Truffle and older burgundies with Dick & Carollee

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Dick & Carollee Krueger were in town yesterday and I had them over to my place. I had found some French black winter truffles and was curious if they were any good. They were in a jar with a bit of water, brand is “Saveurs de la Terre”. Any excuse to get together with D&C.

We started with the NV Roederer Brut Premier with some antipasti, roasted red and yellow peppers and sundried tomato tapenade from Trader Joe’s. (yummy stuff).

After the champagne, and while I was preparing the next course Dick opened a 1985 Philippe Rossignol Gevrey-Chambertin. Pretty tight at first, clear rim, but opened slowly over the next hour. Will it open further if it had more time? I don’t have enough experience but maybe Dick will give us his insights.

I started to prepare the shrimp appetizer. Simple preparation of salt, pepper, EVOO, garlic and onion. Threw on the grill and we were rolling. The next wine, also from Dick’s cellar was the 1983 Faiveley NSG 1er Clos de la Marechale. A much fuller, fruitier very nice wine.

Byron brought the 1998 Charbonniere Cuvee Mourre des Pedrix which we poured alongside the 1983. Open and pretty lush. I’ve always liked Charbonniere and this bottle reinforced that.It has a long life ahead of it, but typical of the 1998 vintage, the fruit is very inviting.

Then to the main event, wild black cod, 2.5# which I put into a deep pan on the stove with Wandering Poet sake. Truffles were shaved on top and I put the lid on the pan. The goal was to steam/poach the fish, allowing the steam and liquid sake to bring out the truffle flavor. It worked pretty well I think. The truffles were not the best I’ve ever seen, but weren’t the worst. We opened up a 1983 Cote Rotie Cuvee Reservee from A. Dervieux-Thaize. It was showing quite old. Not OTH but already showing tertiary characteristics. I don’t see this getting better, and it might be past peak. A decent drink but drink up.
Alongside was grilled asparagus with 200 year balsamic vinegar, and truffle salt. I also did a rice pilaf using white truffle oil which I thought was very yummy.

The cheese course was scottenaire with truffle, Romanu Pradera (aged 36 months), brillat sauverin (sp) and gran padano. We opened up a 1997 JL Chave Hermitage rouge from my cellar. This was gorgeous wine and the WOTN for me. Everything you want from Chave and then some.

Dinners with my friends Dick & Carollee, Byron and Norm are always a blast. I was honored to host them at my place, and humbled by their wine contributions (the Roederer and Chave were mine, the 2 burgs Dick’s and the CdP and CR Byron’s). Their cellars are older than mine and provide great drinking opportunities.

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Sounds like a wonderful dinner!

BTW, the Italian black truffle cheese you is called Sottocenere. It’s a personal favorite of mine and I haven’t found a better truffle cheese that’s better to date.

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My spelling of cheeses definitely needs work.

I also like the spiezato al tarfuro for a truffled cheese, it just isn’t as readily available.

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Thanks, Jeff, for a lovely meal.

The Rossignol, when last we had it a couple years ago, was very hard and unyielding. Last night it was a lot more open than I had expected. But I was really amazed by the Faiveley, rich, complex fruit, with no sign of the rot that affected so many '83s. The bright. fruity and still youthful Chabonniere was very pleasant. I didn’t feel that the Côte-Rôtie was nearly as ‘old’ as you described. It had rich dark, spicy fruit and enough acidity to pair well with the truffled black cod. Unfortunately the truffles weren’t as aromatic as I’d hoped. The combination of sake, black cod, and truffles was definitely inspired.

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Dick, indeed the truffles were not as good as any of us had hoped. Given the source, not surprising but worth the risk.

So the Rossignol is coming around? Wow I cannot wait. Maybe another 4-5 years?

I might be too hard on the Cote Rotie, and would welcome another chance to try one.

Inspired? You flatter me. I was merely looking for a way to give the truffles a chance to infuse the dish as much as possible and that’s what my brain came up with. Not bad for a first pass, but definitely something to keep playing with to get it “just right”. Better truffles is the first and easiest step.

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Jeff, were they tuber indicum or tuber sinensis instead of tuber melanosporum? I bought the former once, and they were also imported from France, but I found out later that the truffles themselves were from China.

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tuber indicum

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Yep, those are Chinese, not French.

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The label lies then! Makes a lot of sense, given they aren’t super truffles, and it was taking a chance which I knew. I’m sticking with the French ones from here on out.

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I don’t fully understand the nuances of EU labels of origin, but there’s some sort of distinction between a product that’s been exported from France and one that’s a product of France. Or something like that. I know the species name is listed on the packaging, but it still seems deceptive to market those as French winter truffles.

Not to rub salt in the wound, but I found this article after my Chinese truffle experience.

Time Magazine: Truffle Scuffle.

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You guys had a Rousseau?

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Not that night, it was a Rossignol as Jeff stated. I mispoke.

We did have an '88 Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche last night. It was very good but still young.