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Truffles D, LA Tran False

A stew of black truffles cooked with herbs, garlic, brown gravy, and white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,368 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Truffles D, LA Tran False

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash, brush, and peel the truffles.

  2. Place them in a stewpan with mixed herbs and garlic.

Simmer

  1. Add enough brown gravy to barely cover the truffles.

  2. Simmer slowly, adding French white wine as needed to maintain moisture for one hour.

  3. Remove the truffles, drain them, and serve on a napkin.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Garlic + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Clove + white winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,715 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Truffle + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together425 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Truffle + garlictop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together411 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Large black truffles
Provide the main earthy, aromatic flavour that defines the dish.
Brown gravy
Supplies savoury liquid that moistens the truffles and carries flavour during the simmer.
French white wine
Adds acidity and moisture during the simmer, keeping the truffles from drying out.
Garlic
Adds a savoury aroma that infuses the cooking liquid.
Mixed herbs
Add aromatic herbal notes that blend into the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly and keep the liquid topped up. A gentle simmer cooks the truffles through without boiling them hard, which would toughen and break them down. Adding wine as needed keeps the liquid from reducing too far and drying the truffles.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (truffle, garlic, white wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against truffle, garlic, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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