It's Canberra's truffle season. Who knew that the 40+ degree summers and the 0 degree winters would be ideal cultivating conditions for the Perigord truffles to grow? That was part of the education session from the lucky owner of French Black Truffles of Canberra. He was correct in saying there are cheap imitations - Chinese versions and the much less potent summer black truffles. He neglected to mention the God of all truffles - the white Tuber magnatum (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/tag/Alba). Other than those there's only a few truffle dishes I remember in this lifetime so far - the ridiculously priced degustation at Eleven Madison Park where the truffle supplement was USD100 per head, the 7kg black truffle turkey I made for Christmas in 2011, the French Laundry white truffle risotto I made using the 15g/€60 white truffle I purchased from the Alba white truffle festival in 2012.
After reading about the exceptional quality of The Boat House by the Lake's overall cooking and their reputation for one of the best truffle courses around (especially locally), the $120 food tag didn't seem too much of a risk. Funnily enough on the night I don't think any of the waiters paid any attention to who ordered the $160 wine courses as they were happy to serve anyone. Thanks for the final serving of madeira - brought me back to the tasting rooms in Porto.
Truffle beignets and truffle gougere were served whilst standing around in the foyer. The dark black morsels had warm soft centres and engaged much more than the yellow ones (which I was quite sure were truffle-free cheese).
- Cultured truffle butter, multigrain bread rolls - several servings of warm bread with excellent crusts and soft butter aided digestion throughout the night;
- Truffle porridge, blood pudding, swiss browns, persillade - my adoration of black pudding continued in this dish with crisp flavoursome pieces dominating the other flavours;
- Baked savoy cabbage, raclette, truffle, bacon - to make a cabbage better stuff it with cheese. What a revelation - cabbage has never been so good;
- Pork jowl, truffle soubise, spinach water, apple - a beautiful piece of meat with outstanding flavour and a high meat:fat ratio. The skin was delicious but could have used a little more crispness;
- Truffle spatchcock breast & sausage, parsnip, black tea, pear - probably the dish where the truffle stood out most to me, layered in the roasting of the exceptionally cooked bird;
- Truffle textures, icecream, tapioca, cheesecake - a hint of truffle in the crisps and icecream (which unfortunately was melting too quickly) and a lightly textured cheesecake finished off the formalities.
Petit four (white chocolate truffles) giving credit to the other (less expensive) sort of truffle. If you were wondering, the black stuff wasn't edible. I tried.
There is no doubt the food quality and cooking at The Boat House is excellent. Maybe it's my taste buds but I didn't discern distinct truffle flavour in each dish and for that reason I was slightly disappointed. I think I'd have been happier paying less for the same set course without truffle added. Maybe I've been launching raids on street and comfort food for too long now.
Nonetheless I'll be back.