Tajarin al Tartufo Bianco d'Alba

Langhe, Alba, Piedmont

The egg pasta of the Langhe: tajarin are the thinnest pasta in the Italian canon — a dough of 00 flour with only egg yolks (30+ yolks per kilogram of flour), producing a deeply golden, intensely eggy ribbon no wider than 2mm. Dressed with only butter and a shaving of white Alba truffle grated at the table. Nothing else. The truffle is never cooked — heat destroys the volatile terpenoids; it is shaved directly over the hot pasta where the warmth is sufficient to release the aroma. This dish exists to make the truffle audible.

• Egg yolk enrichment of a starch base to achieve extraordinary richness and colour → Pâte à choux enrichie aux jaunes d'œufs French
• Multi-yolk noodle dough tradition in Central European cooking — parallel technique, different purpose → Tojásos metélt (egg noodles with multiple yolks) Hungarian
• The yolk content and dough hydration both aim at maximum springiness and flavour — different tradition, same instinct → Ramen egg noodles (high-alkaline, high-yolk) Japanese

Paper-thin golden egg pasta in brown butter, receiving the shaving of the world's most aromatic truffle — a dish of spectacular minimalism that only works with perfect ingredients