Italy Holiday Guide: Fabio Trabocchi’s Top Source for Truffles in Le Marche

Chef Fabio Trabocchi is known for creating elegant, decadent Italian dishes like the gingered lobster ravioli that he serves at Fiola, in Washington, DC. Here, his favorite places to visit when he goes home to Italy’s Le Marche region. Chef Fabio Trabocchi offers his top places to visit in Italy’s Le Marche region.

“This is a Michelin two-star seafood restaurant in the small coastal town of Senigallia along the Adriatic Sea. My friend Mauro Uliassi opened it 22 years ago, doing all of the painting and plumbing himself, and now it’s one of the best restaurants in Italy. Mauro and I met as teenagers cooking in Le Marche; it’s great to see him doing so well after all these years.” uliassi.it

“Caffè Meletti in Ascoli Piceno is one of the oldest cafés in Italy; it’s famous for its anise liqueur, sometimes called anisette on this side of the world. They make everything Marche-related for holidays, from panettone to small pastries that they’ve done for the past hundred years. They also have a lot of historic art on the walls that makes it particularly special.” caffemeletti.it

“This small town is famous for its vibrant Verdicchio white wines, but it also hosts a fun annual Nativity scene competition. The entries are stunning, using every kind of prop you can imagine, even recycled materials like office water tanks. Matelica is also an old and very scenic town, in the middle of a valley surrounded by hills. When it’s adorned with Christmas lights, it’s even more picturesque.”

“For about two weeks before Christmas, the main square in Loreto hosts a living Nativity, called a presepe vivente. It’s been perfected over many years, so it’s a beautiful sight.”

“This is the center of the region’s commercial truffle market, where the mushrooms are distributed and sold. From the end of October through mid-November it hosts a huge, open-air white truffle market. But throughout the truffle season every restaurant has them on the menu, and they’re sold in every salumeria or cheese shop. Even the local monks have truffles.” acqualagna.com

During Christmas time, this dish of potato gnocchi with duck ragù is as common in Le Marche as spaghetti with tomatoes is in Naples. It’s also hunting season, so sometimes the ragù is made from wild game like pheasant, partridges or boar.

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Insider Boston Travel Guide: Barbara Lynch Loves Truffles and Spicy Noodles

Influential chef Barbara Lynch owns six Boston restaurants, including No. 9 Park, Menton and Drink (one of our favorite bars in the U.S.). Here, Lynch reveals where to find her city’s best spicy Dan Dan noodles, bar food, shopping and boutique hotel.

Boston Travel Guide: Mistral. Photo © Kristin Teig.

My go-to place for pizza is usually Mistral on Sundays. Oh my god, there’s a grilled pizza with—believe it or not—truffled mashed potatoes and beef carpaccio, which is really good. There’s also a spicy tomato one with cheese. They’re big, flat grilled pizzas.

Boston Travel Guide: Sofra. Photo © Janice Goldsmith.

Days off, it’s Mistral or Sofra, the bakery in Cambridge. Sometimes I say that Cambridge is a little bit more on fire than Boston, but it’s just right over the bridge. Here, Ana Sortun (Oleana) has this hummus bar, so you can pick six or seven items on it: her hummus, shredded beets with tzatziki and raisins, chicken and lamb shwarma. Her husband owns Siena Farms and the greens are so good, so I always get a big salad. It could be beautiful lettuce, watermelon radishes, herbs, all barely touched with vinaigrette.

Boston Travel Guide: Photo courtesy of Myers + Chang.

With my friends, we always have a Myers + Chang night. Spicy peanut Dan Dan noodles—gotta have those. I have to have the scallion pancakes and pork buns.

Boston Travel Guide: Scampo. Photo © Eric Levin.

Lydia Shire does an Elephant Ear Walking pizza, which is really good. It’s like a flatbread. Some nights it could just have cheese and white truffles. The wine list and pastas are also great, like pasta carbonara.

They’ve just gone through a major renovation, so sitting at the bar at Pigalle is always fun. I’ll get whatever chef Marc Orfaly is cooking. I try to tell him not too heavy. He always has interesting salads, fries and tartare on the bar menu.

If I really want an espresso, I actually still go to our little Italy, the North End. The cappuccinos and espressos are right on. The atmosphere is great, especially in nice weather.

Boston Travel Guide: Strip T’s. Photo © Rex Dean.

There’s a place outside of Boston in Watertown called Strip T’s. The chef, Tim Maslow, worked at Momofuku in New York. The graphics are really cool—the logo is a strip of bacon—and when you enter, you go through a little deli and into this back room where he’s making David Chang sort of stuff.

Boston Travel Guide: XV Beacon. Photo courtesy of XV Beacon Hotel.

It’s a boutique hotel, and the rooms are beautiful. It’s in the heart of Beacon Hill, so you can walk anywhere. You can walk to Newbury Street for major shopping. Boston Common and the frog pond are right there, with ice-skating in the winter. And it’s just great hospitality. If I have visitors, the staff always remember them.

Boston Travel Guide: Louis Boston. Photo © Eric Levin / Courtesy of Louis.

I always love Louis for clothes and other interesting things, like furniture—they go to Brimfield for antiques—books, magazines. Their new space on the waterfront is awesome, and there’s a great restaurant upstairs called Sam’s.

For modern home goods, this shop is in the South End.

This is another great little home store, where Jane Miller makes most of her furniture.

Boston Travel Guide: The Institute of Contemporary Art. Photo © Iwan Baan.

For a museum day, I totally love the ICA; I love the shop, and the curator’s awesome. In the summer, they have grilled burgers, and you’re sitting right on the water. There’s also the Boston Harborwalk, so you can walk from the ICA to the North End after that and have coffee or pastries, or go to O Ya and have sushi.

Barbara Lynch names her must-try dishes. Photo © Justin Ide.

No. 9 Park Prune-stuffed gnocchi with foie gras beurre blanc and toasted almonds.

Menton Fresh langoustine taken out of the shell and wrapped in kataifi.

Butcher Shop Steak tartare with truffle aioli. The secret sauce inside is like a spicy simple syrup with spicy tomato paste, a little vinegar and sugar.

B&G Oysters Lobster roll.

Influential chef Barbara Lynch shares her Boston travel guide. Photo © Alamy. © Alamy

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Truffles Gourmet Food or Underground Fungal Growth?

One person's decadent and irresistible guilty pleasure may well be another's culinary calamity! In other words, what one of us craves is most likely another person's gastronomic nightmare because each of us is different in our tastes, our likes and dislikes. Truffles have long been considered an expensive item that comes in solid or liquid form. The liquid is usually seen in the form of oil. Truffle oil is often a cheaper form of truffle as it provides the flavouring and aroma of more expensive truffles. The truffle oil most commonly found used for cooking may actually not even contain truffles however, as it is most likely olive oil that has added synthetic flavourings to duplicate those found in true truffle oil. Many of the better known head chefs do not even realize the truffle oil they use in recipes has no actual truffle in it. There is also a truffle vodka available which is infused with the oil from black Perigord truffles. This may be used as an alcoholic spirit or used in cooking by chefs who prefer the flavours it imparts.

How can a fungus taste so good?

The flavour added by truffles is said to be an "acquired taste" or one that is either appreciated or not. Those who enjoy the pungent taste know it must be used sparingly or it tends to overpower all other flavours in a recipe. Various types of truffle will determine the strength or earthiness of the flavours they add into popular dishes made in gourmet restaurants. There are several highly desirable truffle varieties to be found:

* White truffles aka Alba Madonna or Tuber magnatum are most commonly found in northern Italy, around the city of Alba (thus the name). They are also found to grow in Croatia near the Mirna River. They are small and pale cream or brownish with white marbling in colour. White truffles may be served raw as well as "shaved" over buttery dishes like pasta, fried eggs, or salads. They are generally strong flavoured.

* Black truffles, also known as Tuber melanosporum or black Perigord truffles are most often found growing in France's Perigord region around hazelnut and oak trees. Milder in flavour than the white truffle, they are larger and pleasantly scented (said to fill the room immediately after cutting into one). They are most commonly shaved gently to peel the savoury delectable rather than merely hack away at it. Japanese call the black truffle umami which means savoury pleasant and tasty.

* Burgundy or black summer truffles can be found throughout most of Europe and are highly prized for their culinary value and mild aroma. Paler in colour than the black truffle, these varieties are lower in price and of somewhat lower quality as far as their flavour.

* A less popular Scorzone truffle, the pecan truffle (tuber lyonii), and the Oregon white truffle (tuber oregonense) are grown in the U.S. the pecan truffle is, as the name would imply, found growing along side pecan trees in the southern U.S. and have been found to sell for $100 per pound in gourmet restaurants. Growers have discarded the pecan truffle, thinking them to be a nuisance.

Why not experiment with white truffles in your cooking and buy truffle online when you want to treat yourself.

Gourmet foods and the use of the white truffle of Alba

Whenever you think of culinary art and skills, which the white truffle and gourmet foods. Gourmet foods are equipped with high quality and taste. These dishes are very common in the United Kingdom, despite being originally from Alba, Italy. They are also among the most traditional and highly exotic cuisine foods confirmed that were handed down from one generation to another by Roman culture.

Among the best gourmet truffles in the world are the winter black truffle. Grows in France, Italy and Spain under popular trees such as oak or chestnut. It has a greyish Brown almost black outside with white veins spider-like inside and the flavor of a mix of chocolate and the Earth.
Winter white truffle has a yellowish color and smooth external coverage. Its aroma fades quickly through evaporation when cooked unlike black truffle. They are served mainly as salads to reduce evaporation of aroma.
Black truffle very cute looks from the outside and with a dark brown outer color. They are cooked to serve to bring out their chocolate flavor.
White Truffle Was has a sweet taste with a tang of garlic and a pleasant fragrance. Are served in slices (raw) to maximize their aroma of pot.

White Alba truffle/brief have a smell similar to the smell of the Earth, but he is worldly famous for pungent aroma and taste tempting. They have a physical perspective similar to that of potatoes. They also have an aphrodisiac qualities, which assumes that work well as a form of white magic between lovers. They are harvested during the months of September through December.

The taste and aroma produced level, the flavor of garlic and the size of the truffle is dependent on climatic conditions, the tree's age, the moisture content of tuber, acidity of the soil and soil type, plant species and root proximity.

When fresh harvested from the ground, this product has high taste, aroma and flavor. Instead of being eaten raw or cooked, it is recommended that you use as an additive to liven up other foods.

These foods are a class of luxury and are linked to an elite of society, thereby making them fall into the class of caviar, oysters and champagne. They are served on scrambled eggs and risotto, fettuccine or as a salad.

Upper class and five star hotels around the world have special gourmet and white truffle menu for their special guests. If you've ever had a bite of these delicious foods, take the plunge and sample them. You will surely addicted! However, to be ready to take care of the heavy Bill, because they are very expensive, so do not smile back when the waiter comes smiles with the Bill. This delicacy can cost, but it was decided to be at the height of gourmet foods.

Jane Brazilian, exploring the heights of culinary taste and delicacy which is the white truffle of alba. find your supplier of buy white truffles now, the season started.