Poor Man's Truffle Salt

When my sister came to visit a few weeks ago, I took her to my favorite spice shop which is conveniently located right in my neighborhood. After sampling an array of specialty salts, she forked over a handful of cash for an amazing black truffle salt. Cheap? No. Delicious? Yes! For the rest of her visit, I tried to sneak as much of her pricey truffle salt as possible into my meals (as seen here). I probably owe her about ten dollars for the amount that I generously sprinkled over my morning eggs alone.

Since my sister and her fancy salt have left me, I have been trying to justify spending such a large amount solely on a condiment. Thankfully, as I was considering making my own version, I stumbled upon a recipe for spiced porcini mushroom salt on the Gilt Taste site. I tinkered around with their recipe and decided to keep things simple (and cheap) by using dried shiitake mushrooms and sea salt. This is the poor man’s version of truffle salt. Use it to season meat, fish, eggs, pasta, popcorn, and more. The best part is, the longer it sits, the better it gets! I wonder if my sister would accept a small bottle of my so-called “truffle” salt in exchange for the ten bucks I owe her…


Ingredients

¼ cup dried shiitake mushrooms, ground
¾ cup coarse sea salt
Black truffle oil, if desired

Method

Grind dried mushrooms in a food processor, spice/coffee grinder, or in a mortar and pestle until the mushrooms resemble the size of sea salt granules. Mix in salt. If desired, add a few drops of truffle oil and mix. Keep in an air tight container in a cool dry place. The longer that the salt sits, the more the mushrooms will infuse it.

Notes

Any other dried mushrooms can be used in this recipe. Shiitakes provide a subtle taste, whereas morels or actual truffles offer more pungency. I added a bit of truffle oil to my salt to boost the flavor. Next time, I think that I will try to make genuine truffle salt with summer truffles from Umbria, Italy as soon as they arrive in a few weeks. Cheap? No. Worth it? Yes!



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