Simple Appetizer: Bread with Butter and Truffle Salt

You may see truffle salt as superfluous indulgence in times like these—or maybe a ripoff, given the fact that some of the truffle taste is undoubtedly a manufactured chemical. But, as Dana mentioned in her post about truffle butter, a tiny smidge elevates the humblest of ingredients. And we think our little jar is actually an economical choice for dinner parties. Here's why...

This 3.5-ounce jar from Dean & Deluca sells for $28. That's some crazy expensive salt, we know (ours was a gift from a very generous house guest).

But as we think about how much we spend on appetizers, whether it's an assortment of cheese or vegetables to go with a dip, and then we calculate how many salt-covered bites of bread we could get out of this small jar, we think the truffle salt wins. We could sprinkle this on hundreds of pieces of bread.

Bread and butter as an appetizer? Well, yes, we'd do it. A good baguette, some good butter, and some very pungent salt feels quite luxurious to us. We should note that this stuff is pungent. Open the jar, and you can smell it from the next room.

As for the purity of the ingredients... this particular brand has 5 percent black truffle, with the rest being truffle flavor that is probably made in a lab. We agree with Dana here, though. We enjoy it, so that's that.

Of course, truffle salt is good for a lot of other purposes. Sprinkle it on popcorn or over roasted asparagus. We're even wondering if it would be good rimming the glass of a bloody mary. Maybe that's overkill.

• Buy this truffle salt: $28, from Dean & Deluca.

(Images: Elizabeth Passarella)

Yeah, I'm not sure I could justify spending $28 on a tiny jar of salt. But you always could blend some softened butter with some truffle oil (artificial flavor be damned, it tastes fine to me), and sprinkle with a decorative salt. Black lava salt on truffle butter baguette, anyone?

http://www.abreadaday.com

posted by eprewitt on May 11th 2009 at 2:19pm
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I manage a local farmers market in DC and one of our farmers brought me a gift of raw milk butter. It was so indulgent to eat my baguette last night smeared only with butter. YUM!

Luke
The New Urbansharecropper
http://newurbansharecroppers.blogspot.com

posted by Luke on May 11th 2009 at 3:46pm
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With that much butter who needs salt or truffles?!? Woo hoo - love me some butter on crusty bread. Seriously, I could make a meal of that picture.

posted by Dana McCauley on May 11th 2009 at 7:23pm
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I bought this as a present for a friend who would appreciate such indulgence. I sampled it at Dean & Delucca and it's amazing... absolutely no comparison to inferior truffle oil.

posted by nathalie on May 11th 2009 at 9:09pm
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I had a delicious smoked salt sprinkled over a very buttery rosemary onion tart at a dinner party this weekend. The host brought out more in a bowl and I dumped it over sliced avocado...a tomato....and everything else after.

posted by AMLitt on May 11th 2009 at 9:22pm
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I think truffle salt is TERRIFIC sprinkled over scrambled eggs. If you want to gild the lily: add some truffle oil to boot. NUM. :)

my favorite quick meal:
http://muffintop.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/fancy-it-up-with-truffle/

posted by czilka on May 12th 2009 at 1:02am
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truffle salt is indeed wonderful... i love to sprinkle a little over sandwiches with salami, tomatoes, provolone cheese, and fresh basil. truffle butter is also fantastic... especially when you dip your french fries in it...

posted by borak on May 12th 2009 at 3:48pm
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