The scourge of fine dining: Truffle Oil

Daniel Patterson got it right.

"Truffle oil has simultaneously democratized and cheapened the truffle experience, creating a knockoff that goes by the same name." - Hocus-Pocus, and a Beaker Full of Truffles, NY Times, 5-15-07

Thank you, thank you thank you. I usually don't comment on the dining section of the NYT (or the LA Times, or the Boston Globe, or the AJC....), but truffle oil is one of those ingredients that truly raises my ire. I hate it. If I taste even the tiniest amount in a dish I've ordered, I can't eat it.

I first came into contact with truffles in 1996 when I was an intern at Hamersley's Bistro in Boston, MA. On my station, I had to prepare a lovely little scallop appetizer that was topped with three perfect slices of white truffle. For every slice I shaved, I tried a small piece. I was trying to create a memory of what good truffle tasted like. It was good, not great. Truffles alone aren't so interesting, kinda like salt. You can eat salt, but when coupled with something else, salt really makes an impact. I feel the same way about truffles.

A year later, when I was preparing a dish for our New Year's special dinner at Sent Sovi in Saratoga, CA, I had to make a dessert to pair with our black and white truffle dinner courses. The chef suggested White Truffle ice cream. Made with...white truffle oil. Which is not actually made with truffles but has a terrible flavor and stench thanks to the concentration of 2,4 -diathiapentane.

As I made batch after batch and tasted each for consistency, I grew increasingly disgusted with what I was tasting. Eventually I was so repulsed I couldn't taste it anymore, even though I cut some of the flavor with Port.

Since 1997, I have not been able to smell or eat truffle oil without an adverse, 'damn I wanna puke' reaction. I have never bought a bottle, and I will not use it in my food. Until this year I avoided ordering anything prepared with 'truffles' - usually a slice or two of pathetic black summer truffle and a long drink of truffle oil. And then something happened. The restaurants where I dined - and dared to order - no longer seemed to use truffle oil. And when I did order something with truffles, there was, thankfully, an upcharge (as there should be, real truffles are very pricey) and no evidence of the bastard 2,4-dithiapentane molecule.

So chefs, enthusiastic home cooks, food enthusiasts - demand that your local restaurant stop using truffle oil. It tastes lousy and doesn't add anything to a plate. If you want to put 'truffles' on your menu, use the real thing - please!