8528 Risotto- starch or no starch?

It's the starch that helps thicken the Risotto. Use Arborio or Carnaroli rice for excellent results.

[quote=barrov;79989]Is anybody 'wrong', or are there just two different but correct approaches?[/quote]

In this instance, you're wrong. Not only do you not wash the starch of risotto rice, but you should be using a variety grown for risotto such as arborio or carnaroli which has short particularly sticky grains. And you can't make risotto by washing the rice because the rice is cooked in a stock, not cooked in water then added to the other ingredients.

You start by frying a chopped small onion in about 50g of butter over a low heat until the onion is transparent. Add 300g of rice, [B]you cannot use basmati, american, Thai or any other long grain rice[/B] and continue to heat stirring continuously until the rice is transparent. Add 100ml of dry white wine and continue to cook until the wine is absorbed. You may substitute red wine, and for this Nebbiolo is ideal, if you're every passing Ivrea stop at the Hotel Radar and have their risotto Nebbiolo, it's divine.

Add one litre of stock (brodo). I tend to cheat here and use Star stock cubes, the "Rico" variety made with porcini are particularly good. Arguments erupt in Italian amilies about how to add the stock. Some do it a llttle at a time standing over the risotto all the time, others bung in about 700ml and then add the rest bit by bit. You should also add an envelope of saffron and 30g of grated parmesan at the same time as the first dose of stock. If you're adding stock bit by bit ensure the rice never dries out.

It take about 15 minutes to cook the rice which should remain al dente but be creamy (the starch). It takes practice to get it right. Which ever route to adding stock you take, you will have to get into the habit of judging just how much to add and when to stop.

I totally agree with Mungo and Lotaresco and the recipe given is perfect. I always start with 1 cup of rice for 2 and a bit cups of boiling stock: however, I always keep some extra stock boiling just in case it dries out too much. But keep everything at boiling point. The right kind of rice is also essential, you can only use Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone. All of these varieties have a high starch content.
There are lots of different recipes for risotto.

If you want a realy interesting recipe/story of risotto read the risotto chapter in Heston Blumenthal's latest book - This BBC page gives a taster - [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/about_index.shtml#episode_seven]BBC - Food - TV and radio - Perfection[/url]

Barrov
In addition to previous posts. As someone said earlier, everyone has their own variation of making risotto and although risotto is mostly a northern dish, it is also used in the south but some things are important if you want a classic risotto. In the north for example they tend to use butter to cook the onions and/or garlic but in the south, we tend to use olive oil. I use a mixture of both. Just a couple of tips, and apologies if you already know any/all this:

~ Use a heavy bottomed pan with a wooden spoon.

~ Personally, I think that adding hot stock slowly does make a difference (most chefs make it this way) in order to get a consistent drawing out of starch and the rice should stay runny while cooking and never be allowed to dry out.

~ When the risotto is ready, it is best to remove the pan from the heat for a minute and then add a good knob of butter and cheese if you are using it and then beat them into the risotto. This will give an extra richness and shine.

~ Only season at the very end - you may not need any seasoning at all if you've added salty cheese and/or stock cubes or other strong flavoured ingredients.

~ You can use almost any ingredient to like in risotto but be carefull at what point you add it to the rice as it needs to withstand the length of cooking.

If you like risotto, it's good to try making it with all three main varieties (not at the same time) as they each have their own flavour, size, shape and amount of starch and will each give you a different style of risotto.

[quote=Gala Placidia;80007]you can only use Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone.[/quote]

Actually there's another one (at least) but I can't recall its name. My wife sells it in her shop in 3Kg bags, but she also sells the other three and my creaking memory won't dib up the name at the moment. I'm not driving a couple of miles to find out either!

[quote=Biagio;80014]although risotto is mostly a northern dish,[/quote]

Grrr, that's Lombards for you, they claim to have invented everything. Risotto "Milanese" is supposed to be an Abruzzese dish, originally.

Don't be silly, everyone knows Risotto originated in Naples, they had to eat rice when they ran out of spaghetti one day. :wideeyed:
The name of the other type of rice you're looking for is probably "Roma".

[quote=mungo;80042]Don't be silly, everyone knows Risotto originated in Naples, they had to eat rice when they ran out of spaghetti one day. [/quote]

[url=http://www.sulmona.org/gastro/zafferano.php]Gastronomia: lo zafferano e la leggenda del risotto alla milanese :: Sulmona.org[/url]

[quote]The name of the other type of rice you're looking for is probably "Roma".[/quote]

Not that I recall, I'll look at the shelves next time I'm in the shop.

Within the same type of rice, "riso superfino", and in the category "lungo A", there are the varieties: [B]Arborio[/B], Baldo, Roma, Razza77, Koral, Volano and [B]Carnaroli[/B].
[B]Vialone[/B] belongs to the group "riso fino medio", together sith Ariete, Cervo, Drago, Ribe, R.B., Rizzotto, Sant'Andrea and Ringo, but Vialone's grain is round, must boil for some 15 minutes and it keeps itself well "al dente", that is why it can be used for "risotto". I have only used these three varieties.

I am not a great cook but after making risotto a couple of times and mastering the basic skills (as already mentioned in earlier posts) I now find it one of the easiest things to make, you just have to stand there for about 20 minutes and keep adding the stock until it is ready. It is also great for using up stock and other left over bits a pieces.

I think the key is to keep it simple and not use too many ingredients. I have seen a couple of recipies which list cream as an ingredient but it really isn't necessary as the starch in the rice gives it the right consistancy. Also I dont tend to add any salt as I think that the parmesan cheese added at the end provides the saltiness required.

I'm feeling hungry now, I think its time for lunch....

[quote=Cath;80075]I have seen a couple of recipies which list cream as an ingredient but it really isn't necessary as the starch in the rice gives it the right consistancy[/quote]

totally agree. IMO, cream is in general the lazy cooks ingredient in savoury dishes. Mind you, I'm not allowed to use cream OR butter when cooking, as my OH refuses point blank to consume either (except for sparing use of buffalo mozarella), so I'm of course biased on that front!

For risotto, good quality rice, care in the cooking process and the right proportions of stock/parmesan added at the right time will give the desired 'creamy' texture without resorting to cream. A bit of butter would be nice though for both texture & taste ... oh well, I can dream.

I still have nightmares about a horror risotto I was served in a UK restaurant - a soupy plateful of basmati boiled in cream with stewed onions and a thin film of clarified butter festering on top like an oil slick. It had then been showered in raw parsely in a pathetic attempt to disguise its total lack of authenticity ... One of the few times I've been annoyed enough to send food back (I'm usually too lazy to moan but that was beyond the pale!)

[quote=pigro;80079]I still have nightmares about a horror risotto I was served in a UK restaurant - a soupy plateful of basmati boiled in cream with stewed onions and a thin film of clarified butter festering on top like an oil slick.[/quote]
Risotto korma, perhaps?

Sounds yummy! :bigergrin:

Al

The horror risotto sounds very much like the horror cappuccino we got once in Estepona (Spain): tasteless, muddy coffee with a huge amount of whipped cream and, to top it all,... a good sprinkle of colourful "hundreds and thousands". We couldn't stop laughing when we saw it.....

I've had risotto sconvolgente in many different places in the UK. Most notably in the restaurant run by a friend of my wife. I find it difficult to describe, it was supposed to have porcini but the 'porcini' resembled small strips of gritty leather. The entire risotto was grey and incredibly over salted. It had congealed into a single lump that I could lift on a fork (all of it in one go!).

What the English can do to innocent coffee is beyond words. Someone told me that Starbucks in the UK were selling "gingerbread coffee" before Christmas. The recipe appeared to be to pump lots of sticky sugar syrup into the coffee. Then to squirt whipped cream onto the top .

The only place I have coffee in the UK nowadays is at home where I can make it properly. A UK "espresso" is like an Italian Americano, only it doesn't taste as good.

In seafood risottos you should never add cheese.
Pilchardo

I admit to being a total food snob and I never order risotto in England as no-one understands how to make it!

It is incredibly easily to make so why so 'chefs' here fail miserably to produce anything remotely edible?

Another dish never to order is a curry in a so-called 'gastropub' or vegetarian chilli.Yuk!!

I agree Manopello and I'll admit to being one too. I also never order risotto in a restaurant, not even in an Italian one, although i'm sure there are ones that do it properly, I won't take the chance.
Risotto is a very simple dish to make properly but must be a labour of love. We had a chat with the chef in a local restaurant recently in Italy and he left us with a great quote:

[B]'Cucinare semplice e molto difficile'
'To cook simply is very difficult'[/B]

[quote=pigro;80079].......
I still have nightmares about a horror risotto I was served in a UK restaurant - a soupy plateful of basmati boiled in cream with stewed onions and a thin film of clarified butter festering on top like an oil slick. It had then been showered in raw parsely in a pathetic attempt to disguise its total lack of authenticity ... One of the few times I've been annoyed enough to send food back (I'm usually too lazy to moan but that was beyond the pale!)[/quote]

Slightly less awful is the risotto that some restaurants in the UK serve up where they add precooked rice to a sauce - the giveaway is that the dish gets served in less than 20 mins, the rice absorbs none of the flavours of the stock etc, and the texture is all wrong.

I have experiemented with stopping a risotto cooking part way through - by adding cool stock and turning the heat off, just to give me time to eat the starter before returning to cook the risotto, otherwise there would have been a long time in the kitchen between courses. Did it work - actually quite well, the texture was good and the flavour integrated. Was it as good as the risottos I have had in some marchigani restauranti - nope, but miles better than the gross examples frequently served up in Britain.

I rather like the 'Cucinare semplice e molto difficile' notion.

[quoteI have experiemented with stopping a risotto cooking part way through - by adding cool stock and turning the heat off, just to give me time to eat the starter before returning to cook the risotto, otherwise there would have been a long time in the kitchen between courses.][/quote]

Another way to do this is by baking the risotto in the oven - it works really well and saves all the interminable stirring (and burning the saucepan!)

I'd have thought that would result in the bottom layer being overcooked relative to the top layer, as the bottom would remain immersed in liquid for longer, once the liquid level started to fall due to absorbtion/evaporation ... unless you stirred it periodically, which would kind of defeat the point? Do you manage to end up with the whole thing al dente with your method?

So far, so good - depending on the recipe, I would check after 20 minutes and add cream or wine at this stage, plus any last minute ingredients (like asparagus) to heat through. As for al dente, some rice cooks quicker than others, so I guess trial and error.

a good risotto depends on choosing the best rice for the job in question...it`s like pasta...certain pastas go with sertain sauces...certain rice varieties go with certain risottos..It`s all to do with starch content...

Risotto rice is made up of two starches, the outside is amylopectin, the inside is amylose...the outside bit breaks down and is absorbed into the dish and adds to the creamy texture, the inside bit won`t break down so much and is what gives the risotto its wonderful `al dente` edge. Too much surface starch plus over-cooking and you have a sticky goo. Thanks to the media, in the UK everyone knows arborio, although this is the one that is high in amylopectin and can often result in a sticky dense risotto rather than a creamy one...I prefer carnaroli or vialone nano myself....

and making risotto is a little like making pasta...if you don`t have the time or the real inclination, eat something else - much of the magic is about the preparation and the cooking...if you`re entertaning, gather friends over a glass of wine in the kitchen and share a nibble and a natter as you stir.....

yum!

[quote=pigro;80369]I'd have thought that would result in the bottom layer being overcooked relative to the top layer, as the bottom would remain immersed in liquid for longer, once the liquid level started to fall due to absorbtion/evaporation ... unless you stirred it periodically, which would kind of defeat the point? Do you manage to end up with the whole thing al dente with your method?[/quote]

Well I have only cooked it that way once, but yes it ended up al dente, and was consistent all the way through..... :yes:

I once ordered porcini risotto in a hotel restaurant and they served it (on the plate) with boiled potatoes.
Pilchard

yeuuuuuucccccchhhhhhhhheeeeeeee.......in the UK I take it????!!!