Anchovy cream with truffle

Anchovy cream with truffle. Butter, salted anchovies and summer truffle from the tube.

The anchovy cream with truffle from Tartuflanghe is a spreadable flavored butter with salted anchovies and Italian summer truffle in a 30 g tube. No spicy anchovy paste, no truffle concentrate, no weeks-long supply.

Anchovy cream with truffle is a flavored butter from Piedmont, which Tartuflanghe makes in Piobesi d'Alba from butter, cream, salted anchovies and Tuber aestivum. It solves a small kitchen problem. A jar of anchovy fillets is quickly too large for a few crostini. The rest then sits in the oil for days waiting for an idea. The tube, on the other hand, is just enough for an aperitivo with a small group. Draining, chopping and mixing are unnecessary; the cream goes straight onto the bread.

Mild at first, salty in the middle, truffle on the finish

The cream tastes soft and buttery at first, then the salted anchovy brings a savory depth that lingers on the palate. This depth is called umami. It refers to the fifth basic taste, which is created when fish matures in salt. The cream does not taste fishy in an unpleasant way.

The truffle makes up only one percent of the recipe and remains an accompanying voice. Tartuflanghe describes the summer truffle with notes of forest floor, fresh mushroom and hazelnut. According to the manufacturer, it tastes stronger on the palate than in the nose. Anyone who only smells the opened tube therefore slightly underestimates it. The texture is smooth and creamy, slightly firmer from the refrigerator.

Anyone looking for the salty punch of a classic anchovy paste will find this cream too mild. For a significantly stronger fish note, you are better off choosing whole fillets such as the Basque-style anchovies.

On toasted bread, soft egg and hot pasta

The anchovy cream with truffle works most naturally on freshly toasted white bread while it is still warm. Allow about three grams per slice, then the tube is enough for around ten small crostini. A few leaves of flat-leaf parsley on top add freshness.

For a quick pasta dish for two people, add half the tube with three tablespoons of pasta water to a warm pan. Toss the drained tagliolini in it until they shine. Those who like it creamier can add a spoonful of truffle cream with Parmigiano Reggiano.

In risotto, the cream replaces the butter used for mantecatura. That is the term for vigorously stirring in fat after taking the rice off the heat. A teaspoon on a soft-boiled egg or a resting beef fillet melts in seconds.

Our tip: Lukewarm new potatoes, halved and topped with a dollop of cream, are an underrated aperitivo snack. The cream is not suitable for cooking or braising. Under high heat, the butter separates, and the truffle aroma disappears.

A Piedmontese snack, reimagined in Piobesi d'Alba

Pane, burro e acciughe, or bread with butter and anchovies, has been part of the early evening snack in Piedmont for generations. According to tradition, the anchovies came to the inland over the old salt roads from the Ligurian coast. Salted, they endured the long journey over the mountains.

Tartuflanghe comes from the same culinary culture. Beppe Montanaro opened the restaurant Da Beppe in Alba in 1968, and in 1975 he founded the company with his wife Domenica. Today, Stefania and Paolo Montanaro run the house in Piobesi d'Alba. In 2024, Tartuflanghe introduced truffle creams in tubes for the aperitivo. For this approach, the house received an Italian Food Award in the Innovation category at the SIAL trade fair in Paris.

The summer truffle is searched for from May to August, in Piedmont under oaks, poplars, lindens and hazel bushes. Its aroma is more restrained than that of the white Alba truffle. In a butter cream, this is an advantage, because it accompanies the anchovy rather than overpowering it.

One tube for one evening, not for a supply

The anchovy cream with truffle is designed for one occasion, not for the pantry. Unopened, the tube keeps in a cool, dry place, without a refrigerator. After opening, however, it must be refrigerated at 4 °C and used up within three days. It is therefore not suitable for occasional single portions over several weeks.

Precisely this size makes it a handy gift. Together with some bread and a bottle of Arneis from Roero, it becomes a small Piedmontese aperitivo. It is also a reliable reserve for hosts who prefer to entertain guests spontaneously.

Toast bread, open the tube, fill glasses. An evening does not need more when Piedmont sits at the table for an hour.