Truffle Infused Eggs - with the help of Mister Truffle

Some "luxury" foods have always been a bit out of my reach for reasons of penury. Caviar is one of them - I think I've tried it twice in my life (once at a tasting at Selfridges and the second time at Bob Bob Ricard).

The other that springs to mind is the truffle - your average specimen costs about £80. I've bought truffle oil before, and even preserved ones in a jar, but the only time I'd had fresh truffles was at my birthday meal at Launceston Place last year (oh, and there was this one dish I had from Dolada, but let's not go into that).

So when I found out about Mister Truffle, a business that imports the best seasonal truffles and sells them by the GRAM, I thought, "Oooooh".

Because it meant I could even afford to cook with truffles myself - to make that silky truffled pasta, to shave wispy slices over my scrambled eggs, to pimp my steak sauce - bringing a taste of luxury to my home without having to mortgage my house in the process.

But before I could press click to order some truffles for myself, Mister Truffle offered to send me some for free to ask me if I could do something different and come up with a new recipe.

A challenge! And I do love a challenge.

A few days later, a neatly wrapped box arrived. Inside was 10g of vacuum-packed Black Winter Truffle.

Having done some research, I knew the truffle had to be used within days to capture the precious scent and flavour at its best, but I also wanted to relish it as much as possible, so I decided to make truffled eggs or rather truffle-infused eggs.

I had a vague idea about how to go about this, but it was surprisingly difficult to find exact instructions on t'internets.

How to Make Truffle-Infused Eggs

This is what I did in the end:

• Clean the truffle with a toothbrush dipped in brandy, and then blot with kitchen paper (this is for hard-shelled truffles like Perigord - for softer truffles, clean gently with a dry basting, pastry or mushroom brush).
  
  
• Line a sealable tupperware with two sheets of kitchen towel.
  
  
• Place the truffle in the tupperware with as many eggs as you can fit (I chose Clarence Court's Burford Browns, duck eggs, quail eggs, and a random free-range).
  
  
• Seal the tupperware so it's airtight and leave somewhere dry and cool for 3 days.

Three days later, I opened the lid to peek inside and a wondrous, musty aroma escaped - like the sultriest of ceps, like the forest floor after the rain.

Retrieving the eggs (and resealing the truffles inside), I decided just to boil a few of them at first to savour their flavour as simply as possible.

The results were most pleasing - earthy, meaty, the sexiest soft-boiled eggs I have ever tasted.

Thrilled by the successful experiment, I polished them off tout de suite and then turned my attention to the truffle - stay tuned ...

Mister Truffle
Truffles by the Gram
www.mistertruffle.com

Summer Truffles now in season - 97p per gram