It's winter and that means that it is prime time for some truffle hunting and a visit to the Blue Mountains. Come along as we visit RedGround's trufferie in Oberon for a wonderful truffle hunt, tasting and weekend stay. Find out what else you can do with this wonderful ingredient and see what other fun things there are to do in Oberon.
Jill O'Grady is standing in front of an eager group of truffle enthusiasts at the family's truffle hunting lodge. The fire is roaring and they've just set down a baked brie with freshly shaved truffle on top with some sliced baguette. Laura and I take the knife and sink it into the soft cheese, fragrant with truffle and spread it onto the bread. We dig in with gusto and the warm, creamy cheese hits the spike of aromatic truffle to produce that reaction.
Jill and her husband Neil have been growing truffles for 7 years on their property in Oberon. The path to truffle farming requires patience and time. The couple first met while working in banking 30 years ago. "I always wanted to live in the country and needing to find a way to generate an income from the farm and we eventually landed on truffles," says Jill.
The O'Gradys wanted RedGround to become a world class facility and they realised that in order to do that they had to grow a variety of truffles. There are actually 200 varieties of truffles but only 4 types are culinary.
At RedGround they grow the Perigord truffle in winter but also the summer truffle, the autumn Burgundy truffle and the spring white truffle for the Sydney restaurant market and international export distributors. This allows the farm an almost year round truffle harvest - in December and January there is the summer truffle which they can hunt up until May. Then after a break it's time to hunt for the French black or Perigord truffle and then the spring Borchii white Italian truffle. The latter is closely related to the Alba truffle that has proved elusive to being successfully cultivated anywhere in the world.
French evergreen oak trees are used for the Summer, Burgundy and Black Winter truffles and Stone Pine is used for the Spring white truffle (Tuber bianchetto). The property was a sheep farm that had never grown truffles before. They started off deep rooting 5 acres or 2.5 hectares or 4 football fields of soil. Under the soil they found so much debris that it took 2 months to dispose of it all. Before anything could be planted they also had to increase the pH of the soil to 7.4 or 8 to make it more alkaline (Australian soils tend to be more acidic). To do that, they added vast amounts of agricultural lime to the soil and waited. After a year the news was good: their soil pH was up to 7.4.
The rows of tube stock (whose roots are inoculated with the spores) were planted 7 metres apart and each tree 3 metres apart for optimum production. Truffles are fruiting bodies of subterranean fungus that are in a symbiotic relationship with the tree roots. At the right pH the roots the tree cannot access all the nutrients in the soil but the truffle can and receives the nutrients in the soil so the tree can survive. In return the tree gives the truffle carbohydrates to grow.
Pruning is vital so that the sun falls on the brûlé (the vegetation-devoid areas of the ground around a tree). Re-inoculation is also an important step when cultivating truffles. To do this they store 2 kilos of their best truffles in the freezer which they blitz up in water. They pour this truffle "soup" back into the soil to replenish the spores in the soil. Jill explains that it is in these farrows that they tend to get clusters of truffles.
The next key to the truffière was of course the truffle dog. A fully trained truffle dog costs around $26,000 but Jill made the decision to train their dogs from scratch. The course she took "Wasn't to train the dog, it was to train me" says Jill. It takes 18 months of consistent training to train a dog to be a hunting dog. The farm has two truffle dogs: Sarge and Scout (who is in training). The main truffle dog Sarge, an Australian kelpie was originally the runt of the litter and unwanted because two of his front toes were fused together but Sarge has turned out to be an extraordinary truffle dog.
We follow Sarge out with Jill and he walks down the first row of trees sniffing at various points. He points his paw towards a particular area and Jill kneels down with a tablespoon and digs out a spoonful of dirt. She smells it and the aroma of truffle is strong enough to start digging it up. Using the spoon to scrape away the dirt she reveals a large truffle in the ground. Sarge is given a chicken treat when he finds the truffle and also when the truffle is unearthed and he sits there patiently watching and waiting for the extraction of the truffle.
When it comes to my turn to try digging, Sarge indicates a point in the farrow with a tap of his paw. I get down on my knees and dig in and unearth an enormous truffle and then two other right next to it just as Jill had suggested might happen in farrows. We take the truffles back to the lodge and they bring out a divine artichoke, spinach and cheese dip with freshly grated truffle on top.
While we eat this Jill cleans up the truffles washing off all the excess dirt from around it. The truffles will also receive another two cleanings, one with food grade hydrogen peroxide to kill any bugs and then an ultrasonic bath to remove the last traces of dirt. After this they serve the first dessert: a truffle panna cotta where the grated truffle is infused in the cream and milk and then a scoop of truffle ice cream which is strong in truffle flavour that contains a lot more truffle.
When it comes to buying truffles the grade is solely determined by the shape of the truffle. The most ideally sized truffle is a golf ball sized one 30 grams/ 1oz or above which is classed as an "Extra Class" truffle. The little nick taken out of a truffle when you buy it is the farmer's nick. This is to show the inside colour of the truffle (the gleba) that should be black. Perigord truffles are always black on the outside but start off as white on the inside turning black when ripe. If it is grey or has any soft spots, it has started to rot. In this case you want to remove any grey areas of the truffle as these will accelerate the deterioration process.
The best way to extend the life of your truffle last longer is to grate it into butter and then freeze it as freezing whole truffles is not ideal. That ensures that you have truffles all year round. And when cooking, infuse grated truffle into creams and milk or keep whole truffles in jars with eggs. Applying direct heat to the truffle kills the aroma but using ingredients as a carrier preserves the aroma.
Guests can also buy truffles and truffle implements after the tour and the truffles are $2.20 a gram. Laura and I buy a 23g/0.8oz truffle to have at dinner this evening and we make the short walk back to the RedGround accommodation homestead 5 minutes walk away. There are two bedrooms in the house and one bathroom and it's modern, clean and well equipped. People can book in for a private truffle hunt and a stay at RedGround lodge for $790 a person.
Despite Oberon reaching very low temperatures at night, the house is kept toasty warm thanks to the wood fireplace. Laura has a newfound talent for stoking and feeding the fire. Just in case there's also a reverse cycle air conditioner in the main room, electric blankets on the beds and the bathroom has a heating fan in the ceiling.
The kitchen is fully stocked and spacious with a large fridge and freezer and an extra large modular lounge. There's also a large terrace area with chairs and a lovely view below. The television has Netflix and Foxtel included and the wifi is fast and free.
After popping our truffle in the fridge we head back into the centre of town, less than 10 minutes drive away. Our next stop is at the Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway Inc for afternoon tea in an old fashioned train carriage. On the first Saturday of every month waitstaff in red uniforms bring Devonshire tea and lunch to each table for two.
There is one railway carriage with tables in it that is used for this purpose and they bring us a pot of tea and a scone split in half and spread with whipped cream and strawberry jam. Inside the train carriages is warm and toasty. All of the original fittings are still in the train carriage including the luggage racks that now hold blankets and there is another circular ring brass fitting - that used to hold water and cups for customers to help themselves to.
We also try some of the creamy cauliflower and blue cheese soup with parsley and pass the time wondering what life was like back when these train cars were used. On our way out we stop and take a photo of the train when the friendly train driver Nathan (a self proclaimed "gunzel" or train enthusiast) offers to show us the engine room. The people in Oberon are some of the friendliest we have ever met.
The engine room can seat two drivers at each side and drive the train in each direction. There's also room for a heating element to sit a billy of tea. "Nothing on the railways happens without the cup of tea," Nathan quips.
That evening Laura and I head to a local Chinese restaurant with our tiny truffle, truffle mayonnaise and a microplane grater. Laura came up with the idea of combining a BYO truffle and Chinese Australian fare. Oberon used to be a big trout fishing town and there's a giant trout in front of the motor inn. The Chinese restaurant is named Rainbow Chinese after the rainbow trout. Service from our young waitress is absolutely lovely.
The restaurant is busy this weekend with birthdays and we take a seat by the window and order food. Drinks are ordered separately at the bar. I researched a list of what Chinese food went best with truffles so we used that to determine what to order. Before long our first dish arrives and its chicken and corn soup. Laura shaves some truffle on top of it and we try the soup. It's absolutely delicious, not only is the soup good with plenty of corn and chicken but the truffle adds a lovely layer of aroma to it.
Next to arrive is the ham and chicken roll with sweet and sour sauce. This is slightly different from the one I have at my local Chinese restaurant but it's basically ham and chicken breast rolled up and dipped in batter and deep fried. It's a little bit dry by itself but we shave some truffle and dip each piece in the truffle mayonnaise and it really hits the spot.
Our next dish is the crispy chicken which alas is very dry. No amount of truffle or truffle mayonnaise can really resurrect it. But our favourite dish is a real surprise. Truffles go well with eggs and we decide to order the cheese and mushroom omelette. This comes out under a layer of hot chips and a sauce. We shave truffle on top of this and then dip the truffle laden chip into the truffle mayonnaise and it's fantastic.
To finish off we have to order deep fried ice cream because no Chinese meal is complete without it. We both agree that caramel is the best topping for this and we shave fresh truffle over this. This too is absolutely delicious and this along with the soup and omelette stand out as wonderful dishes to showcase a fresh truffle. And even though the vanilla ice cream is not a fancy one, it provides a blank, creamy canvas for that truffle flavour to shine.
We return back to the house and make a batch of popcorn in the pan seasoning it with the black truffle butter and fresh truffle. Truffle is always better when layered in each ingredient and all it needs is a bit of salt right at the end to season it.
After an excellent night's sleep we pack up and reluctantly leave. The temperature is warmer this Sunday and we bid goodbye to the resident kangaroos and head to our last stop in Oberon. The Milbury is a cafe and restaurant on Oberon's main street that is a popular place for locals to head on the weekend for brunch. We actually booked a table for brunch the day before which they recommended as they can get busy.
We also have in our possession the remainder of our truffle so Laura shaves it on top of the Croque Monsieur. The sandwich is very generously filled with ham, gouda cheese and bechamel. We also upgraded it to include a fried egg that makes each bite so gooey and luscious.
However we were both clearly enamoured with the B&E roll. We asked for the bacon on the side because Laura doesn't eat bacon but it is filled with a fried egg, bacon, hash brown and an amazing tomato chutney that along with a generous smear of extra hollandaise really ties the whole roll together. The chutney is so good that we each buy a jar of it to take with us and we depart, the taste and aroma of delicious truffles, earth's hidden treasure on our lips.
So tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of truffles? Have you ever gone on a truffle hunt?
NQN stayed as a guest of RedGround truffles. Meals at the Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway, Oberon Rainbow Chinese Restaurant and The Milbury were all independently paid for.
RedGround Truffle Hunts
264 Titania Rd, Oberon NSW 2787
Truffle hunts are available on Saturdays during truffle season. See here for booking details: https://redground.rezdy.com/559223/truffle-hunt-touch-and-taste
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