Chef Umberto Bombana has been given the task of cooking a 900 gram truffle, this year’s prize winner at the 12th World White Truffle of Alba Auction. This giant truffle was bought by Jeannie Choo Lee, a Hong Kong based wine expert for a whopping 105,000 euros (US$142,653) this Nov. 16. Now that is a pretty big task for the chef, but he says he isn’t nervous. He has cooked a bigger truffle in 2006, when he was executive chef Hong Kong’s old Ritz Carlton. Here he had cooked a 1.5Kg truffle that was purchased by property tycoon, Gordon Wu.
Truffles have a very short shelf life and must be cooked within a week. 25 to 30 guests will be consuming this soccer-sized fungus. White truffles have a very delicate texture and aren’t cooked much. They are infact usually freshly shaved on a dish. That is why chef Bombana will focus on the other dishes that will be topped with this truffle.
It will be an eight-course dinner with porcini risotto, an egg ravioli with ricotta cheese and spinach in hazelnut butter, and a roasted veal tenderloin with braised savoy cabbage, Iberico ham and truffle mash potatoes on the menu. The best however, will be the dessert, mascarpone and ice cream mixed with the remaining truffle, honey and chestnut nougat. Yumm!
Via: blogs.wsj
