I had a great weekend of watching food television. "Wisconsin Foodie" featured a segment on one of my favorite things to cook with: truffles! They showcased a specialty dinner where the main ingredient was celebrating fresh imported white and black truffles.

For many years as the chef de cuisine of Dream Dance we would raise funds for Miracle on Canal Street with truffle dinners, and the proceeds would benefit local children organizations. The dinners were quite the event; we got to handle an ingredient that most chefs never get their hands on. And the only way we could justify this indulgence was the children it helped.

I tell you it was intoxicating, every year when we cracked open that case the entire restaurant smelled of that perfume. We would handle them with care, gently brushing off any excess dirt and immediately storing them in mason jars with rice and even fresh eggs – the eggs and rice would be infused with flavor. Also the rice would keep the proper level of humidity.

At one of our annual dinners at Dream Dance we served almost two pounds of shaved white truffles over the course of the night. The first course we served was a poached duck egg with a parmesan truffle broth. The next course was a day boat scallop with trofie pasta and chiffonade white truffles. We then featured a sous-vide strauss veal breast with root vegetables and truffle potato puree; this being the entree course we proceeded to shave more truffles tableside.

We finished with one of Wisconsin's award-winning cheeses: Pleasant Ridge Reserve with Awe's organic honey that we infused with white truffles ourselves.

I have to tell you that this ingredient is humbling. I can't tell you how much money was spent on these truffles but if you missed last night's episode of "60 Minutes" it will give you a great background and idea on the value of this prized tuber.

"60 Minutes" featured Olga Urbani from the Urbani family, which has been a prestigious and respected name in the truffle business for generations. They started in 1850 with Carlo Urbani faithfully passing down through generations the customs and family traditions of excellence.

But the troubling issue that France is facing today is the importation of inferior Chinese truffles. The issue with Chinese truffles is they have no flavor, no perfume and showcase no love for the truffle. Instead of using dogs to harvest truffles, you can see Chinese workers using hoes. These truffles are being sold for the same price of the prized French truffle, but they are being imported under the radar and being mixed with French truffles to fool the consumer.

The show goes further into depth about unregulated markets and how it can be a dangerous business not unlike the drug trade. Truffle farmers have had their dogs stolen and even the trees themselves stolen. France is working steadfastly to ban the importation of Chinese truffles like Italy has done, and is trying to preserve their country's crown culinary jewel.

Two really interesting television programs about an amazing ingredient. If you have the opportunity to try fresh imported French or Italian shaved truffles, it's a pleasure truly worth experiencing. And in the meantime go to the "Wisconsin Foodie" website and "60 Minutes" to view these episodes!