Blog

At Home With Patricia Wells - Cooking classes in Paris and Provence, Cookbooks and Restaurant Reviews.

The eight-ounce truffle

Emily Buchanan January 22, 2012

I simply couldn't resist today at the Sunday morning truffle market in the tiny village of Saint-Paul Trois Chateaux, about 30-minutes from our farmhouse in Provence. The entire village is extremely organized, with just a handful of farmer-merchants but what truffles! All the truffle sellers meet in the town square cafe around 9 am each Sunday from late November to March. They are required to present each and every truffle for "review," to make sure they are authentic French truffles (not cheap Chinese imposters). The farmers emerge from the cafe a little after 10 am, set their scales up on tables set around the square's fountain, and sales begin. For 6 euros one can enjoy a sampling of delicious truffle ravioli with a glass of local wine. Best breakfast ever! This is the largest truffle I ever purchased, a full 250 grams, or 8 ounces. At 900 euros a kilo, you can do the math. My students will be spoiled this week, as we begin our Truffle Extravagana tomorrow night.

Patricia Wells is a journalist, cookbook author and cooking school instructor living between her homes in Paris + Provence.

About me | My Books | Paris Guide

Latest Cookbook

ORDER NOW!

Your Guide to Eating out in Paris

instagram

Gallery Block

This is an example. To display your Instagram posts, double-click here to add an account or select an existing connected account. Learn more

Patricia Wells

Patricia Wells – journalist, author, and cooking teacher – is an American who has lived in Paris since 1980. She is the author of 13 books, including The French Kitchen Cookbook, Simply Truffles, Vegetable Harvest, We've Always Had Paris...and Provence, Bistro Cooking, Simply French, and Trattoria. Her first book, The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, was a landmark work that "cracked the code" to the Paris food world. (The Food Lovers Guide iPhone app is available from the iTunes store, and an all new version of the print edition is scheduled for March publication.) She is the only woman and only foreigner to serve as restaurant critic of a major French publication, the newsweekly L’Express. From 1980 to 2007 she served as restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune. Previously, she was a writer and editor for The Washington Post and The New York Times.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contributions to French culture, and received an honorary doctorate from Muhlenberg College in 2013 and another in gastronomic journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2007. Several of her books have received the James Beard and IACP awards, and most of them have been translated into several languages. At certain times of the year, she conducts week-long cooking classes both in her cooking studio in Paris and at her farmhouse in Provence. She is married to Walter Wells, retired executive editor of the International Herald Tribune and now her enthusiastic sous-chef.