Ruffle

“ She manages to get a truffle into her mouth; he tugs at her ear with one hand, and uses his stick upon her nose with the other. The brute screams with anger, but will not open her jaws wide enough for him to slip his stick in and hook the truffle out. ”

“ We have heard of fox-hunters, of deer-hunters, of bear and buffalo-hunters, of lion-hunters, and of ‘boy-hunters;’ of a plant-hunter never.
“Stay! Truffles are plants. Dogs are used in finding them; and the collector of these is termed a truffle-hunter. ”

“ Those who have never seen a dog seeking truffles have missed one of the finest achievements of the olfactory sense. Absorbed in his duties, the animal goes forward, scenting the wind, at a moderate pace. He stops, questions the soil with his nostrils, and, without excitement, scratches the earth a few times with one paw. ”

“ A truffle hunt, though very interesting and amusing to witness, would appear monotonous in a description, and therefore it is sufficient for the encouragement of those who would like to see one, that, if they go out later in the autumn, they will doubtless have as good a day’s sport as I had on my second attempt, and will bring home in triumph truffles large enough and black enough to delight a French cook’s heart, although they will probably fail in discovering another “monster truffle.” ”

“ The marvellous faculty possessed by him of going to the root of things is wantonly destroyed. He will never electrify us with another discovery, never present the epicurean world with another truffle. When I speak of the truffle, by the way, I no more allude to the usual dry chips of black leather of English dinner-tables than I should be referring to the London orange, if, with the memory of the glorious fruit of the gardens of Chio in my mind, I spoke of oranges. ”

“ It scents something. Good! It is a truffle. With much tail-wagging in evidence of its joy the dog burrows a little with its paw to indicate the place. Man continues the digging with an iron tool. But the truffle is not always unearthed at the first attempt; the search involves uncertainties and the following of false leads. ‘Let me look into this a little closer,’ says the dog to itself. And it pokes its muzzle into the very bottom of the hole, with sniffings that powder its nose with earth. ”

“ Presently, after the father pig had dug up an enormous truffle and they were both eating it, they heard, to their great astonishment, the sound of voices coming from the hole out of which they had dug the truffle.
"The father pig hurried away with his child because he did not like magic. But that night the baby pig, when his mother and father were fast asleep, crept out of his sty and went off into the woods. ”

“ The Truffles are always found in woods and under trees, and disappear when these are destroyed. France and Italy produce the best and the largest number of Truffles, which are hunted by specially trained dogs and pigs. ”

“ A cord being tied to the hind leg of one of these animals, the beast is driven into certain pastures; and we are told that truffles are always to be found wherever he stops and begins to turn up the earth with his nose. ”

“ Truffles are generally discovered by means of dogs, which are taught to hunt for them by scent; and wherever they smell one of them, they bark, and scratch it up. In Italy they are hunted, in somewhat similar manner, by pigs.
Truffles are either served at table roasted in a fresh state like potatoes, or they are cut into slices and dried, as an ingredient for sauces and soups. Those that are most delicious are internally of white colour, and have somewhat the odour of garlic. ”

“ The English slang expressions come from the wonderful stories which used to be told of the Norman archers, and more subsequently of Indians’ skill with the tomahawk.
Truffier, m., truffière, f. (popular) , fat person. An allusion to a pig used for finding truffles, and which is called truffier in certain parts of France. It appears that peasants, in order to discover an animal with a fine nose, go to the fair with a bit of truffle in their shoe, and they know a good truffle-finder at once, as he never fails to sniff at their heels. ”

“ It was around the yoke elm trees of Lampsachus, Acarnidea, Alopecomesia, and Elis, that those famous truffles were discovered, whose reputation was spread in all parts and which Italy envied Greece. [XXIII_94]
The truffle! beloved treasure that the earth conceals within her bosom—as she does the precious metals, which she seems to have yielded grudgingly to the patient researches of the gastronomist; the magiric records do not tell us at what memorable epoch this exquisite tubercle astonished, for the first time, the palate of man ”

“ Clever little dogs they are, of a peculiar breed, and trained from puppyhood to hunt the truffle out by the nose, and then to scratch it up with their long sharp claws. It is curious and interesting to watch the powers of nose possessed by these small dogs; how, directly they perceive the odour of the hidden truffle, they rush to the place straight as a dart, even at twenty yards’ distance. ”

“ The truffle dog is treated in the same manner. Unless put into a pen, or chained at night, these truffle-hunters are likely to take to the woods and feast when no one is by to interfere with their pleasure. ”

“ Not every holm oak has truffles on its roots. The finding of these delicacies is a very interesting and exciting game, and a great deal of a lottery. There is but one way to find them, and that is by the sense of smell. The truffle has a rich, strong odour. Dogs and pigs are the only animals that are able to find it. The truffle-hunter is usually an old woman, who goes with a trained pig or a trained dog into the oak forest. ”

“ The surface, when the truffle is young, is whitish; but, in those that are full grown, it is either blackish or a deep-black. The color of the inside is whitish, with dark-blue and white, gray, reddish, light-brown or dark-brown veins, of the thickness of a horse-hair, which are usually variously entangled, and which form a kind of network, or mat. Between the veins are numerous cavities, filled with mucilage, and small, solid grains. These scarcely visible glands were formerly said to be the seeds, or germs, of the young truffles. ”

“ There’s no chance of our poaching with them, as was said, for they have no nose for anything else, and are too small and weak for any game. You come with me and see a truffle-hunt, and you’ll soon see that they are a separate breed, just fit for truffling, and nothing else. ”

“ Whether seen as the spit of witches, a more or less magic aphrodisiac, or a miraculous life-prolonging food, truffles gain in status because our experience, reflected in the language pertinent to cooking, led us to regard them from a perspective different from those who first discovered, by accident, their nutritive value. It is in the tradition of orality that fathers whispered to their sons the secret of places where truffles could be found. Practical experiences involving writing, and later literacy, raised the degree of expectancy associated with their consumption. ”

“ When no more food is left it removes in search of further booty, which becomes the occasion of another burrow, this too in its turn to be abandoned. So many truffles eaten necessitate so many burrows, which are mere dining-rooms or pilgrim's larders. ”

“ The pig who hunts the truffle would have his reward could he know that presently the fragrant vegetable would give flavour to his trotter! And is it not a good quarter of an hour's amusement every afternoon to watch the gourmets feasting their eyes on the day's fare? ”

“ Truf"fle (?; 277) , n. [OF. trufle, F. truffe; akin to Sp. trufa, tartufo; of uncertain origin; perhaps from L. tuber a tumor, knob, truffle. Cf. Tuber, Trifle.] Any one of several kinds of roundish, subterranean fungi, usually of a blackish color. The French truffle (Tuber melanosporum) and the English truffle (T. æstivum) are much esteemed as articles of food.
Truffle worm (Zoöl.) , the larva of a fly of the genus Leiodes, injurious to truffles. ”

“ I continued, putting them to my lips, "these are very fine truffles! Taste them, Fritz."
"Indeed, they are excellent," said he; "very different from the tough, leathery things I remember in Europe; these are tender and well flavored."
"Because they are fresh," said I. "You have before tasted those only which have been brought from a distance. They are found in different parts of Europe, buried at a depth of ten or twelve inches in the soil of oak or beech woods. ”

“ There are a few of us old amateurs in Paris, who are too old and impatient to hunt for truffles, but who want them of such and such a flavor, exactly to our taste. Now, Julot knows our tastes, our various fancies, and he undertakes ... ”

“ Now let us talk about the truffle-hunting dog. [214] To any of you that may not know it already, I will first say that the truffle is a sort of mushroom always growing beneath the soil, more or less deep, never in the open air. In shape it is quite different from ordinary mushrooms. It is round and plump, varying in size from that of a walnut to that of a man’s fist, has a wrinkled surface, and its flesh is black, marbled with white. The truffle is the best liked of mushrooms, especially on account of its perfume. ”

“ To discover it under the ground, sometimes several feet deep, sight is no guide, for nothing above reveals the presence of the precious tubercle. Scent alone will do the work. But however pronounced the aroma of the truffle may be, it is not strong enough for us to perceive it through a thick layer of earth; we must have recourse to the scent of an animal much better endowed in this respect than we. The aid invoked in these circumstances is frequently the pig, itself very fond of truffles and quick to discover them, guided merely by their odor. ”

“ In the calm of the twilight the little truffle-hunter goes abroad, chirping softly to encourage itself. It explores the soil, and interrogates it as to its contents, exactly as does the truffle-gatherer's dog. The sense of smell warns it that the desired object is beneath it, covered by a few inches of sand. Certain of the precise point where the treasure lies, it sinks a well vertically downwards, and infallibly reaches it. So long as there is food left it does not again leave the burrow. It feasts happily at the bottom of its well, heedless of the open or imperfectly closed burrow. ”

“ Many persons, however, contrive to prosper by hunting for truffles in the exhilarating company of pigs. It is not in this fertile valley that they find them, but on the hillsides and stony table-lands, where the oak flourishes, but never grows tall. ”

“ Good truffles are easily distinguished by their agreeable perfume; they should be light in proportion to their size, and elastic when pressed by the finger. To have them in perfection, they should be quite fresh, as their aroma is considerably diminished by any conserving process. Truffles are stimulating and heating. Weak stomachs digest them with difficulty. Some of the culinary uses to which they are subjected render them more digestible, but they should always be eaten sparingly. ”

“ On they trudge, day after day, through parks, shrubberies, and woods. However privately and far from the beaten road the object of their search may grow, these trufflers have still the licence to hunt, accompanied by their small well-trained truffle-dogs. For though these men are both clever and quick in fixing upon the likeliest situations for the growth of the truffle, they would never succeed in finding them unless they had the help of this peculiar breed of dogs. In order to explain how the dog is enabled to hunt for the vegetable, I must first point out its most striking peculiarity. ”

“ When an oak has been cut down, or even lopped, a spot near it that was rich in truffles year after year is soon scoffed at by the knowing pig.
Our work lies amongst the dwarf oaks, for there are no hazels here. At a sign from the old man, the pig sniffs about the roots of a little tree, then proceeds to dig with her nose, tossing up the larger stones which lie in the way as if they were feathers. The animal has smelt a truffle, and the man seizes her by the ear, for her manner is suspicious. ”

“ The over-part of the dress and the skirt beneath it were boned and wired, and tight lacing ruled in an injurious degree, though the enormous sleeves, ruffles, and skirts might well have accorded such an effect of slimness as to render stringent measures unnecessary.
Dress was a magnificent affair altogether; velvet and taffeta and fine scarlet cloth were used, lace played its part bravely, and silken scarves fringed with gold and silver were thrown over the shoulders, with deep capes of satin or velvet edged with lace. ”

“ The ruffs are small, but there is character about them. See two approach each other from opposite directions—looking, perhaps, for something to eat. They meet, stop, straddle wide their legs, and blow up their neck-feathers. Regarding each other fixedly, they rock solemnly to and fro. Then they let fall their collars and go off, each on his way, as though nothing had happened. It is a rude courtesy—a sort of ruff etiquette, in fact. Sometimes, however, this putting on of frills—as the same thing will do in other places—leads to fights. ”

“ RUFF, a bird so called from the very beautiful and remarkable frill of elongated feathers that, just before the breeding-season, grow thickly round the neck of the male, who is considerably larger than the female, known as the reeve. In many respects this species, the Tringa pugnax of Linnaeus and the Machetes pugnax of modern ornithologists, is one of the most singular in existence. ”

“ Rufus was arrayed in a glossy garb of the finest black broadcloth, with a spotless vest of pearl-tinted satin, and immaculate white kids. His dark visage, small, peering black eyes, and low-bred, clownish aspect, contrasted strangely with the brilliant creature at his side. ”