That’s what roughly 1.7 kilos of white truffles looks like… And if this post had smell-a-vision, then you would not only see it, you would smell the intense aroma they were giving off. After our visit to Alba and Rome, we headed back to Manila, and roughly 10 days later, I had the honor of being inducted into the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba. I was now a “Knight of Truffles”… I kid you not. :)
It didn’t seem right to become a Cavalieri del Tartufo if I hadn’t actually been to Alba, I hadn’t seen how truffles were hunted, and I didn’t have my fill of the food and wine of the Piemontese region. It was by no means a requirement, but it just seemed like the right thing to do… Mrs. MM was actually the one who made it happen, juggling our original itinerary and inserting a few nights in Northern Italy. In the photo above from left to right, Ina Ayala, the original cavalieri for Manila, Beth Romualdez and myself, the two new inductees for 2016, and John Dibble, who came from Hong Kong to preside over the event.
The setting was a dinner for some 80 or so guests who had signed up for an evening of truffles and wine, held at the Shangri-La Hotel. Our meal started with a ragout of mushrooms with a coddled (or sous vide) egg and shaved truffles. This was intensely delicious.
A photo with Margarita Fores, who was the one that got me into this thing in the first place, and Alex Lichaytoo of Bacchus, Inc. Note the snazzy medals.
The next course was a tajarin with more shaved white truffles. I understand the original fresh noodles that were brought clumped up before cooking, so Margarita et al in the kitchen whipped up new noodles on the fly. The noodles weren’t what they were supposed to be, but the sauce and truffles were fantastic. Tajarin are fresh egg noodles made with an insane, and I mean INSANE amount of egg yolks. It’s something I plan to try at home someday soon… The main course was beef with even more truffles.
Dessert was a really fancy chocolate number, complete with warm chocolate sauce that melted some of the other components. A fitting end to a wonderful dinner. Now, it is my duty to promote and enjoy the classic recipes and wines of the Piemontese region, and it is a duty I will fulfill with the greatest of enthusiasm, along with all the other delicacies and food regions around the country and the world that I so enjoy… :)
15 Responses
Spent a minute remembering what the password was, got intrigued with the post subject :))
…wow, that’s quite the title. So that’s why MF had this slew of truffle posts on her IG recently! Congratulations, and looking forward to your posts on food and wine from the Piemontese region!
Now I understand the series of posts you did that lead to this protected one.. Great stuff MM, ehemmm Sir MM. :) You look like JB in your outfit, btw. ;-)
How should we now address you? Lord MM? Sir MM? Your Excellency?
I hope the title came with a lifetime visa to the EU.
Congratulations. Nice post.
oh, what a treat, Sir MM!
Does that mean there will be truffles on the Zubuchon menu?
Marichu, we actually did some truffle lechons once, here. The ones with truffle paste, as opposed to just truffle oil, were quite delicious. But so expensive to make. So maybe as a special when we have access to good truffle paste… And note the dates on the posts, from say 2010 or so, well before anyone else was offering truffle lechons in the Philippines… ABS-CBN did a piece on it, here. :)
Millet, as the slightly irreverent crew in the office asked… “so do we refer to him as Sir Sir Marketman now?” hahaha. No. :)
I was thoroughly confused about the password, as it used to be the other “s” Bond film, so I did some research about names of Bond films and found the most recent one was also “s”! It was well worth the sleuthing. What a wonderful honour!
Was this title related to the Chaine de Rotisseurs? I know they have a bailliiage in Bangkok, but didn’t think they had any in Manila.
Congratulations MM! You’re the Knight of Truffles, and sister is the Queen of Marmalade :-)
Gastronomic royal family!
Congratulations Sir MM! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year….
Congratulations, MM! Wishing your family all the best this Christmas!
Yay! I don’t think I have tasted truffles before. Most interesting, Sir MM. Is there an eye ball gathering in the near future?
I had to google other daniel craig/james bond movie as I thought the pw was skyfall. whew!
Gosh! I only had to try once for the pwd…marketmanila.com is included in my browser startup pages along with my email, haha! I haven’t seen an actual truffle and my only encounter was french fries with truffle oil in Unit 27 Bar+Cafe in BGC, haha!