most elegant restaurants across the country now feature one of nature’s last truly wild foods: the uncultivated, uncontrollable mushroom. The mushroom hunters, by contrast, are a rough lot. They live in the wilderness and move with the seasons. Motivated by Gold Rush desires, they haul improbable quantities of fungi from the woods for cash. Langdon Cook embeds himself in this shadowy subculture, reporting from both rural fringes and big-city eateries with the flair of a novelist, uncovering along the way what might be the last gasp of frontier-style capitalism. Meet Doug, an ex-logger and crabber—now an itinerant mushroom picker trying to pay his bills and stay out of trouble; Jeremy, a former cook turned wild-food entrepreneur, crisscrossing the continent to build a business amid cutthroat competition; their friend Matt, an up-and-coming chef whose kitchen alchemy is turning heads; and the woman who inspires them all. Rich with the science and lore of edible fungi—from seductive chanterelles to exotic porcini—The Mushroom Hunters is equal parts gonzo travelogue and culinary history lesson, a fast-paced, character-driven tour through a world that is by turns secretive, dangerous, and quintessentially American.

Rosie the Truffle Hound

Author: Jessie Hartland
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399548769
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 21

Book Description
Rosie the truffle hound finds a yummy solution to the problem of not being able to safely eat the delicious chocolate truffles her family sells. Rosie has a super sense of smell, even by dog standards. Unfortunately, one of the best smells comes from something dogs can’t eat: the chocolate truffles her human family sells in their shop. Not one to settle, Rosie sets out to find a life that might suit her better, giving lots of occupations a whirl, but none pan out. Then she hears about a job as a truffle hound. It turns out there’s another kind of truffle—the fungi kind, which grow wild underground—and they require a strong nose to sniff them out. Will Rosie finally find the perfect match for her unique talents? These truffles smell divine—so that sure would be a yummy solution!

The Truffle Cookbook

Author: Rodney Dunn
Publisher: Lantern
ISBN: 9781921384394
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In his second cookbook, Rodney Dunn, founder of The Agrarian Kitchen in Tasmania, celebrates the natural wonder that is the truffle. In addition to more than 60 recipes, Rodney gives a fascinating insight into the Australian truffle industry and practical advice on buying, storing and (most importantly) cooking with truffles. Harvested in winter, truffles have an intense earthy flavour that works particularly well with indulgent ingredients such as cream, butter and cheese. Rodney's recipes are lush and comforting -- just the thing for cosy meals at home -- and once you start experimenting, you'll be surprised at how many dishes can be enhanced by this inimitable fungus. As Rodney firmly believes, there is no such thing as too much truffle.