Using Truffles in Sauce Making

The flavor and aroma of truffles are extremely volatile and will be attenuated or completely lost if the truffles are cooked for long periods. Consequently, most recipes recommend infusing chopped or sliced truffles in a sauce in a covered saucepan during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

What chefs often ignore when cooking with truffles is that the aroma is far easier to infuse in fat than in liquids such as stock or fortified wines. The flavor of fortified wines such as Madeira works well with truffles, but does little to draw the truffle flavor into the sauce. If a truffle sauce contains fat such as butter, cream, or egg yolks, the best way to flavor the sauce is to infuse the chopped or sliced raw truffles into the butter, cream, or egg for an hour or two before making the sauce. Frozen truffle butter can also be used to mount the sauce shortly before it is served.