My first ever experience with truffles was back in the 90's at the now defunct Paul Bocuse restaurant at the equally defunct Daimaru store; happily though, the chef at that time, Philippe Mouchel, survived and is still wowing diners at his semi eponymous restaurant, the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel.

Mouchel devised a degustation menu of Perigord truffles that was designed to show off the truffles' remarkable affinity with many different foods and included the celebrated signature dish of Paul Bocuse himself, truffle soup, that came to the table with a covering of puff pastry which was punctured by the diner, releasing the heady perfume of truffles. Pure theatre.

However, the dish I remember best was perhaps the simplest. A slit was cut into the side of a scallop and a piece of truffle inserted, the scallop was then quickly pan fried. There may have been more garnishes to the dish, but I simply don't recall them, everything else was obliterated by the rapture produced from this divinely artful combination.

This night was also the only time I've ever been paralysed by a choice from the menu. It was a degustation, but for the final savoury course there was a choice of truffled brandade of cod or eye fillet that was studded with truffles. There was just no way to choose, it was impossible, both sounded so heavenly that one angel would have cried tears for having been left out, so, forsaking all responsibility in the matter, I left it in Mouchel's hands to decide, who obviously felt the same dilemma, as a short time later, both courses arrived.

It was simply the best meal of my life and remains so to this day. I was invited in to the kitchen that night, but it was as if I'd witnessed the greatest magic act of all time and didn't want the spell to be broken by knowing how it had been pulled off, a decision I came to regret later, but at that moment, I was under the influence of the amazing and mysterious truffle.

Just so you, dear reader, never have to face up to having to choose between different, but equally as good dishes, here is a recipe for truffle and maderia sauce, which you can pour over everything.

Truffle and Maderia Sauce
(adapted from French Country Cooking)

50g butter
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
10g dried porcini, soaked
600ml chicken stock
100ml top quality maderia
30 to 100g fresh truffles, whatever you can afford
salt and fresh ground pepper

Melt half the butter in a saucepan, add the shallots and sweat for two minutes, then add the porcini, reserving their soaking water, and sweat for a minute more. Add the chicken stock and soaking water, bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by about half, then pour in the maderia and simmer for five more minutes, pass through a sieve, pressing on the solids and keep hot. Either dice the truffle finely or slice into fine rings on a truffle slicer. Melt the rest of the butter in a pan, add the truffles and gently sweat for two or three minutes, then tip the truffles into the sauce and season to taste. Cover the pan and leave to infuse for several minutes off the heat. Serve.

Notes: Veal stock can be used instead of chicken. It is worth finding genuine (Portuguese), medium dry maderia, the one I used was labeled rainwater, but there are other different names for the levels of sweetness. Maderia has a special affinity with truffles, but you can use a dry white wine instead. If fresh truffles are out of your price range, dried morels will work too, perhaps 25 to 50g.