I promised myself last year that I wouldn’t buy truffles again – they are so fragrant, but so expensive! And I can’t afford to be poor right now. But trufflemania is on, and having watched Chef’s Table, I couldn’t resist buying some again. I had my eye on some Tasmanian winter truffles, but when I went and asked, they were all sold out! So I asked about the WA truffles they had and how they were different. The shop owner mentioned that this was the first time they stocked WA truffles because they were of a good quality for their price this year. He explained that previously, he didn’t buy them because the supplier mixed all different regions into their stock, so it was impossible to tell where the truffles were from, and therefore the quality.

He also mentioned that I had to use more than I would for a Tasmanian truffle, but it was also $1000/kg cheaper than a Tasmanian truffle. I love how truffles are described in thousands of dollars per kilo, it’s hilarious! So, I was satisfied and more educated as a result of his explanation, and could comfortably buy these knowing they weren’t as good as other truffles I bought, but that they were good for their value. And he got me (almost) whole ones from a jar full of truffles, and I could smell the aroma from the other side of the counter! It was so lovely!

Very happy with my truffles and planning to add them to pasta, I figured it was also time to once again test my knife skills and make some steak tartare.

First of all, I had to confirm my condiments: pickled beetroot, cornichons, red onion, seeded mustard, chives. An egg on top was a must, and it would then be showered in truffle shavings. For the starch, I bought both potato and jerusalem artichoke, unsure of which I would use – it would come down to how they crisped up and I would choose the prettier one. Turns out it also has an impact on taste!

Step one, pickled beetroot puree. I had cut up beetroot and pickled them overnight in rice vinegar, sugar, salt and pickling spices. Then, I boiled them so that they could be mashed. To ensure that the flavour wasn’t diluted, it was boiled in the same pickling mixture, but because I had extra beetroot pickling away, this was a fresh batch (otherwise the whole pot would have been red!)

This was the result of double fork action!

I added some of the pickle water to the mash, then ran the whole thing through a sieve. That way I got a coarse puree, but it would do.

Next up, onion versus knife. It’s amazing just how much difference a sharp knife makes, cutting through this was very satisfying compared to my standard kitchen knives!

Sharper is definitely better. I wasn’t super consistent, but they were pretty thin.

Purely by slicing, they became this small and this cute!

I elminated any large chunks by then chopping it further. I was very happy with this result!

I originally wanted the crisps to curl so that I could make a flower shape arrangement around my tartare, however most of my potato slices were still too thick for that. Also, I’m not that great at controlling the mini-grill I have and I didn’t want to waste electricity on powering the oven for just a few crisps, so they went in as-is.

I managed to get four good pieces out of the lot! Some burned and others didn’t crisp up in time (yes, I was impatient). The jerusalem artichokes went in a second batch, but I was already fed up with the time it was taking for them to dehydrate without burning! But this is how thin the perfect ones were. And they crunched, so I was pleased.

I bought some eye fillet beef and cured it quickly to “disinfect” it, before dicing it in the same way as the onions. I wanted mine to be relatively fine, as I was thinking back to my experience at Fix St James. I mixed a small amount of chives and onion through it just to give it flavour.

And the plate up! It didn’t look at all like how I envisioned it, but I still liked the way it looked! This was also the perfect excuse for me to use my gold leaf as luxury overkill. It wasn’t as difficult to handle as I thought, and I had actually pulled off a bit too much. The crisps held up very well, and I shouldn’t have put the beef back into the fridge after shaping as it actually was too clumped together as a result – I would have liked it to have fallen apart a little better. The truffle didn’t stand out until after I had eaten it all, but the fragrance was there at least. I also found that there was a slight imbalance towards vinegar, as the mustard I bought contained vinegar, the cornichons were in vinegar, then my beetroots were also vinegared. More onion would have helped, and more potato chips would have too.

After the photoshoot I dumped all my extras/leftovers onto this, so I got to try the tartare with potato, and with jerusalem artichoke. The potato adds savouriness, while the artichoke adds sweetness and nuttiness. I personally liked the potato better, and so I wouldn’t get the artichoke as a just in case next time.

I’m glad to have made this dish, now I’m waiting out the 24 hours to make sure I didn’t poison myself with this!

“All that glitters is black”