Risotto is a creamy Italian rice dish that can be made with arborio rice, broth or water, and a small amount of fat. It takes about 25-30 minutes of constant stirring to release the starch and create the sauce. The dish can be customized with various ingredients and is a traditional Italian home-cooking food.
Risotto is an old Italian recipe, rich in antiquity. It shows up in gourmet restaurants and people talk about a good risotto very close to heaven. However, many cooks hardly know what risotto is and are wary of preparing it. However, preparing this dish is not difficult and the results are rewarding.
Risotto, in essence, is a dish of rice that produces its own sauce. People talk about it as creamy or milky, but a cook doesn’t have to use cream or milk to achieve this effect. It’s all in the rice.
Most people are used to the standard long-grain rice served in Chinese buffets and home kitchens around the world. But using long-grain rice won’t make a creamy risotto. The rich, creamy effect is obtained with medium or short grain arborio rice. This rice has short, fatty grains that are full of starch. Starch combined with a small amount of fat and water makes risotto with velvety sauce famous.
While not difficult, risotto takes some work. The shaking is fairly constant for about 25-30 minutes. This is what releases the starch from the rice and creates the sauce.
A cook should start with about 1 cup of uncooked arborio rice. The rice is placed in a dry saucepan and coated with about a tablespoon of olive oil or butter. Olive oil has a much higher smoke point, so the chances of burning the rice are small, but some traditional cooks sneer at anything but butter for risotto.
The cook should also have at least four cups of broth or water in a kettle on the stove or kept warm in the microwave. The amount of water used for risotto varies. It depends on the type of rice, the amount of heat, humidity and personal preference.
The stirring begins as the cook toasts the dry rice for several minutes in the oil over medium-high heat until golden brown, but not burnt. This also helps the rice release the starch later on and creates a nice nutty flavor. A wooden spoon is the best utensil for this job. Once the rice is toasted, the cook should add about a cup of hot liquid to the rice and reduce the heat to medium. It typically takes about five minutes for the rice to absorb a cup of liquid, but that’s a judgment call.
Once the rice has absorbed the liquid and thickened, the cook can add another half cup of water and continue stirring. Risotto – and the cook’s arm! – can rest for about a minute at a time, but the agitation must be maintained. Adding about a half cup of liquid at a time and stirring until absorbed, the cook will want to time the risotto at about 25 minutes. A traditional risotto is made when the grains are soft on the outside and lightly crunchy on the inside, but some people prefer the rice to be soft all the way through. Again, this is a matter of personal preference.
The method above is for a very simple risotto, but the beauty of this dish is that it lends itself to almost infinite variation. A cook can add mushrooms, greens, cheese, milk or cream, chopped leftover chicken or steak, sun-dried tomatoes, a can of tomatoes, and the juice as part of the stock, or anything else they can think of. As long as the basic rules are followed, the risotto will always be perfect. Risotto may taste like a gourmet dish, but it’s traditional Italian home-cooking food and any cook willing to take a spoon in hand can make it.
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