I have had The New York Times, May 16th 2007 Dining Out section sitting on my night stand waiting for me to pick it up, read again, and write this blog. Actually it was a catalyst for me to change one of my signature sides, views of what I will and won’t serve at Tremont 647, and what I will eat.
On that spring day in 2007 my friend Ed Doyle pointed an article about truffle oil out to me and nudged me with a knowing smile, as he always does to ‘do the right thing’. Ed is an excellent chef, owner of Real Food Consulting and one of the smartest guys I know, and when he is on me to do something, I hate to say it, but he usually is right. Ed has been a major factor in Tremont 647 becoming green (recycling, composting, etc.), buying only ‘green’ (organic, certified organic and biodynamic) wines, and other moves that make us a better corporate citizen.
After reading the article, I knew I was going to have a problem. “Hocus-Pocus, and a Beaker of Truffles,” by Daniel Patterson, is about how most commercial truffle oils are not made from truffles. In fact it is many compounds, made in a laboratory, like 2, 4 –dithiapentane (mmm, yummy) that make up the flavors and aromas of truffle oil. I knew I was in trouble here; my signature starch that we serve with the steak was a Truffle Scented Fontina Stuffed ‘Tater Tot.’ People love them, I loved them, I knew I would change the tots, but to what? Generally I am pretty quick to decide something, but this was going to take some time. I really felt that using ‘fake’ truffle oil completed the irony of making a ‘tater tot’ fancy.
The article sat next to my bed, looking at me, taunting me as if to say ‘dude you know what to do’. I could have thrown it out, but it lay there, staring at me, sleeping next to me. I continued to think about it. I continued to use ‘Truffle oil.’
Last spring I traveled to New Orleans for Jazzfest, which is one of the best times ever. The music, the people, the food are all so wonderful and exciting. I went out for tons of excellent meals and the last one we had stopped me in my tracks. There were eight of us, Ed included, at a very well known restaurant and they were giving us the VIP treatment with tons of people stopping by and saying hi and extra course after extra course coming our way. The food was superb and we were psyched. But then the meal came to a screeching halt when they sent us the Provencal Style Crawfish with a truffle oil foam. I haven’t written a blog about my hatred for molecular gastronomy and foam, so I won’t go off too much about foaming an oil, but really? Why? I have no idea why this was called Provencal Style since all I could taste [feel? Instead of taste?] was my mouth covered with this fake truffle flavor oil covering my mouth. It’s all I tasted for the rest of the meal. We had a $200 Pinot Noir that I couldn’t taste anymore. What a waste. I looked at Ed and I knew what to do.
When I got home I, simply changed to rosemary-scented tots. We slowly heat up garlic, black pepper and rosemary sprigs for 20 minutes and then strain. Personally, I think it’s better. We also no longer use any truffle oil at all. Would you want me to use imitation vanilla extract? If I’m going to use truffles then I will buy them black or white and that is how you will see truffles at 647; no more imitations.
I spoke to my friend who is a chef in Somerville and he says, ‘yeah, but it tastes good’ and ‘customers like it.’ True on both counts. It’s strange where we draw the lines as chefs, what we will use and what we won’t use. I want food to taste like food. I want to cook with wood, coal, gas. I want to use farms and (local) sustainable fish. Not too long ago I went to a very notable sushi restaurant and everything was awesome. In fact, some of it was insanely good, but I did ask to have no truffle oil (as I always do now) and a course came out with truffle oil on it. Why bother serving me high end quality food if you’re just gonna douse it with some fake flavored oil? It didn’t taste good, sorry.
The article in The Times ends with a story about the late and great Chef Jean-Louis Palladin walking into one of his kitchens and seeing bottles of truffle oil, grabbing them and taking the staff to the back alley. He smashes them, says, “It’s full of chemicals… No More!”
Won’t you join me in the Fight Against Truffle Oil? No more.
Emails between Chefs about thanksgiving
