Once upon a time there was a potato.
This potato was not content to be like the other potatoes in the ground and covered in dirt.
She desired to be fancy, special, and precious too.
She dreamed of becoming a glorious truffle…

The tale goes back to November 2010 when I was asked to create a recipe for the Alba truffle auction.
How could a recipe with Piedmont truffles also embrace my Emilian identity?
My mother used to tell us stories about Mantuan farmers, who discovered truffles in the countryside and, thinking they were potatoes, boiled them.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
A Potato Waiting to Become a Truffle

Fabulous potatoes grow in the hills above Bologna. Small. Round. Mineral. Sweet.
If a truffle could be mistaken for a humble potato, perhaps a potato can be transformed into a glorious truffle…Let’s try! 

Credits: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef, by Massimo Bottura — Phaidon

The potato is rolled in chocolate and hazelnut powder, two ingredients that make up Turin’s famous Gianduiotti chocolates. The potato is baked in salt and the pulp is scooped out and blended with sugar and eggs to make a soufflé. The batter is put back into the potato skin and baked again. Served in its skin, the soufflé is topped with crème anglaise and fresh white truffle shavings. 
Diners are encouraged to eat everything, including the skin.

Credits: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef, by Massimo Bottura — Phaidon

One of the most surprising aspects of this dessert is the contrast between its ‘naked truth’— it is simply a baked potato—and its unexpected deliciousness—sweet cream, fragrant truffle, warm potato soufflé inside edible chocolate-hazelnut crispy skin. 

I set out to celebrate the truffle and ended up celebrating the potato. 
Not everyone can be a truffle. Most of us are potatoes. 
And a potato is a very good thing to be.

Who do you think you are?

NEVER STOP QUESTIONING

Credits: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef, by Massimo Bottura — Phaidon