NEWS: Scott Ian's Food Coma: It's Truffle Season

CULTURE: Scott Ian's Food Coma: It's Truffle Season

I spent the last week in Vegas gigging with Pearl, playing poker, eating like a maniac and... we announced the new singer for Anthrax. Crazy week, hence the late column.

I would dare say that you can eat as well in Vegas as anywhere in the world. Every top chef has a restaurant there. The only three-star Michelin restaurant in the country (Joel Robuchon’s) is in Vegas. Nobu Matsuhisa, Thomas Keller, Mario Batali, Michael Mina, Tom Colicchio, David Burke, Hubert Keller (all rock-star chefs) have restaurants there. Playing poker all day, eating decadent dinners with Phil Hellmuth, drinking until the wee hours and then starting over makes Scott a fat fuck. Being surrounded by this many great restaurants is always a good thing but at this time of year it’s even better because it’s truffle season. Mmmmmmmmm, underground ascomycetes. For those of you unfamiliar with truffles I’ll give you a short history:

When an angel poops, it poops truffles. These magical little lumps (the name truffle comes from the Latin word tuber, which actually means lump) grow underground (if you hadn’t figured it out by now they’re not chocolate) amongst the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. They grow mainly in the Piedmont region of Italy (white truffles), specifically in the countryside around the town of Alba and in the Perigord region of France (black truffles). The truffle farmers used to use pigs to sniff out these nuggets but the pigs would eat them so now they use dogs. Basically, truffles are hard to find and can only be found in the late fall. This is why they cost $3,500 a pound this year, $5,500 a pound if you buy them at Harrod’s. That’s like drug prices. And truffles are like drugs, because if you’ve even smelled truffles, you know what I’m talking about.

I was at Providence here in LA and chef Michael Cimarusti invited us into the kitchen and he pulled out a plastic container with what had to be a pound of the good shit. He told me to hold the container to my nose and open the lid. The intensity of the smell that rushed out was the sheer power of the earth. It smelled like ancient forests. It smelled like what food must have tasted like before chemicals, what the air smelled like before we polluted it. It smelled like what I’ve always imagined The Shire (dork) to smell like. It awakened a primeval feeling of a connection to the land that I’ve never felt before. All that from just smelling them. Eating them is all that and more as the power of the earth is released into your bloodstream and the euphoria takes over. What I’m sayin’ is, they getcha high. And once you’ve had them, you have to have them again. I’ve never smoked crack or meth or any of that fun stuff... truffles man, that’s my thing. No hangover, no tweaking and you don’t lose your teeth.

So go treat yourself this holiday season. Go get a steak and ask for some black truffles to be shaved over it. Get some pasta with white truffles or shave some over sea bass. Seriously, spoil yourself. You’re worth it.

Happy Holidays,
Scott



Scott Ian plays guitar for revolutionary metal band Anthrax and also for Pearl.

Artwork credit: Shepard Fairey

They must be good, after all a shuffle was named after them.

I only just came back from a great meal, and truffles were an ingredient of my choice from the menu. So good I felt I should blog about them. But you saved me the effort, as you have described them so well.

k now im hungry for truffles

+1

comedy!!

truffles A+

I'm sure truffles are amazing and all but it's still a tad weird to read someone from S.O.D. gush over a food that costs $5,000 per pound.

I love truffles, mmm.

Fortunately there's a lot of places in Montreal where you can get truffle related stuff.

I recently started eating sottocero cheese with truffles and god DAMN that shit is like crack. It's like no other cheese I've ever had. The first time I ate it, I consumed the whole, but entirely too small, block.

Go for it. Yum.

shaved black truffles ummm

As a side note, a good way to get the truffley goodness without as much cost is to get truffle oil, drizzle over some pasta sauted with broccolini, maybe some spinach, garlic and finely diced onions....... mmmm I'm getting hungry now!

Us S.O.D.'s know how to eat and drink.

Oh dear God that is heaven.
/drool

i want.

i got a bottle of white truffle oil as a birthday present this year.

too bad it expired in 2002 and smelled nothing like truffles. i think god hates me sometimes.

Especially Milano.

The worst part? Truffle oil isn't really infused with real truffles. It's all fake. (or 99% is) I just found this out, and was a little heart broken.

To be completely honest? I've been cooking professionally for 5 years, and a long time dinner, and I have yet to see a fresh truffle. I'm pretty sad about that.

Gee, thanks for talking about the awesome food served at exclusive restaurants that I have no fucking chance of getting into. That makes my holiday season just a little brighter.



*shuffles off to listen to State of Euphoria*

"When an angel poops, it poops truffles."

I can only hope that this phrase is used across the world on food shows to discuss the goodness that is a truffle.

My favorite line I've read anywhere in the last month without a doubt. And now I must have some truffles soon.

Out of the three golden gooses of gastronomy, truffles is the only eco friendly one. sturgeon, which produces caviar is now endangered and foie gras is quickly becoming banned in many parts for the world for the force feeding that is mostly required to produce it. You can get 'friendly' foie gras, but it is rare. Ducks and Geese before migration naturally will over eat to provide excess fat-therefore energy- for their long travels..however it mostly illegal to hunt them with in this period.
If you are going to treat yourself to one of these luxuries, then truffles is the way to go. I do advise you though, eat them with foods that are bland in nature (eggs, pasta, polenta etc etc) they are mostly fragrance and their taste can easily be destroyed with harsh cooking of pairing of strong flavored foods such as vinegar.

buy truffle oil, not truffle scented oil..there is actual truffle oil available, and there is also imitation,...much like vanilla extract and vanilla scented essence.