George and Shep with some whoppers
George is the truffle dealer around town. He makes regular trips to and from the family-owned truffière (truffle farm), George’s Truffles, across the Cook Strait in Riwaka to bring black gold to the chefs of Wellington. George hauls his unassuming duffel bag packed with Black Périgord truffles around the city going from restaurant to restaurant.
“People often say it's like dealing drugs. Pulling the stuff out and weighing on this little scale”.
“I do a circuit. I walk around town, Newtown, and out to Kilbirnie every day so I can drop stuff off. I don't mind the hills, it's the distance”.
“I live in Wellington and go down to Riwaka on weekends and bring them back Sunday night. At the moment I'll spend 25% of my time down there”.
The truffière, planted in 2008, is five and a half hectares with 2,200 inoculated oak and hazel trees. Roughly 9 kilometers of ground to cover during harvest between May and August and the truffles are hunted out by specially trained dogs, like Rosie. And this dog doesn't miss much.
“I had about four times as much truffles as I did last year. And that threw me off because you can't see it. Not like apples on a tree. They're all underground of course so you have no way of checking”.
Shepherd describes George’s Truffles as, “pungent, and they add a richness to a dish. They have a unique flavour you don’t really get from anything else”.
At Shepherd we use them in a number of ways, including as an optional add on on our classic venison dish and with our savoury custard. You’ll find them jazzing up your scrambled eggs at our Sunday brunch too, but George likes to keep it simple when he gets into his own supply.
“I quite like it on seared fish. I'm very simple. I wouldn't call myself foodie but I like nice food. I just shave them over vegetables or eggs or fish”.