The Risotto is Easy, but... You Must Be Smart to Cook It.

Apparently easy, the technique of Risotto requires care and many details.

Arborio rice

First of all, the choice of the rice. It must be a variety belonging to the Round Grain Type. Actually, more than "big" the needed characteristic is "strong". The rice must be tough. If not, it would break during the cooking (which is rather stressful for the rice...) and the result would be ... rice pudding.

Instead the final texture of the Risotto must be grainy and creamy at the same time. Which sounds a little contradictory...  But... this is what it is.

In order to get this particular texture,you have to follow some steps. The steps are alway the same.... and never the same. That's why you must be smart.

I will explain better later on.

The first "step" is the "toasting".

In Italy we say "Toast the rice" but we don't really mean "to toast", like we would do with coffee beans. It means, rather, "to fry".

The rice must be dry, so don't wash it.

Warm up your sauce - olive oil, butter or another more complex sauce - and toss your rice in, stirring all the time for a few minutes, until you feel that the rice barely starts to stick on the bottom.

The reason of this first operation is the reason of the final texture: in this way the grains would be coated with a thin layer of fat. During the cooking, the Risotto will become anyways creamy, as the the main component of the rice is the starch ( the starch will release during the cooking, making everything creamy). As you did the "toasting" at the beginning, the grains will remain all separated, giving the proper consistency.

The second step: De-glazing. Pour wine - white wine, red wine, champagne, a liquor, a juice: this depends on the recipe. You must hear the "ssssccchhhh" sound when you pour the liquid.

Let the wine evaporate.

Third step: the "Braising": the cooking of the rice. You need hot broth next to you. Better if home made - it is not hard to make a broth, you save money and health, if you DIY (do it yourself ).

The broth must be proper to the recipe. You won't use a fish broth with a mushroom Risotto as well you won't use a chicken broth with a sea food Risotto. 

The broth is important, because is where the taste is. The rice blows, absorbing the tasteful water.

For how long? cooking times of the rice depend the variety of the rice. An Arborio takes about 18 minutes. Cook it for one minute less than the package label says, leaving it "all' Onda". Onda means wave:  shaking the pan, you sould be able to see the surfing wave (skilled cookers can do this: it is enough to look at it). If you can do the "wave", it means that the Risotto is still "soupy", watery, soft. Not dry.

Take the pan off the fire.

Wait.

The rice will continue to cook, absorbing the exceeding liquid.

After one minute, it will be ready for the next step:

The fourth step: the Mantecatura. Sorry, no English translation for this complex word with a complex meaning. It should be too long: one word to say: mix in your rice a fat substance (it can be butter, and oil - the almond oil is delicious -, cheese, either soft or hard, previously grated, egg yolk, egg yolk and truffle, a sauce ...) to make it creamier (fatter...), shiny, delicious and transform the rice into Risotto.

Now a quick look to the "whys" the Risotto is easy but you must be smart.

Because, besides the rice, you have to deal with the different ingredients. Ingredients have different behavior in cooking.

The yellow Risotto you see above is the Risotto with Saffron Alla Milanese. The beginning fats are butter and beef marrow with fresh onions, the deglazing is made with dry white wine, the braising with beef broth, the Mantecatura with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano. 

It is considered the father (or the mother) of all the Risottos, the first that dictated the rules.

This is Risotto with Shrimps. The broth is made with the heads and the shells of the shrimps. The sauce with the tails. But you don't cook almost 20 minutes the rice into this sauce: you would destroy the shrimps.

Thus: keep it aside.

Start the Risotto in a new skillet.

At the end use the shrimps sauce for the Mantecatura.

Anyways the "shrimps" taste went into the rice with the broth.

This is RIsotto with mushrooms.

Cook your mushromms, creating a sauce.

You won't start the Risotto into this sauce.

For two reasons:

With the "toasting" you would burn the sauce.

With the deglazing the "spongy" mushrooms would absorb the sourness of the wine, becoming unpleasant.

The best thing to do is to take out the mushrooms from the pan, start the toasting in the same pan, deglaze then put the mushrooms back with the rice.

This is Asparagus Risotto.

The biggest difficulty is to give the... asparagus taste to the rice.

The tip is: cut off the tops and steam them for a few minutes. The tops will be used for garnish as in the photo. Peel the stalk, cut them in cubes, cook them with a little olive oil, some shallot, water, salt. When soft, blend them in order to obtain a green, cloudy, thick broth. Use it to do the braising.

The Mantecaura can be done with a creamy goat cheese, that goes very well with asparagus.

This is Risotto with Borage.

For sure the first difficulty is to get the borage: you won't find it at the market. You have to go in the open country side at spring and pick it at its blooming, recognizable by the pretty blue star flowers.

Wash the leaves. Cook them in pleanty boiling water. Drain, squeeze, mince them.

Start with extra virgin olive oil and onion. Toast the rice, deglaze it. Add the chopped grass. Start the braising with a ladle of the cooking water of this grass. Don't use only this water, the taste would be too grassy and too strong. Keep next to you a boiling pot of vegetal broth.

The Mantecatura?

Butter and Parmigiano Reggiano or Almond oil, chopped almonds, a little cheese......

This is a traditional Risotto: it is made with the combs of the rooster. You need more than one. So it is convenient to freeze them as it happens to have them.
They must be boiled and peeled, before you cook them in a simple sauce.
Butter and olive oil, onion, then the combs cut in thin strips.
Cook them well.
Fondamental: the chicken broth.

This time you start to cook the rice inside the sauce and follow all the procedure.
For the Mantecatura: grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

You can  make the Risotto with almost any ingredient. Just before starting, look at the ingredients and talk with them: they will suggest you the best way to treat them.