M
Max Hauser
Guest
My previous posting "Practical Truffle Advice" explains that it is for
people wishing an introduction to the main truffle species of food
literature. Those are incontrovertibly Tuber melanosporum and T. magnatum,
"black" and "white" respectively. (Any reader can confirm the primacy of
these truffles in the famous food books I cited, which go into more detail.)
The inexpensive or "minor" truffle species, certainly of interest to cooks
also, and to truffle hobbyists, are outside the purpose of that posting.
They would properly require a separate thread. Except to make clear that
they do not appear in the classic food literature I cited. They are not the
black and white truffles described by all of those writers. (I've mentioned
truffles on newsgroups for more than 20 years, after creation of
rec.food.cooking by a friend of mine.)
D. Wheeler has advertised "Oregon White Truffles" and is identified
elsewhere as a vendor of them. He writes on truffles in cooking from an
evident commercial conflict of interest. Wheeler's newsgroup postings are
among the recent writing -- usually from people with a commercial stake --
that cloud the distinction between minor and classic truffle species.
Wheeler even denigrates the latter, in ways that place him into conflict
with Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Jacques Pépin, Paula Wolfert, Alice
Waters, et alia. The reader can decide whom to take seriously. (More of
Wheeler's perspective and reasoning are evident in his semi-incoherent
responses to my postings on the recent thread "Questions about truffles" in
rec.food.cooking.)
From Waverly Root's long 1980 truffle article (he'd mentioned them much
earlier, in his books on French and Italian food). Root was the mentor of
A. J. Liebling and is recognized as one of the principal US food writers of
the 20th century.
"... The only edible variety in the British Isles is T. aestivus, the summer
truffle, dark brown or black, with an aromatic odor but not much taste. ...
[In the United States there are some 30 native] varieties of truffles, none
of which make particularly good eating. Every once in a while somebody
discovers truffles there and glimpses fortune ahead, only to suffer
disappointment. This happens oftenest in Oregon and California ..."
people wishing an introduction to the main truffle species of food
literature. Those are incontrovertibly Tuber melanosporum and T. magnatum,
"black" and "white" respectively. (Any reader can confirm the primacy of
these truffles in the famous food books I cited, which go into more detail.)
The inexpensive or "minor" truffle species, certainly of interest to cooks
also, and to truffle hobbyists, are outside the purpose of that posting.
They would properly require a separate thread. Except to make clear that
they do not appear in the classic food literature I cited. They are not the
black and white truffles described by all of those writers. (I've mentioned
truffles on newsgroups for more than 20 years, after creation of
rec.food.cooking by a friend of mine.)
D. Wheeler has advertised "Oregon White Truffles" and is identified
elsewhere as a vendor of them. He writes on truffles in cooking from an
evident commercial conflict of interest. Wheeler's newsgroup postings are
among the recent writing -- usually from people with a commercial stake --
that cloud the distinction between minor and classic truffle species.
Wheeler even denigrates the latter, in ways that place him into conflict
with Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Jacques Pépin, Paula Wolfert, Alice
Waters, et alia. The reader can decide whom to take seriously. (More of
Wheeler's perspective and reasoning are evident in his semi-incoherent
responses to my postings on the recent thread "Questions about truffles" in
rec.food.cooking.)
From Waverly Root's long 1980 truffle article (he'd mentioned them much
earlier, in his books on French and Italian food). Root was the mentor of
A. J. Liebling and is recognized as one of the principal US food writers of
the 20th century.
"... The only edible variety in the British Isles is T. aestivus, the summer
truffle, dark brown or black, with an aromatic odor but not much taste. ...
[In the United States there are some 30 native] varieties of truffles, none
of which make particularly good eating. Every once in a while somebody
discovers truffles there and glimpses fortune ahead, only to suffer
disappointment. This happens oftenest in Oregon and California ..."