Fresh Black Winter Truffles, Vienna, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

European Winter Treat in Vienna: Fresh Black Winter Truffles

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Ever since I first tried truffles in a restaurant in Zurich, I get excited when the Northern Hemisphere winter comes around and I can look forward to fresh black winter truffles.

Many years ago, when I worked in publishing in Sydney, my right-hand-man had a rather tempestuous relationship with his girlfriend who was head chef for one of Australia’s best known fine dining restaurateurs. Our little design department at work was comprised of keen foodies, even though the word hadn’t really reached general acceptance back then, and we used to love hearing his gossip and stories he’d pass on from his girlfriend from the kitchen of one of Sydney’s best restaurants.

As summer came and most Australian’s thoughts turned to cricket, BBQs and the beach, foodie talk turned to truffles. How much would they be this season? Where are they coming from? Which chef has managed to source the best truffles? Which truffle dish should we try?

At the time, I thought all this truffle talk was crazy. Firstly, these little turd-like lumps were outrageously expensive. Secondly, in my opinion, they stunk. Thirdly, why was everyone so snobbish about them. They were just odd mushrooms, right?

Fresh Black Winter Truffles, Vienna, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

A couple of years later, on a winter trip to Zurich from our new base in Abu Dhabi, we went to a well-known Italian restaurant in the old town centre. It was early winter and the restaurant advertised a truffle menu. When we entered the cosy restaurant there was an aroma I can still remember today. Fresh truffles. As I glanced around the room, waiters were proudly shaving truffles onto diners plates. They fell as delicately as the snowflakes outside the restaurant. I had to try them.

Soon to be relieved of an enormous amount of Swiss Francs, my order of Tagliatelle with truffle cream sauce and fresh truffles arrived. The waiter, like a Swiss Michael Jackson, wore a glove on one hand. This hand shaved amazingly thin slices of truffles onto my pasta while Lara wondered whether our bank in Abu Dhabi would be calling us shortly to query the transaction and see why we spent €45 on a plate of pasta. She was unimpressed. Until she tried some.

I actually can’t remember what Lara ordered. I can just remember her asking me for more mouthfuls of my pasta throughout the meal. They were not given up easily. While we’ve done countless truffle-based tasting menus since while exploring the winter gastronomy scene in Europe over the years, that experience is one of the most memorable.

But my favourite truffle memory comes from none other than Calabria, in the far south of Italy, where we were writing the first English-language guidebook to the much overlooked region. We were staying in a very grand bed and breakfast in a wonderful country mansion owned by a Baron and Baroness from Napoli. They kindly invited us to dine with them at their favourite local eatery.

Fresh Black Winter Truffles, Vienna, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

While the emphasis of the multi-course meal was porcini mushrooms, hand picked that day from the local mountains, during the meal we had some roast potatoes with rosemary, which arrived with a huge truffle and a truffle shaver so everyone could help themselves. The baron liberally helped himself raining slices down onto his huge dish of potatoes. Once he was satisfied, he handed the truffle and shaver to me and encouraged me to be liberal with my slices. Absolute bliss.

After that experience, I was determined to buy fresh black winter truffles when in season and cook my own truffle-based dishes. Since then, I’ve used whole truffles, truffle picker’s paste and truffle oil to varying degrees of success, but none can compare to using fresh seasonal truffles.

I’d seen truffles in Paris when we were there early in the year but baulked at the price, but here in Vienna at the Naschmarkt, just a short walk from our apartment, there were truffles for sale at a number of delicatessens and they were reasonably priced. And we had a good kitchen in our apartment too.

These were all black truffles (Tuber melanosporum) and while they were purported to be from Alba, the northern Italian city is actually renowned for its white truffles (Tuber magnatum). After a few passes of all the delicatessens, I went with the one that had the best selection.

Fresh Black Winter Truffles, Vienna, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Over the years, chefs have told me what to look for. Firstly, the truffle needs to have a strong aroma. These ones had that classic pungent aroma of black truffles but weren’t as strong as some that I had smelt in restaurant kitchens. While it wasn’t really an overpowering aroma, the truffles had promise. They were firm to the touch, too, which usually means they’re quite fresh, and the exteriors were very rough also, but without holes. Seeing the price was right (€18 for one truffle) we went home happily with a walnut-sized truffle*.

I didn’t have time to do a crazy ten-course truffle tasting menu, so I decided to spread the truffle over three different dishes.

Firstly, I decided to do a beef filet with a Périgord Sauce (essentially a red wine sauce with truffles) and truffled mash. The next morning I cooked up some creamy scrambled eggs with truffles (more on that soon) and that night I made fresh porcini mushroom ravioli with a truffle cream sauce.

Was it worth it? Well, the truffle and the ingredients to make the three dishes cost the same as that one truffle pasta dish I had in Zurich all those years ago. It was worth every Euro cent.

*A couple of chefs have have emailed me to say that the truffle was not a fresh black winter truffle but probably a ‘Burgundy’ or black Autumn truffle (Tuber Uncinatum) from Italy, which explains the less heady aroma of the truffle and the reasonable price. These were coming to the end of the season at the time of purchase as the winter truffles had just started to arrive…

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Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

4 thoughts on “European Winter Treat in Vienna: Fresh Black Winter Truffles”

  1. Fabulous! And so interesting that they’re available now. Thanks for the specifics on how to purchase–while I love the taste of them, I’d never know how to pick one. And at those prices, who’d want to fail???

  2. Hi Lisa,
    You can get them in the States, but of course the further you’re removed from the source the more expensive they are. I’ve seen some purveyors claiming they can deliver across the US. FYI: You need to beware of the dreaded Chinese truffle, which have the aroma of a gas station but have a resemblance to the black winter truffle. Truly horrible.
    Thanks for your comment. You’ll be interested in the post coming up for ‘Weekend Eggs’ which features truffles – but you might be able to use a decent substitution that should be available on the shelves.

  3. Truffle mash is just about the most luxurious comfort food (oxymoron?) I can possibly think of – and worth every cent!! I’m drooling over your “menu”!

  4. Thanks, luxurious comfort food it is! Trying to get to tricky with truffles doesn’t usually end well! I had a fantastic pasta with cream truffle sauce (white truffles) in Vienna and it was just beautiful. Simple, but beautiful.
    T

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