Slow and Steady Wins the Race...

A lot of people ask me, "What's your favorite thing to cook?" Usually, if it's a woman I say, "Anything you want." If it's a man I say, "Anything the customer wants."

...ok that was a bad joke.

I can remember the happiest day in culinary school (even happier than graduation). I walked into class with a binder in one hand and the best French coffee I've ever had in the other. This coffee was so good I used to drink it black with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Yeah, that good.
Anyway...when I sat down I looked up at our daily menu and I saw (written in French) "Mango Risotto". My eyes lit up and I knew that today was going to be a good day.
I'll be honest, I don't remember the first time I ate risotto. I just remember that I loved it and that was probably the one dish I looked forward to learning how to cook. It's starchy, yet creamy. It's filling but not heavy. It'll take on whatever flavor you throw in with it. It's not the best looking, but it's definitely the best tasting. I remember scooping out little tiny balls of mango for the garnish. Even though it was only the side dish, it was the best part of the dish. In fact I don't remember what the protein and vegetable were...and I don't care!

If anybody remembers awhile back, I did a little culinary trivia contest where Shawn won a bottle of Truffle Oil. One of the questions was, "What's the difference between Risotto and Arborio Rice." The reason I asked this that there are a lot of people who don't know the answer to this question. So here it is. Risotto is a dish that is made of an Italian short grain rice called Arborio Rice. It comes from a town call Arborio (go figure). It has a very high starch content because it is not milled as much as the typical long grain rice. The starch is what gives it its creamy consistency. And just like pasta, it's cooked al dente, which means it should have a little bite.

When preparing risotto you need to understand that it's going to take a little while and a lot of love...seriously. Love is the main ingredient in all my dishes. Risotto cannot be rushed or you'll get really nasty mushy...I don't know what it'd be but I know it's not going to be good. It must be cooked at a medium to medium high heat. Never full blast. Make sure the liquid you are using to cook it has a lot of flavor. If it calls for chicken broth, make that Swansons or College Inn chicken broth awesome by buying chicken wing tips or chicken wings (they're cheap) at the super market, putting it in the broth and cooking (not boiling) it for 15-20 min. That'll give your broth a lot more flavor.

Moving forward. Make sure you have a pan or skillet. Something that low sides and a lot of surface area. There are 3 reasons for this.

1) Low sides promote fast evaporation (which is what we want). Ever wonder why stock pots have high sides? Because you don't want fast evaporation.
2) More surface area means fast heat transfer. The wider the pan the more metal to rice action will go on and it will cook faster.
3) If you see that it's starting to overcook you can turn off the heat and it will actually cool down faster.

If you look up a recipe for risotto I can almost guarantee you will see 6 cups of broth and it will tell you to add maybe 3/4 cup at a time every 2 or 3 min. This cooking technique is what makes risotto so delicious and I believe a lot of grains should be cooked like this. By adding small quantities of stock at a time it will reduce faster. Because broths are about 80% water and 20% flavor this process will take out the water and only leave the flavor. You're pretty much concentrating the flavor of the broth. The recipe will also tell you to constantly stir. Some may say every 45 seconds give it a stir and some may say stand there the whole time stirring. If you've never made risotto before, I suggest you stand there the whole time stirring. The starch that's cooked out rice will mix with the concentrated broth and give it it's creamy texture. But because there is so much starch in the pan it can easily burn if it sits too long.

You'll probably be stirring for about 14-18 min. Remember, you cannot rush risotto. Every so often, taste it. This is one the very few dishes I would say to wait till the end of the cooking to season it. Because you are concentrating so many layers of the broth that the flavor is going to change throughout the cooking process. Don't season at the beginning because it tastes bland. It will develop flavor as you add more broth. Like I said, you want to cook the risotto al dente. Once you've gotten your bite, stop adding broth and taste. Season as needed and you're done. The consistency of risotto should be thicker than pancake batter. When you spoon it onto the plate it should be able to fall by itself. It should never hold shape. If it does, then fix it.

Once risotto is cooked you really only have about 6-7 min to serve it without it stiffening up on you. Remember, it must fall by itself.

As much as I love risotto, I would never order it at a restaurant and most certainly never have it at a catered event. The way restaurants deal with risotto is that they partially cook a big batch half way and cool it down. When an order comes in they scoop out a portion and reheat it in a pan with broth. The problem with this is once you've cooked and cool risotto you've lost its "wow" factor. I'm not sure what happens but there's a huge difference between risotto being cooked in one shot and risotto that's been cooked, chilled, and cooked again.

I hope you learned a little something about risotto in this entry. Like I said, risotto is so versatile. Let your imagination go when you're making it. But please don't overcook it and don't serve it stiff. Or I will kick you in the face.

bien manger

-cwis