Avoid lazy luxury this winter with these chef tips on Melbourne's best (and worst) truffle dishes

• 20 recipes to make the most of truffles

The pay-off from this week's chilly weather is an early start to Victoria's truffle season, with black Perigord truffles set to hit restaurant menus and gourmet shops within a week or two.

Conditions point to not just a longer season but a sizeable crop this year, according to truffle farmer Nigel Wood, who is tipping that Australia may become third largest truffle-producing country, outstripping the yield of Italy.

"We're off to an early start everywhere, that's the feedback I'm getting," says Wood.

Truffles, a form of fungi that grows underground, are cultivated in Western Australia's Manjimup, the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands in NSW, and a ring around Melbourne that includes Daylesford, the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and south Gippsland.

Wood, who's also founder of annual festival Truffle Melbourne, says the combination of good summer rain, strong sunshine over autumn and this week's cold snap make for an ideal season.

That means the unmistakable aroma of truffle will soon fill dining rooms across the state.

With Melbourne diners showing an unwavering appetite for luxury ingredients such as caviar and lobster following two years of pandemic life, it's likely Australia's bumper yield of truffles will be snapped up.

But heaping slices of the black fungi on top of anything and everything doesn't make the most of the hyper-seasonal ingredient, and could be called lazy luxury.

"People are using them in conspicuous ways, basically shaving dollars on top of people's plates in front of them," says chef Mark Best, who led the acclaimed Marque restaurant in Sydney for 17 years.

"I guess it's a theatrical gimmick showing customers they're getting value for money. But what they're missing out on is the incredible texture and flavours that come from cooking truffles, especially with fats."

Fellow chefs Jacqui Challinor (Nomad) and Jesse Gerner (Anada, Bomba) agree that fats are the best way to transmit the earthy, funky flavours of black truffle.

At Challinor's Flinders Lane restaurant, diners will soon be able to add two grams of truffle to any dish on the menu, but she recommends a corn and silverbeet gratin as the strongest contender for the $12 supplement. "Those cheesy, bubbly, creamy, oozy vibes that you get … they work really well with truffle."

Gerner adds that, "Anything with lactose in it, adding truffle is like giving it steroids, flavour-wise."

He'll be creating a dish of chicken liver parfait, made with a touch of truffle butter in addition to the usual quantities of egg and butter, for Truffle Melbourne events at his Fitzroy and CBD restaurants in July.

When he's at home, however, Gerner is just as happy with a truffle omelette. The chef finely grates a few curls of truffle onto the beaten and fried eggs before folding.

For home cooks, Mark Best has created a truffle butter made with the odds and ends of black Manjimup truffles folded through Coppertree Farms cultured butter. He likes it spread on crumpets with Vegemite, although a spoon or two could also jazz up scrambled eggs on a winter's morning.

While overheating black truffle destroys its aroma and flavour, using it raw doesn't make the most of its powers either. It's another reason why shaving it on top of dishes, rather than incorporating it, can be a waste of money.

"The black truffle is not like a white truffle, which you cannot cook and is more like a garnish. The black truffle you can cook a bit," says Philippe Mouchel, one of Australia's leading French chefs.

His favourite truffle preparations include sauce Perigueux, made with Madeira wine, demi-glace and chopped truffle, and a souffle of Jerusalem artichoke and Comte cheese, with truffle added to both the souffle and the sauce that finishes it.

A truffle-infused sauce with steak is a better idea than shaving raw truffle over the beef, says Best, and will most likely use the same amount of truffle.

White fish, scallops, chicken, celeriac and starchy foods like rice, potato or pasta all play well with truffle too, says Gerner.

But he warns against adding truffle to acidic dishes or ingredients like vinaigrettes. Gerner has also seen enough truffle oil, a synthetic product, drizzled on everything from chips to pizza year-round.

Much of the excitement around truffles comes from their limited availability, with their brief season a highlight on the culinary calendar.

"It is a really incredible hyper-seasonal product that has an incredible flavour, so use it wisely," says Nomad's Challinor. "If you pick the right accompaniment, the flavour is going to blow you away."

The best restaurants to eat truffles in Victoria this winter

Bomba (103 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne)
A special truffle-tastic menu will be available on July 10, with truffle worked into dishes such as roast spatchcock and baked hapuka (pictured right), as well as a mock truffle hunt in the restaurant to show diners how truffle dogs hunt down their prize. Bookings essential. bombabar.com.au

Aru (268 Little Collins Street, Melbourne)
Desserts and truffle can be tricky, but sourdough ice-cream (made with leftover ends from Aru's loaves), drizzled with coconut butterscotch and finished with black truffle is a happy marriage of luxury and frugality. aru.net.au

Vex (66-68 High Street, Westgarth)
If a savoury strudel floats your boat, make tracks for this northside spot. A pine mushroom strudel finished with a whipped truffle cream will be available on Sundays and can be added to the set menu for $20. vexdining.com

Nomad (187 Flinders Lane, Melbourne)
Every Sunday throughout winter, skip the cafe and head to Nomad for next-level brunch. Truffle will be added to hash browns flecked with ham hock, a three-cheese Lebanese pie, pecan and olive oil ice-cream sandwiches and more. Starts June 12; bookings essential. nomad.melbourne

Cape (Trent Jones Drive, Cape Schanck)
French chef Jordan Clavaron is making a truffle sauce with veal stock and aromats that's poured over John dory tableside, with celeriac-chesnut puree and snails rounding out the dish. racv.com.au

Philippe (115 Collins Street, Melbourne)
Classic French dishes such as truffle-stuffed roast chicken or souffle of Jerusalem artichoke, cheese and truffle are joined by risotto: it's not French, but it works a treat with truffle. A day's notice is required on the chicken. philipperestaurant.com.au

Audrey's (1 Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento)
A steamed savoury custard is enriched by hand-dived sea urchin and shavings of black truffle, with the fats from the egg custard carrying that distinctive truffle flavour. thecontinentalsorrento.com.au

Tulum (217 Carlisle Street, Balaclava)
You've never had a borek like this. Layers of flaky pastry encase Turkish feta, aged cheese tarator, parsley and Victorian black truffle. tulumrestaurant.com.au