Back in the day, Gourmet Magazine’s cover showed a turkey with bronzed, crackling skin.  It almost made me want to lick the page.  What you couldn’t know without sniffing was the secret ingredient that landed this turkey on the cover.  They pushed knobs of our truffle butter under the skin.  As it roasted, the bird was basted and the exquisite flavor of the truffle permeated the meat.

Gourmet Magazine is gone, but the truffle butter is still around.  This year, the black will still pack a punch, but from the inside, with black truffle cornbread as the base of a fruity, nutty dressing.  We’ll gloss ruby and pumpkin wedges of heirloom root vegetables with white truffle butter.  A swab of elegant white butter will go on a crostini, topped with a thick slice of Whole Foods’ new Chestnut Valley Coppa. Softened butter will go into antique molds to sit on each guest’s butter plate.  And we’ll turn gravy into sauce by rubbing fat knobs of black with flour and whisking into it at the last minute.