Story-tine: Slices of Manchego with Truffle Oil

I love the fact that February is short.  Conversely I hate the fact that it’s yet another month that has an in-your-face holiday nigh impossible to escape unless you crawl into a deep pit.  Which I’m tempted to do, anyways, because this is also my birthday month. (Another year older but not necessarily wiser….)  Luckily I’d rather spend the next 28 days with a chipper face and not a sour face by sending story-tines – valentines by way of stories – to one of my absolute most favorite foods:  cheese.

The Story-tine:  Manchego + Truffle Oil = Better than ________ (Fill in the blank as you wish.)

The day after New Years day our neighbors held a small gathering, and we were invited.  It wasn’t a big event, just some champagne and nibbles.  Tim swears he was told to come any time after 1 PM.  We arrived around 1:30 to find that the party was winding down.  Except for a Swedish woman and us, everyone else still clustered around the appetizer table were from The Netherlands who chose Spain, as most northern European transplants do, for the sunshine and mild winters.  To our relief they all spoke at least a little English.  So, our job from thereon was to be charming – didn’t want anyone to resent the switch to the minority language just because we showed up!  As latecomers no less.

While the invitation may been for “a glass” of champagne, we were more or less treated to a bottle.  The beer drinkers among us didn’t know thirst either, and plates of smoked salmon on toasts frequently passed hands.  About an hour and a half plus several rounds of bubbly later, slices of Manchego made their first appearance.  I don’t think this was by design.  I think our hostess simply ran out of salmon but not boozers.

I’d noshed on Manchego many times before, but something about those slices on that day were notably different, and no, it wasn’t the champers talking.  Within a few bites my table manners felt the effects of an inner hungry wolf, awakened and slavering.  Triggered as such I even ate the rinds on my appetizer plate.  I usually skip the cheese rind.  But I loved that rind, almost as much as I loved that offering of creamy sheep’s cheese with its strange, heavenly-earthy aftertaste, kind of like eating a sandwich of dark chocolate covered bark and salty, slick milk.  Which might sound gross.  Yet it wasn’t.  (As evidenced by it’s storytine worthiness.)

Way, way too soon, the first and then the second platter of cheese emptied.  The gannets murmured their approval, their immense satisfaction, their longing for more.  Our hostess collapsed into a chair next to Tim, looking pleased but like she wouldn’t say no to a coma either.

This was my chance, I decided, to lure from her where she’d found that cheese – the maker, the store.  Didn’t care about the price.

Couldn’t remember, she said, except that she’d picked up from Lidl*.

Lidl!!?

Yes, Lidl, she repeated before adding -  as casually as if lint were the topic of conversation – that she’d drizzled truffle oil over the cheese after slicing it.

Truffle oil?

Yes, truffle oil, the white kind.

Remember that, I told Tim, backing up the seriousness of this order with a poke in the ribs.  He owed me this tiny tiny piece of his memory, having muddled the single most important detail of the party invitation.

Our hostess smiled.  Through her drowze she could tell that the little wolf-ette lingering too long on her patio and gnawing on cheese nubs was giving a most sincere compliment.

More About The Cheese
As mentioned, Manchego is a sheep’s milk cheese from the Castilla-La Mancha region.  True Manchego is made with only whole milk from only Manchego sheep.  You know you’re in the company of a the real deal if the round of cheese is stamped with “Denomincation de Origen Protegida” (D.O.P.) and is produced in the provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca or Albacete.

There are only so many Manchego sheep in the provincial pastures of Castilla-La Mancha, so in the marketplace you’ll often find “Manchego style” cheese which is produced by different sheep, possibly elsewhere but using similar methods of molding, curing, etc.  It’s good, too.  Just not as good.

Even as a young cheese, Manchego packs a punch.  Tastebud-wise, it plays very well with strong red wines, and strongly-flavored partners such as sundried tomatoes, olives and – hell, yes – truffle oil.

I used to buy it at Whole Foods in Midtown, Atlanta, although come to think of it I can’t verify if was true Manchego or the knockoff.

More Still About The (Precious) Truffle Oil
In your personal life you might have sworn off lovers who lie, cheat, or forget to pay compliments, but when it comes to truffle oil you’re going to have to respect the good intentions of its deceit.  The truth is that 99% of the time, the stuff you buy – even by mail order from Italy – is a chemical concoction and not a single nubbin of actual truffle participates in the production process.  (The New York Times did a piece about it in 2007.  See the notes below for the link.)  Unless the bottle reads Infusion of Truffle, you’re experiencing the heady effects of 4-dithiapentane, and that is what generates the essence or aroma of truffle, as printed on the bottle, 99% of the time.

I know, bummer.

However, try to not let the facts pee on the magic, because 4-dithiapentane tastes far better than it looks on paper.  Besides, you have your lucky laboratories to thank for the affordability of this enhancement-in-a-bottle that has some versatility.  It’s good for more than just tarting up a cheese course.  It will add a little something something to soups and sauces, omelettes and risottos.  All you need is a few drops.  One bottle lasts a long time.  That is unless you knock it back like it’s Sangria.

I bought my bottles of truffle oil (one essence of black truffle, one essence of white truffle) in France, but in the states you can find sources online if not in your local fancy pants grocery store.

The Asteriks:

* Lidl is a discount supermarket with outlets across Europe.  It’s like an Aldi, another european chain with a footprint in the US.

**  To read this NY Times article about truffle oils in full you may have to register.  Them’s their rules.