Olive truffle oil. How to use truffle oil - recipes, tips. Useful properties of truffle oil

Truffle is either adored or not loved at all, but there are still more of the first in the world. Mushrooms themselves are an expensive and seasonal product, so they are often replaced with truffle oil. In restaurants, truffle oil is added to absolutely different dishes: and in Italian pasta, and in a cake with eel in the Peruvian style, and in the morning omelet. It is also sold in many large supermarkets: for home use, it is no less relevant.

The price difference between the oil and the truffle itself is enormous. So what is butter made from? Does it have additional flavorings, or is it just a few floating pieces of truffle in the bottle that give such a strong aroma? To understand the issue, we spoke with Mikhail Vishnevsky, a mycologist and Ph.D. in biology, who has been studying mushrooms for 25 years.

As far as I know, all major producers make truffle oil using chemicals that are added to olive oil. Three to five components are added, while the aromatics of a truffle consists of more than 40 substances. At the same time, truffle slices are added solely for beauty - this amount is completely insufficient for flavoring the oil.

But is it possible to say that all truffle oil is not related to truffle if the aroma is obtained through chemistry? The answer is the following: depending on what is considered a criterion of truth. Water, identical to natural, but obtained by combining (combusting) oxygen and hydrogen, is water. The chemistry used to create the artificial truffle flavor relies in one way or another on the real ingredients found in truffles. For example, "sweet" (all kinds of alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and esters), "salty" (various sulfides, androstenol, which is the equivalent of pig sex pheromone, and so on). All these substances are contained in truffles and make up their aromatics. The main problem is that they do not have shades (since only the main aromatic substances are used in the production of flavoring) and their origin is artificial. Strictly speaking, yes, all industrial truffle oils are not related to truffles (except for slices for beauty).

There is no actual oil in truffles. The amount of mushrooms required for sufficient aromatization should be at least 10% of the volume of oil flavored by them, which is very expensive for mass production. I have been manufacturing truffle flavored products since last year and it is really expensive. The easiest way is to convert the truffle flavor into alcohol (for the subsequent production of truffle vodka or other alcoholic products). The most delicious alcohol and oil are obtained from the white truffle. Black is inferior both in strength of aroma and in its organoleptic properties: it is more musky and traditionally mushroom. The only alcoholic product that turns out to be very worthy without distillation (that is, with the help of a simple infusion) is a tincture of black truffles on vodka with the addition of bison herb. Salty-sweet-musky black truffles, combined with the sweet-coumarin aroma of bison, make for an awesome product. However, mere insistence is not enough.

There is a way in which you can make truffle oil not from chemistry, but from a real truffle: you can extract all the aromatics from it by processing it using the rotary vacuum distillation method, which is what we do in our home laboratory with Alexander Dubrovin. The essence of the method is that, due to vacuum rarefaction, the boiling of alcohol occurs at 40-60 degrees, which makes it possible to extract all the aromatics from the truffle finely blended in vodka.

Truffle oil at “home conditions” can be made as follows: to flavor the oil, truffle chips (20–25% of the volume) are taken, slightly warmed up and blended with the oil, after which it is infused for about a week and filtered. As for the oil itself, the cheapest refined olive oil proved to be the best. On sunflower it is also good, but the taste of seeds is felt, and this is not very good. World brands often use expensive virgin olive oils. This is done, apparently, so that their strong taste and bitterness mask the lack of natural aromatics and a possible chemical aftertaste.

Ready oil can be flavored with eggs or rice for truffle risotto. The ideal combination is obtained if rice and eggs are first stored in the same container with truffles, and then additionally flavored with truffle oil. Rice and raw eggs they absorb well both the truffle aroma from mushrooms and the oil itself - there is not a trace left of the oil, and the product looks completely natural.

Truffles are delicious and very expensive mushrooms, especially popular in France and used in traditional cuisine this country. Not everyone knows that truffle oil exists. And is it useful? And how to choose it?

What is this product?

Truffle oil is a noble and rather expensive product, if, of course, it is natural. But, unfortunately, it is very difficult to find really high-quality products, as unscrupulous manufacturers deceive consumers and add aromatic additives to ordinary vegetable oils that have the characteristic smell of delicious mushrooms. A genuine product may contain a small percentage of real truffle oil or be infused with them (or processing residues). One way or another, the proportion of the mushrooms themselves in the composition is negligible.

If you think you can taste truffles in oil, you are wrong. Even if these mushrooms are in the composition, they definitely will not fully convey their qualities. The only thing you can count on is a pleasant light earthy aroma.

Is truffle oil healthy?

Since there are very few truffles themselves and their components in the composition, the benefits of the vegetable oil itself are more accessible.

Beneficial features truffle oil:

• It is rich in vitamin E, and it is, first of all, a powerful natural antioxidant. This means that tocopherol neutralizes the adverse effects of free radicals, which can lead to cell degeneration and the development of cancer, as well as to premature aging of tissues and their oxidation.
• Vitamin E, described above, is also very useful for the skin, because it provides it with good nutrition and intense hydration.
• It also contains B vitamins, which perform many important functions. So, they take part in most metabolic processes occurring in the body, such as lipid, water-salt, water-electrolyte, carbohydrate and others. And this means that by consuming oil in moderation, you can normalize your overall metabolism.
• B vitamins are necessary to stabilize and improve the functioning of the nervous system, as they contribute to the restoration of nerve fibers and cells, improve sleep, and prevent the negative effects of stress.
• It is useful to use truffle oil during pregnancy and at the stage of its planning, as it ensures the harmonious development of the unborn child and significantly reduces the risk of developing fetal pathologies, such as neural tube formation disorders.
• All the same vitamin E will help to put in order the hormonal background, especially for women. In addition, it has a positive effect on fertility, that is, it increases the chances of successfully conceiving and bearing a healthy child.
• If you use this oil in cosmetology, it will help provide nutrition and hydration to the skin, as well as stimulate the synthesis of elastin and collagen, restoring elasticity, youth and freshness.

Tip: do not use oil in excessive quantities, and not only because of its high cost. Remember that the calorie content of 100 grams of the product reaches 700-800 calories, so it definitely cannot be called dietary and light.

How to apply such a product?

How to use truffle oil? First of all, it is used in cooking. But it is worth remembering that natural truffles lose most of their amazing properties during heat treatment, so you definitely should not fry in this oil.

To complement and transform dishes with the help of such an exquisite additive, enter it on final stages cooking or just before serving. Try experimenting with meat, fish, side dishes, pasta, appetizers. Also, truffle oil will be an excellent dressing for any salads.

Truffle oil can also be used in cosmetics. For example, try to replace it with the usual vegetable when preparing various masks. It will also be a useful addition to a cream or other remedy. And you can apply it on the skin in its pure form, it is also very useful. And this oil is almost universal, as it has a positive effect on the skin of the hands, face and whole body, and on the hair, and even on the nails.

How to make your own oil?

You can make your own truffle oil. Here's what you need for this:

• 500-600 ml of vegetable oil (preferably olive);
• a tablespoon of truffles (both fresh and canned are suitable).

Cooking:

1. If you have a fresh truffle, then you should wipe it with a napkin to remove dirt. Next, cut it into thin slices. Just cut the canned truffle finely with a knife.
2. Prepare a glass container with a tight-fitting lid. Put chopped truffle in it, fill it with oil.
3. Close the container tightly and put it in a cool and preferably dark place.
4. Infuse the oil for a week, and preferably two. Strain it if you like, but it's not necessary.
5. Ready!

• With the help of truffle oil, you can change, supplement and transform almost any recipe: any dish with such an additive will acquire an exquisite pleasant aroma and a slight interesting aftertaste.
• If you want to choose natural oil, then pay attention to the bottom of the bottle, which may contain sediment or pieces of truffles.
• Study the composition carefully. If it contains truffles or their oil, this is a natural product.

If you manage to taste truffle oil, you will be able to appreciate its aroma and interesting taste.

Unlike other vegetable oils, truffle oil is not produced by pressing. After all, there is no oil in truffles. To make truffle-scented oil, the truffles must be aged in an oil that has no odor. What you need:

• Sunflower or olive refined oil.
• White or black truffle (fresh).
• Glass container.

The volume of mushrooms should be at least 1/5 of the volume of oil, only then the taste will turn out to be truly saturated.

Grind thoroughly washed and dried mushrooms into shavings, pour into slightly warmed oil, mix thoroughly. Pour into a glass jar or bottle and put away for a week in a dark, cool place. When the oil acquires the necessary truffle flavor, it must be filtered from the mushroom shavings.

Store such truffle oil home cooking Must be refrigerated and used within 3 months.

What is truffle oil used for?

This valuable product is never subjected to heat treatment, because its aroma completely disappears when heated. Therefore, truffle oil is added only to a ready-made and slightly cooled dish, immediately before serving.

The dosage of this oil is not measured in spoons, but in drops.

There are quite a few recipes for dishes using truffle oil. It pairs well with rice, eggs, pasta. You can add it to mashed potatoes, salads, pizza, carpaccio, polenta, hot fish and meat dishes.

In any dish, the aroma of truffles should only emphasize the taste of the dish, but not "pull the blanket over yourself." Literally one extra drop can ruin everything. Therefore, oil must be used very carefully.

The benefits and harms of truffle oil

Since the basis of homemade truffle oil is ordinary vegetable, olive or sunflower oil, moreover, refined, and it is consumed in drops, there is no need to talk about special health benefits. So the main thing that truffle oil is useful for is the enrichment of dishes with a unique aroma.

Harm from this product can be only in two cases: if a person has a food allergy to mushrooms and if the oil is made from false truffles, which are poisonous. They are quite common and it is problematic to distinguish them from the real ones, especially when ordering mushrooms via the Internet.

If the oil is prepared from high-quality raw materials and in accordance with the technology, it is completely safe for health. Real truffle oil, even homemade, has a delicious aroma of mushrooms, earth, toasted nuts and allows you to add new flavors to familiar dishes.

The video presents interesting recipe dressings with truffle oil.

Thanks to his exquisite taste with light hints of nuts, truffles have long been considered a valuable delicacy. But not every housewife has the financial ability to add this ingredient to her dishes in large quantities. Truffle oil can come to the rescue in such cases, therefore it is worth considering the characteristics and features of the use of this product, as well as its useful properties and reviews of hostesses.

What it is?

Unlike most available on the market edible oils(sunflower, olive, linseed, etc.), truffle (or truffle) oil is not made by pressing truffles. In fact, it is the usual vegetable oil(most often olive, although sometimes there is also a variant based on sunflower, rapeseed and even oil from grape seeds), which has an aroma and taste characteristic of a truffle.

According to legend, one of the French chefs, who was trying to find a way to preserve fresh mushrooms as long as possible. After infusing the product for two weeks, he added it to one of his salads. Having appreciated the resulting noble taste, that chef began to purposefully make butter with the addition of pieces of valuable mushrooms, which allowed him to greatly diversify his signature dishes.

At the same time, the mushroom aroma from the oil disappears relatively quickly, so you need to store it in a tightly sealed container, and add it to dishes right before they are served directly on the table.

Manufacturing

There are two ways to achieve saturation of the oil base with mushroom aroma:

• use natural pieces of truffles, filling them with oil;
• add artificial flavors specific to this product.

Due to the rarity and high cost of truffles, most of the commercially produced truffle oil is made artificially. At the same time, even the presence of pieces of mushrooms does not yet indicate a natural origin - this ingredient is added to the product rather for beauty. In order for the oil base to be saturated with aromatic substances from the truffle, its volume fraction in the mixture must be at least 1/10, therefore such oil is not produced in large quantities and is not supplied to grocery chains. As an aromatic base, both common varieties of truffles are used - both white and black.

In the production of a product based on artificial components, the characteristic taste and aroma is achieved by adding various substances contained in natural mushrooms to the base, which is almost always taken as olive oil. The main one, which is part of all industrial types of truffle oil, is 2,4-Dithiapentane, which is also called "truffle sulfide". In addition to it, the composition includes various esters characteristic of this fungus, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones and androstenol.

The use of flavorings makes it possible to obtain in an artificial product the taste and smell characteristic of a natural product. But it is not always possible to convey subtle shades of taste with the help of chemicals, so real experts can almost always distinguish an artificial product from a natural one. Yes, and oil made from real mushrooms usually brings more benefits. The artificial product is an affordable alternative to expensive truffles, so economical housewives they may well sometimes add it to their dishes - it practically does not contain harmful substances.

Recipe for cooking at home

You can cook this delicacy yourself from an oil base and natural truffles. The best ratio of these components, allowing to achieve the most balanced taste and rich aroma- from 1/5 to 1/4 of the mushrooms in relation to the volume of oil.

Mushrooms need to be finely chopped or chopped into shavings, warmed up a little and mixed with the base. You can do this by hand or in a blender. After that, the mixture should be poured into a glass vessel with a tightly closed lid and infused in a dark and cool place for a period of one to two weeks, then filtered. If you want to leave the mushroom pieces in the oil, then you can do without filtration.

finished product must be stored in the refrigerator, while the maximum shelf life of such oil is only 3 months.

Compound

According to the BJU formula, 100 grams of truffle product contains about 14 g of fat. Calorie content per 100 grams of the product reaches values ​​​​of the order of 120 kcal. By itself, the energy value and the composition of oil from specific manufacturers varies and largely depends on which vegetable oil was used as a base. Of the substances useful for the body, truffle oil contains significant amounts of vitamins B and E.

Benefit

Almost all fats and fatty acids that make up the basis of the product belong to the class of easily digestible. Vitamin E, which is part of the product, is one of the strongest natural antioxidants, thanks to which the use of truffle oil reduces the risk of developing cancer and helps to slightly slow down the aging of the body. The same substance favorably affects the synthesis of collagen and elastogen in the body, therefore, the condition of the skin, nails and hair of a person who uses this product improves.

The presence of B vitamins in the composition of the oil allows you to speed up metabolism, which helps to remove harmful substances from the body, and also helps to normalize the amount of cholesterol in the blood. The substances that make up truffle oil generally strengthen the nervous system, help fight the negative effects of stress and have a beneficial effect on sleep.

The use of the product by pregnant women can significantly reduce the chances of developing certain pathological conditions in the fetus.

Harm

Regardless of the method of manufacture, no known industrial type of product contains overtly harmful substances. A contraindication to its use can only be an individual intolerance to truffles or an oil base. However, you should not abuse the product, because it has a very high calorie content. Therefore, the average daily dose of this oil for an adult, healthy and physically active person should not exceed 50 grams.

Application

Heat treatment leads to the instant disappearance of the aroma even in natural oil with truffle. Therefore, it must be added to ready meals. You can eat various salads, meat dishes, fish, seafood, beans or mushrooms with this oil. At the same time, for most dishes for two or three people, one to two drops of oil is enough. It is undesirable to add a larger amount, since the product has a pronounced taste and aroma, which can “hammer” the main taste of the dish.

Truffle is the most expensive mushroom in the world, which is worth trying at least once in your life!

Truffle has such a strong and exciting aromathat it is literally added to the dish by the gram. Restaurant masterpieces with truffles are not at all cheap, but the high price is no reason to deny yourself gastronomic pleasure. Use truffle oil! Moscow chefs shared with the site recipes for dishes in which this valuable ingredient plays the first violin.

Spinach salad with truffle dressing

Recipe by Sergei Batukov, chef of the Valenok restaurant

Ingredients:

Spinach - 50 g

Cherry tomatoes - 100 g

Fresh champignons - 10 g

Parmesan grated - 10 g

Balsamic cream - 5 g

Truffle Dressing Ingredients (25 ml):

Sugar - 15 g

Lemon juice - 200 ml

Olive oil - 80 ml

Truffle oil - 50 ml

Cooking

Olive and truffle oil, sugar, lemon juice beat with a whisk until smooth. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Season with spinach and truffle sauce. Cut the mushrooms into slices, grate the parmesan. Put spinach with cherry tomatoes on a plate, top with mushrooms and grated parmesan, fields with balsamic cream.

Recipe by Jun Kondo, Executive Chef at Fumisawa Sushi

Ingredients:

Yellowtail - 60 g

Bulgarian pepper - 15 g

Japanese ponzu chili sauce - 30 ml

Cucumber - 5 g

Truffle oil - 3 ml

Cooking

Cut yellowtail into thin slices (7 pieces) and put on a plate. Drizzle Japanese ponzu chili sauce. bell pepper cut into thin strips and put on yellowtail slices, sprinkle with finely chopped cucumber. Pour the dish with truffle oil.

truffle pizza

Recipe by Christian Lorenzini, Chef at BUONO Restaurant

Ingredients:

Soft wheat flour - 200 g

Mineral water - 100 ml

Salt - 10 g

Olive oil - 15 ml

Fresh yeast - 3 g

Truffle white fresh - 10 g

Sugar - ½ teaspoon

Black truffle paste - 80 g

Cream 33% - 10 ml

Garlic - 1 clove

Truffle oil - 2-3 ml

Mozzarella cheese - 150 g

Cooking

Sift the flour, pour it into a pile on the table, make a well in the center. Put yeast, sugar, a little flour into sparkling mineral water and mix thoroughly. Let stand 20-30 minutes. Pour the resulting mixture into flour, knead the dough thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained, add olive oil in the process of kneading. Form a ball from the resulting dough, cover with a damp cloth and let it brew for 30 minutes at room temperature. Then divide the dough into portions of 150-200 g and leave for another hour. The dough can also be frozen.

Prepare the sauce. Put black and white truffles, garlic, salt, pepper to taste in a deep bowl. Beat with a blender until smooth. Roll out the dough from one serving into a circle with a diameter of about 35 cm. Put 100 g of sauce in the center of the pizza, spread mozzarella cut into slices over the pizza. Bake at a temperature of 320-350 degrees. Get it