Fresh truffles are seen as being at the pinnacle of gourmet cuisine and fine dining. For 110 years, our fresh truffles have graced the tables of the best restaurants around the world. For as long as gourmet food has existed, chefs have reveled in the flavors and aromas that truffles can bring to their most masterful creations.
Now, thanks to improvements in technology and transportation, our fresh truffles are distributed even farther than before. This allows our truffles to be used by more professional and home chefs than ever before. Unlocking the doors to these new kitchens also means our truffles and truffle products are being used in new and innovative ways across more types of cuisines.
Our fresh truffle pairing guide just scratches the surface in terms of what types of dishes and cuisines can be complemented by our truffles. Check out the guide and leave us comments on dishes you think fresh truffles work exceptionally well on.
Traditional
Pasta - Pairing pasta and truffles is a no brainer. Because Italy is the leading producer of gourmet truffles, pairing them with pasta is a time-honored tradition in Italian cuisine. Truffles are often used to top finished pasta dishes and add fragrance and an earthy, umami-loaded flavor. Sometimes truffles are used in sauces where they are very lightly cooked and lend their flavors and aromas to the sauce. This is an excellent way to add additional luxury and elegance without overpowering the dish while reducing your costs given how expensive fresh truffles can be.
Pasta Recipes:
Tagliatelle al Tartufo
Truffle Avocado Pasta
Truffle Fettucine Alfredo
Truffle Cacio E Pepe
Eggs - Eggs are another favorite truffle pairing. The rich, creamy texture of eggs create the perfect platform to showcase the flavors and aromas of truffles. With a relatively high fat and protein level per serving with a relatively neutral flavor, eggs offer a great vehicle for truffles to impart character to the final dish. The complex and earthy flavors of truffles add an instant burst of flavor and depth to eggs. See for yourself in any of the recipes below.
Egg Recipes:
Truffle Scrambled Eggs
Truffled Hot Deviled Eggs
Pizza - Pizza is arguably the most universally loved food and for good reason. It’s all at once simple and complex. The perfect marriage of bread, sauce, cheese, and any number of toppings creates the basis for one of the world’s most customizable dishes. When it comes to pizza, some of the most luxurious examples are studded with fresh truffles shaved on top. When using truffles on pizza, it’s often best to take a minimalist approach and keep the other ingredients simple. While mozzarella is a frequent pizza topping bedfellow with truffles, other cheeses like fontina, parmesan, pecorino, and taleggio are equally delicious options. Truffles can often be used to up the flavor of mushroom pies as well, adding a deeper, richer flavor to portobello, cremini, and button mushrooms.
Pizza Recipes:
Oprah’s Robiola, Brussels Sprout and Walnut Pizza
Risotto - Risotto works amazingly well with fresh truffles for a number of reasons. For one, the creaminess of the dish from the blending of rice starches with creamy melted cheese offers the perfect stage for truffles of starches with fats. Beyond that, the warmth of the dish helps to lightly warm shaved truffles sitting atop the dish further volatizing the aromas in the truffle. The resulting effect sends the aromas of the truffle wafting through the air enticing you to take a bite. This is a pairing not to be missed.
Risotto Recipes:
Truffle Risotto
Seared Scallops & Mushroom Risotto with Chocolate Pistachio Truffles
Steak - Very few dishes exemplify the concept of luxury foods like steak does. The combination of iron-rich proteins and fats in steak often make it the focal point of the meal. When truffles are added to the equation, the experience ascends to a new level. Because truffles bring an umami-rich element to any dish, the addition of truffles to a steak creates similar results to those of dry-aging. The resulting flavor of the finished dish is more complex, earthier, and more nuanced.
Steak Recipes:
Sirloin Steak Provencal
New York Strip Steak with Truffle Butter
Seared Steak with Truffle Hollandaise and Mashed Potatoes
Peppercorn-Crusted Ribeye Steak with Truffle Mac n’ Cheese
Truffle Ribeye Steaks with Seasoned Potato Wedges and Roasted Green Beans
NY Strip Steaks & Truffle Butter with Fingerling Potatoes and Sautéed Spinach
Modern
Modern cuisine has found new ways of combining seemingly disparate ingredients into new dishes that surprise the senses. Modern advances in transportation and food preservation have made it possible to enjoy ingredients that previously were unavailable. Today, truffles from Italy can be combined with bluefin tuna from Japan, or avocados from Mexico to create new flavors that delight the tastebuds!
Sushi - Sushi and Sashimi restaurants have become nearly ubiquitous across much of the world. In the U.S., it seems delicious sushi is never too far away. Prized for its freshness, sushi and sashimi are often garnished and embellished with fresh truffles or truffle products to add an extra level of richness and depth to a bite. Many of the world’s finest sushi restaurants source their truffles from Sabatino for use in their one-of-a-kind omakase dining experiences.
Ramen - Ramen seems to have finally shed its humble introduction to the U.S. market as an instant meal substitute. Now ramen shops are opening up across the country and world with increasingly complex and comforting flavors gracing each bowl. Whether paired with a silky shoyu broth-based bowl or a richer miso-based broth, ramen dishes offer new frontiers for truffle lovers. With varying combinations of fats in the form of rich meats and oils, proteins in the form of meat, seafood or vegetables, and the distinctively snappy noodles providing starches, ramen bowls offer a variety of ingredients for truffles to lend their essence to. The next time you’re enjoying ramen, shave a few slices on top of the warm bowl. This will unleash the aromas and perfume each bowl with an unmatched earthiness.
Ramen Recipes:
Miso Truffle Ramen
Tacos - Tacos always seem to please a crowd. The warm corn or flour tortillas seem to envelope an endless array of options. Over the last decade, we have noticed our truffles being used to increase the appeal of elegantly crafted tacos across the world. Whether used to accentuate vegetarian tacos or shaved atop freshly cooked meats, when pairing truffles with tacos look no further than the interaction with the main ingredient. Truffles pair excellently with steak, beef, fish, chicken, and pork.
Taco Recipes:
Shrimp Tacos with Truffles and Cheese
Avocados - Avocados add instant creaminess and richness to any dish. It’s no wonder avocado toast has become all the rage for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and snacking occasions. Fresh and wholesome, avocados pair amazingly well with truffles with the pair complementing each other perfectly. The creamy, smooth texture of avocados match up nicely with the dark, deep richness of truffles.
Avocado Recipes:
Truffle Avocado Pasta
Truffle Avocado Egg Salad
Truffle Avocado Bibb Salad
Triple Threat Truffle Avocado Toast
Wings - When it comes to tailgating, wings are king! The humble chicken wing is a willing and able vehicle that pairs wonderfully with a multitude of different flavors. From buffalo sauce to honey teriyaki, wings take on the flavor of just about any sauce they’re tossed in. Truffles and wings pair up extremely well, especially when you are looking for an upgrade to some of the more standard wing recipes. We recommend grating fresh truffles instead of slicing onto wings to make it easier to get more truffle flavor in every bite.
Chicken Wing Recipes:
Truffle Buffalo Wings
Truffle & Smoked Sea Salt Wings
Dumplings - It seems every culture has its own version of dumplings. In Asia, dumplings are often filled with combinations of flavorful meats, herbs, and vegetables for a savory and satisfying bite. In Italy, gnocchi are pillowy soft potato dumplings that are simply boiled and tossed in a flavorful sauce, often spiked with truffles. In India, samosas are filled with meat or vegetables cooked with aromatic herbs and exotic spices to make the end result a crispy, savory and spicy dumpling loaded with flavor in every bite. Because truffles have proven to work extremely well in adding complexity to meats, vegetables, cheeses and more, they are a natural fit for dumpling fillings.