Risotto rules: how to cook the perfect risotto | Sainsbury`s Magazine (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to making good risotto? ›

Always use warm stock.

Warming the broth before adding it to the warm rice coaxes more starch out of each grain of rice and helps prevent it from overcooking. Cool broth takes longer to warm up in the risotto pan and may shock the grain into holding onto its starches while the rice itself continues to cook.

This classic Italian recipe is characterized by four main steps—tostatura, sfumatura, cottura and mantecatura—in which the rice is toasted, the wine is added, the rice is patiently stirred, and finally, the dish is finished with butter and cheese.

Slowly slip in stock or water while the risotto cooks at a medium simmer, pausing until each portion of the liquid has been absorbed before adding more. When you're about halfway through this process (which should take around 16 minutes in total), add salt into the simmering pot.

Use Salted Water Instead of Broth in Risotto

It's an ingenious tip on many levels.

Many people mistakenly think that butter, and lots of it, is required as the finish, to make risotto creamy. Olive oil at the end adds a nice complexity that does not alter the essential flavor of the risotto: it is, in my opinion, a cleaner finish.

When cooking risotto on a stovetop, you're required to periodically stir it to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Some people, however, stir it too frequently. This adds air into the risotto, cooling it down and making it gluey.

Risotto in Italy is often a first course (primo), served before a second course (secondo), but risotto alla milanese is often served with ossobuco alla milanese as a one-course meal.

Before refrigerating the risotto, allow it to cool fully. You should not leave the risotto at room temperature for more than one hour (after it cools down).

I've always understood that the point of toasting risotto is to help develop flavor. By adding the dried grains of rice to a pan of hot butter and olive oil, you develop some really nice nutty, toasty flavors.

Do you cook risotto in a skillet or saucepan? ›

A High-Sided Skillet Is Best for Risotto. The best risotto showcases the combination of tender grains of rice in a creamy, brothy sauce. To achieve this result, evaporation — a key but easy-to-miss step — is essential.

Essentially, risotto is equated with pasta, which is why it is eaten with a fork, a piece of cutlery "dedicated" to this dish: the Italian Academy of Galateo does not only refer to risotto, but to all rice-based preparations that are eaten as a main course.

Stirring the risotto helps the flavors meld consistently and activates the starch so that the risotto comes out consistent and not lumpy or burnt at the bottom. Non-stirred risottos come out closer to a pilaf or a casserole and may taste a little chunkier and a whole lot more inconsistent than you may want.

Because risotto is cooked uncovered on the stovetop, a lot of liquid evaporates. Plan on about three times as much liquid as rice. And that liquid should be stock of some sort. Chicken stock is the staple, but use whatever stock you prefer — beef, vegetable, seafood.

Sautéed shallots, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, and thyme are used to build a robust and flavorful foundation on which arborio rice and hot stock are melded. With each stir of the spoon, the starches thicken, and the earthy essence of the mushrooms builds depth of flavor.

In his post, López-Alt writes that the speediness of restaurant risotto boils down to the fact that chefs “par-cook it to around 75 per cent done then cool it rapidly by spreading it in a thin layer on a sheet tray and refrigerating it”.

The basic principle of risotto is to beat the hell out of a rice kernel so that it releases as much starch as possible without overcooking. The more you stir, the more starch is released; the creamier the risotto. It is that simple!