I feel like there's a new "World's Most Expensive Burger" story every year. Made with Wagyu beef, topped with foie gras, buns studded with diamond dust (OK, not really), it's a gimmick that never fails to elicit gasps. The rank-and-file shake their heads in disapproval at the decadent rich - "a $50 hamburger, what's the world coming to?" while those with money to burn get to feel very ironic and high-low (the pinnacle of this attitude can be found at Las Vegas's Palms casino, where they'll serve you a $6 Carl's Jr. burger with a 24-year-old bottle of French Bordeaux for $6,000).

For a brief history of the trend, see this story on Forbes Traveler. There's a slideshow of haute burgers, from the six-pack of Kobe sliders at the Continental in Atlantic City to the $150 truffle-stuffed version at DB Bistro Moderne to the $5,000 burger n' 1990 Chateau Petrus combo at Fleur de Lys in Vegas.

If you're unfamiliar with these disgusting-looking fungi called truffles, there's a good reason for that. Truffles are among the most expensive foods in the world, along with caviar and saffron. Up until recently, though, they could only be grown in Italy, Spain, and France.

That's all changing, though. Over the last ten years, farmers in Western Australia have been working growing the precious mushroom and they've finally succeeded. The truffle producers are understandably proud of their achievement: they say that several other places have tried and failed to grow truffles.

The farmers are predicting a crop of 600KG to a ton this year and up to 8 tons in coming years. Who knows, maybe they'll produce enough that prices will come down and foodies everywhere will be able to indulge on a regular basis.

Last week, Shayna showed up how to make our own chocolates for Valentine's Day. Her chocolates are sure to be delicious, but they are, admittedly, a little time consuming to make. However, there are chocolates out there that you can whip up in your own kitchen in less time and with fewer pieces of specialty equipment.

Over a Su Good Sweets, Jessica recently tested three truffle recipes for ease and taste. She came to the conclusion that simple is best and offers her readers the recipe she used (Robert Linxe's cream truffles) to make easy and delicious truffles just in time for the biggest chocolate holiday of the year. Over at Culinate, Melissa Lion wrote about nearly the very same recipe, giving readers an entertaining step by step narration of how to make rustic truffles for Valentine's Day.

On Monday, I was lucky enough to go to a demonstration by a Certified Master Pastry Chef named Frank Volkommer. There are really only a handful of CMPC's in the country so to see one at work is quite a treat. Chef Volkommer has taught at the Culinary Institute of America and is currently the corporate pastry chef for Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate.

Quite often these demonstrations are dressed up sales pitches for a brand of chocolate or other product. This one was no different, but that didn't make it any less interesting or relevant (at least to pastry professionals). While Chef Volkommer was using only Cargill brand chocolates, the demonstration was really about how to air brush colored cocoa butter into truffle molds to get colorful truffles.

Chef Volkommer made a tasty passionfruit ganache filling first. He then went into detail about a couple of different air brushing machines and how to use them for cocoa butter. The trick is to keep the parts of the air brush gun warm while using cocoa butter, if you're interested in trying this. The Chef went about finishing the truffles and set them aside to cool for later.

• Make your next party a little more fancy with these gougeres (French cheese puffs).
• The oldest game supper in Vermont.
• Frank Zappa has inspired a Boston restaurant to change its name.
• Everyone likes to hang out at Bickford's.
• The world of contraband foodstuffs.
• Absinthe is available in Boston.
• The Brookline restaurant Lineage makes Kobe Meatballs.
• Rachael Ray is everywhere.
• More recipes: Southern-Style Shepherd's Pie, Italian Pork and Beans, Creamy Mushroom Soup, and Cardamom-Infused Dark Chocolate Truffles.

Apparently the pressures and rivalry that come with being one of Britain's leading chocolatiers sometimes cause men to do strange things. Witness the case of Barry Colenso, the erstwhile master chocolatier of the prestigious Thorntons who was forced to resign after a "truffle-squishing" incident at a rival store.

That's right folks. We said, gasp, "truffle squishing." Actually it's no laughing matter. The man who has been likened to Willy Wonka and who you see standing before a chocolate billboard he created last Easter went on a truffle vandalism spree at rival store Hotel Chocolat where he mangled some $130 of confections. Store staff knew something was up when they noticed him pawing at the various truffles. Hotel Chocolat issued a statement saying, "This was an extraordinary act of truffle-squishing. We can only guess at what provoked it."

I know said something about this not being a laughing matter, after all it was highly unprofessional behavior, but I can't help thinking of the scene in Tampopo where the elderly female shopper roams through a store squeezing and destroying a wide array of items. It also begs the question, did they sell the damaged goods at a lower price or remake them or what? Personally, I'm not above eating a squished truffle or two.

[via Boing Boing]

Though I usually enjoy watching shows like Iron Chef and the like, I often get jealous frustrated because of the vast array of food, seasonings, and condiments they have at their disposal. Let's face it, truffles, foie gras, and cinnamon oil don't exactly line my shelves on a regular basis. What is even more frustrating though is when I actually do want to buy some of these exotic ingredients, I can't seem to find them in any of my local markets.

After a bit of a search, I discovered this website which is helping to eliminate that problem - StarChefs.com has compiled a list of chef-recommended "secret ingredients" and where to buy them, making it easier to locate such items as avocado leaves, Mexican chocolate, black mustard seeds, white or black truffle powder and cream, duck confit, chestnut jam, rare cheeses, orange flower water, Tahitian vanilla extract, and smoked Sicilian tuna. Fortunately, even if you don't live near the specified stores (mostly New York or East Coast) many of the shops offer courier service so you can have the ingredients shipped right to your door.

Basic truffles are not difficult to make in the grand scheme of candy making. They have a ganache center rolled in cocoa - simple. The tricky part comes in when you try to move beyond that very basic and unassuming plain truffle. One option is to carefully read the recipes of bloggers for tips and ideas. Another option, which could be used in conjunction with the blogger choice, is to read Truffles: 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats. The relatively short book offers step-by-step tutorials and lots of great tips about every element of the truffle-making process, from choosing the chocolate to shaping the truffles to storing the finished product (assuming that they don't all get eaten up right away). Fruits, nuts, spices and liqueurs all show up at least a few times in this book, adding lots of variety to the treats so that every single one sounds impossibly tempting. Just take Champagne Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles, Matcha White Chocolate Truffles, Pumpkin Spice Truffles, Rum Raisin Truffles and Tiramisu Truffles as a sampling of the possibilities.

If you do embark on a truffle-making journey, make sure that there are people around to share them with you. The only thing worse than a waisted truffle is looking at the change in your waistline if you eat a whole batch by yourself.

Enric Rovira Chocolates has a line of chocolate drink accents that are designed to perch on the rim of a cocktail or a glass of champagne, providing and indulgent touch to the drink. The accents are very dark chocolate truffles (70% cacao) with carefully carved notches that are the width of the average champagne glass. They were originally intended to complement cava, a Catalonian sparkling wine, but will work with other sparkling wines, liqueurs or chocolate cocktails. The accents would be a beautiful touch at the end of a romantic dinner for two and would definitely make a splash at a New Year's Eve party!

Imported from Spain, these chocolates are sold at Dean and Deluca for $25 per box (20 pieces), but you can probably make up some yourself by carefully cutting a small slit into regular, cocoa-coated chocolate truffles. Just make sure to knock the excess cocoa off first to prevent any loose cocoa from falling into your cocktail.

Half of the sugar grown in the US comes from Louisiana, so it only makes sense that cooks down there know how to make good use of cane syrup and molasses in addition to regular sugar. The sugar alternatives are especially popular around the holidays, when there are so many sweet treats to be had, including Louisiana Gingerbread (Stage Planks or Mule Bellies) , Cane Syrup Popcorn Balls , and Cane Syrup Cake (Gâteau de Sirop) . (Incidentally, I didn't know that cane syrup over thickly buttered white bread is called a diaper sandwich. But the name would probably stop me from trying it.)

One of the world's largest groups of Hasidic Jews originated Hungary, so it isn't surprising to learn that there is a lot of traditional Hungarian-Jewish food that is popular around the holidays. Dishes like Cheese Danish Pastries (Delkelekh), Hungarian Stuffed-Under-the-Skin Chicken and Hungarian Eggs with Tomatoes, Peppers and Onions (Letcho) are especially popular and making them means not only getting good food, but spending time with family.

The "truffle truck" is the name that chefs have affectionately given to John Magazino's truck, which he uses to deliver truffles, caviar and other ultra-high end foods to the best restaurants in New York.

Au Pied de Cochon - The Album is a cookbook from Marting Picard and the staff at Au Pied de Cochon, full of crazy illustrations and some very high-quality recipes for those who take their pork seriously.

High-end magazines targeted at the customers of high end restaurants claim to be about "lifestyle," but they're really just full of ads.

Frank Bruni dines at Cafe Cluny and gives it 1 star.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, offers a very quick primer on sugar.

If you attend enough holiday parties, you are eventually going to encounter those little chocolate bottles that are filled with a teaspoon or two of various liquors. The most popular bottles seem to be the ones filled with Grand Marnier, Kahlua, Southern Comfort or another fairly sweet spirit, but you'll find chocolates with everything from vodka to tequila, as well. Frankly, while they are fun and a little bit more "adult" than some of the usual holiday candies, they are not exactly the highest quality treats you'll eat this season. Perhaps a better alternative would be a box of wine filled truffles. They are more indulgent, richer and ultimately more satisfying than popping a quarter shot of tequila into your mouth. The truffles are enrobed in smooth dark chocolate and are filled with your choice of either cabernet, chardonnay, port or champagne. A dozen truffles come in each box and, at $25 per box, they would make a nice change of pace from the standard bottle of wine as a holiday hostess gift.

White truffles may be in season, but the theme of this month's Sugar High Friday, the popular sweets-oriented food blogging event, was the more chocolaty - and perhaps more indulgent - type of truffle. The roundup of all the participating blogs was just put up by Johanna, the passionate cook and host of this edition of the event. If you want to try your hand at making truffles, all of the entries will provide lots of inspiration. Some of the recipes include Hazelnut Nougat Truffles, S'mores Truffles, Kahlua Truffles, Strawberry Balsamic Truffles (which use dehydrated berries for flavor) and Salted Caramel Fudge Hearts, just to name a handful. The black on black truffles pictured above were made by Veronica's Test Kitchen and are a classic truffle recipe, using high quality chocolate, cream and a little bit of butter. The truffles are rolled on cocoa powder to keep them from sticking together, as well as to simulate the earth that the other kind of truffles are found in.

By now we have firmly established that the end-of-the year is pie season and, while pies are still delicious year round, they are rarely more appreciated. To capitalize on our love of pies in fall, Godiva has released a limited edition American Pie Collection. The 18-piece box features pie-flavored truffles, elegantly painted and shaped into little wedges of "pie." There are a total of eight flavors included:

• Apple Crumb Pie - made with real Granny Smith apples and cinnamon
• Strawberry Pie - features fresh strawberries, sugar and butter, like the summer pie filling
• Key Lime - condensed milk, vanilla and lime juice inside a white chocolate shell
• Lemon Meringue - white chocolate with a meringue-textured lemon filling
• Banana Cream Pie - a mix of banana and vanilla in a white chocolate ganache
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie - combines natural-style peanut butter and chocolate cream
• Chocolate Cream Pie - a 72% chocolate truffle center in dark chocolate
• Pecan Pie - pecans mixed into a molasses flavored milk caramel and mixed with milk and dark chocolate

At Alain Ducasse's restaurant in New York, like so many other very high end eateries, they are offering a menu that features white truffles. The tasting menu heavily features the expensive delicacy and costs $320 per person. This is unless, of course, you are able to score a free meal at the restaurant for you and a friend in the VIP room. Here's how to do it:

• Start a food blog. Make it well-written and humorous. Become popular.
• Get a book deal and lots of press.
• Get an e-mail from Ducasse's publicist and have the chutzpah to ask for a free dinner.
• Get lucky when the publicist gives you the "ok" and show up at the appointed time.
• If you want to have a hope of getting the same sort of deal again, go home and post about the whole experience (comic book format optional)

Simple, no? This is exactly what Adam, the Amateur Gourmet, did and he was rewarded with a night of truffle decadence at the Essex House - free.

There might be things more indulgent than chocolate truffles, but the rich, simple treats are probably the epitome (or close to it) of pleasure for a chocolate-lover. The truffles pictured here were made by Johanna, of thepassionatecook, who is hosting this month's round of the food blogging event, Sugar High Friday. SHF celebrates all things sweet and dessert-y, and because it is the season to indulge a bit more than usual, chocolate truffles are the perfect choice for a theme. The only catch is that you have to make your own truffles - you can't go out and buy them. Fortunately, truffles are easy to make and once you have mastered the technique, you can experiment by adding flavors to make them more interesting. I like to coat the truffles in cocoa powder, as Johanna did for hers, but if you're feeling particularly motivated, melting some chocolate and giving the centers a crisp coating will make them look like you actually did go out and buy them. The deadline for the event is November 24th, so read the intro post to find out how to participate.