Brouillade de truffes or scrambled eggs with truffles
Brouillade de truffes are "just" scrambled eggs with truffles, except that the process of scrambling the eggs is a bit different and much longer than the classical scrambled eggs. It is possible to scramble the eggs in a skillet or a pan, but in this case, they should be cooked very slowly over a low burner, and this is a riskier process. The risk? To end up with a dry texture, at least in some parts of the brouillade, without the unctuosity that is the signature of a good brouillade. Like would like, the process could be compared to that of a risotto. There are accelerated ways to cook a risotto, but not of them deliver the fantastic creaminess of 20-25 minute slowly and progressively cooked risotto.
The ultimate way to cook a brouillade and to obtain this creamy and unctuous texture is a bain-marie, with a whisk instead of a fork or any other instrument, and with a permanent presence during the half hour or so of cooking, constantly drawing virtual eights with your whisk in the eggs. It requires patience and dedication!
Before that, you would have started to gently beat the eggs in a container, to infuse them with very thin "mandolined" slices of truffle, and let it rest covered by a transparent film for 30-60 minutes in the fridge. Although the truffle I used here was a summer truffle, less flavorful, and much less expensive than the winter truffle, this was very flavorful although subtler than with a strong winter truffle. And you still have the possibility to add more truffles than the one recommended (4-5 grams of truffle per egg, on the basis of 3 eggs per head).
Two little tips:
1. Don't salt immediately the eggs. The salt would make them watery during the "infusing" phase,
2. At the end, when your brouillade reaches the wished texture, add the equivalent of 1/8 cup or so of heavy cream or hald and half. This is not really for the taste or the texture... although it doesn't harm, but to stop the cooking. And for the same reason, transfer immediately the brouillade in a cold dish or on the plates.
Although the brouillade is historically a dish from Provence, the gourmet region of Périgord is probably the truffle paradise in France. So, I served my brouillade with a Périgord-inspired spinach salad, with duck bacon crumbles, pine nuts and a walnut oil/verjuice dressing, plus some baguette croûtons roasted in the duck bacon fat. And a glass of the neighbor region of Bordeaux as I didn't have Bergerac.
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