116 A PLAIN AND EASY ACCOUNT 



yolks of eggs. Another method employed in France 

 includes a bottle of champagne in the preparation. A 

 far more economical one consists in wrapping each 

 truffle in a sheet of buttered paper, and cooking them 

 by steam. Should it be desired to prepare them a la 

 Italienne, then middle-sized truffles should be selected, 

 cut into fine slices, placed in a stewpan, with oil, salt, 

 pepper, parsley, shallots, and chopped garlic. Let them 

 cook gently over a slow fire, and serve with the juice of 

 a lemon. If it is preferred that your dish of truffles 

 should be prepared a la Piedmontese, then, having 

 soaked them in oil, slice them thin, put them in your 

 stewpan (an eminent French authority says it should 

 be a silver dish), add thereto salt, oil, and pepper, and 

 grate over them some Parmesan cheese ; then place the 

 dish over the hot cinders for a quarter of an hour. One 

 method which is highly recommended by those who 

 have adopted it, consists in cleaning some good truffles, 

 sprinkling them with salt and pepper, and wrapping 

 them in several folds of paper, garnished with rashers 

 of bacon. They should be cooked a good hour, then 

 denuded of their paper envelope, wiped and served hot. 

 It will suffice to add a method for preparing a ratifia 

 which may recommend itself to some. Take two pounds 

 of truffles, cut into fragments, and soak them in two 

 pints of good brandy, to which has been added about 

 half an ounce of vanilla cut in pieces. After three 

 weeks, strain the liquor and add two pounds of sugar 

 dissolved in one pint of water. The ratifia may then 

 be preserved in well-corked bottles for use. If this 



