A week after the Italian dinner at Locatelli, we were off to Italy for the real thing.
The objective of the trip was to try our luck with the porcini and truffle and see whether we can catch both: one is at the end of its season; the other is at the beginning of its season. Both are quite precious in their own rights. And to find them in the same region, how good would that be?
Before we arrived, our B&B host kindly let us know that the porcini season wasn't that great. It is good that she sets our expectation right.
The objective of the trip was to try our luck with the porcini and truffle and see whether we can catch both: one is at the end of its season; the other is at the beginning of its season. Both are quite precious in their own rights. And to find them in the same region, how good would that be?
Before we arrived, our B&B host kindly let us know that the porcini season wasn't that great. It is good that she sets our expectation right.
So it was a surprise for everyone in the house, when I (read: SP) found my own (his) porcini just 30 minutes after we arrived at the B&B (the porcini is the one on the right)! We were taking a short walk before dinner and all in a sudden, we found a porcini in a field of other inedible mushrooms!!! Our hosts has kindly prepared the porcini by slicing it into thin slices and dressing it with good quality olive oil.
Over the next few days, we often see people selling porcini by the roadside. The quality varies, and we didn't buy any from them.
25€ for 2 trays of the beautiful-looking porcini. The quality is good and they are also certified by the local official on the same day.
15€ for 2 trays of much worse-looking porcini! You get what you pay for.
We were quite lucky in that our B&B host travelled with us for one day and they took us to a local wholesaler of porcini (in Dubbione). The in-laws of our hosts would sell poricini to them when they have overflow. Just imagine having an overflow of porcini, and taken into the fact that the father-in-law would only eat funghi porcini and would refuse to consider other mushrooms as 'funghi'!!! :)
We were shown some of the largest porcini that I've ever seen!
Some of them are bigger than my hand!
When we arrived at the wholesaler, someone was just selling his find for the day. These porcini ought to be fresh! Our host, of course, know the trick of picking the best porcini from the pile and we certainly got a very good price for them! And as you will find out later, our hosts also happens to be chefs before they settled down, so they turned the porcini into very fine dishes!
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