As a young cook I remember reading stories of subterranean mushrooms that were particular only to certain storied areas of Europe: black truffles from a small region in France, white truffles from a small region in Italy. At one time, they were hunted by pigs until dogs took over because their sense of smell — and self-control — is more acute.
So precious were these mushrooms, they were sold by the ounce, grated or sliced over a steak or pasta. In the time before the internet, truffles came to me through the pages of glossy food magazines. Today, thanks to some intrepid foragers and mycologists, we now know truffles grow in the forests of Appalachia. And thanks to Natalie Dechiara and Luke Gilbert of Asheville’s Wild Goods, and truffle dog Massi, myself and three other chefs — Taylor Montgomery, Nico Abello and Derick Wade — were able to realize the dreams of our younger selves and go on a successful truffle hunt.
Massi is a Lagotto Romagnolo, the only dog specifically bred to hunt truffles. However, he still needed special training.
“Massi may be predisposed to find truffles, but he still needed a lot of work to get him to be the dog he is today,” Gilbert said. “He’s been a lot of fun to work with, and he loves to hunt truffles. If he does eat one, it’s going to be an older one that’s decomposing. Dogs will be dogs.”
A dog’s sense of smell is somewhere around 50,000 times more sensitive than a human, and Massi uses that ability well. We hiked into the woods and, once off the beaten path, Gilbert turned Massi loose with “recherche,” which is French for search. Abello quickly asked if Massi spoke French, to which Gilbert replied, “More than some dogs.”
Blue Ridge TrufflesMassi bolted, nose to the forest floor. He raced through streams and into thickets of laurel, maple and beech. In a stream bank he dug enthusiastically, found two golf ball-sized truffles and was rewarded with a few treats. Our hunt continued for a couple of hours and yielded maybe 4 ounces of truffle.
As we were nearing the end, Gilbert sent Massi into a channel just off our path and Massi was soon digging into the sand. Montgomery offered to help, and his eyes lit up when he slid his fingers under an orange-sized Blue Ridge truffle. Gilbert joined in and in a matter of seconds he held 8 ounces of truffle. We passed them around, smelled them, photographed them and smelled them again.
At the house, Dechiara slathered butter on a dozen baked and freshly dug potatoes then grated an impossible amount of truffle over them. We toasted our success with Dechiara’s muscadine wine and told stories of French and Italian truffle dishes we enjoyed over the years. We agreed they paled to these potatoes, on this day, when we were able to follow a truffle dog and dig our own truffles.
“City Juice” is a colloquial term for a glass of tap water served at a diner. John Malik is a restaurant coach and hospitality consultant. He can be reached at chefjohnmalik@gmail.com.
