Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [116]
The cooking liquid All the flavors that the cooking liquid starts out with become more concentrated and intense as it evaporates. Bearing that in mind, when the recipe requires broth you will use a fine, mild meat broth made by boiling mainly beef and veal, with next to no bones and very little chicken. Pure chicken broth becomes distractingly sharp, and so does stock produced in the French manner. Neither is a desirable vehicle for cooking risotto.
Water is the best choice for seafood risotto. Fish fumets, or broths enriched with shellfish carcasses, become too emphatic as they cook down, thus upsetting a risotto’s balance of flavors.
Liquids that issue from the ingredients in the flavor base should be retained, such as the juices released by clams or mussels, the water used to reconstitute dried mushrooms, and the vegetable-flavored liquid left from the preliminary blanching of asparagus or other greens.
Wine may be added, but it must not be the sole liquid used.
Note The quantity of liquid suggested in the recipes that follow is approximate. In actual cooking, you should be prepared to use more, or sometimes less, as the risotto itself requires. When cooking with broth, if you have used up the broth before the rice is fully cooked, continue with water.
How long to cook Some Italian cooks like the grains in risotto to be exceptionally firm, and suggest cooking times between 18 and 20 minutes. At that stage, the center of the kernel is chalky hard. If you find a chalky sensation unappealing, as I do, expect to cook the rice another 5 to 10 minutes, for a total of 25 minutes to half an hour.
The pace at which risotto cooks can vary considerably, however. It is affected by the receptivity to moisture of the specific rice you are using, by the amount of liquid you add at a time, by the speed at which the liquid evaporates.
It is prudent to begin to taste the rice after 20 minutes’ cooking, so you can begin to judge how much further it has to go, and how much more liquid you are going to need. Never cook rice until it is soft at the center. It should be tender, but still firm to the bite.
The pot It must transmit and retain sufficient heat to cook the rice at a very lively pace without scorching it. Pure aluminum and other light-weight ware are not suitable. Heavy-bottomed pots made of steel-jacketed alloys are the sturdiest, and the most practical for professional cooking, but for home use an enameled cast-iron pot is a pleasure to work with.
Rice varieties Imported Italian varieties are the only ones on which one can rely for a completely successful risotto. Of the many that are grown, the best are Arborio, Vialone Nano, and Carnaroli. See the section on ingredients for a detailed description of their individual characteristics.
Risotto styles All risotto can be grouped into two basic styles that differ in the consistency at which they aim. There is the compact, more tightly knit, somewhat stickier style of Piedmont, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna and the looser, runny style of the Veneto, known as all’onda, “wavy.” You obtain the former by evaporating all the cooking liquid as the rice finishes cooking, and the latter by bringing the rice to the desired degree of doneness while it is still rather moist.
The Piedmontese/Milanese/Bolognese style is more compatible with substantial flavor bases founded on cheese, sausage, game, and wild mushrooms, whereas the Venetian risotto all’onda achieves great delicacy with seafood and spring vegetables.
Serving temperature Among the myths associated with risotto there is the one that you must eat it piping hot, as it comes from the pot. Unlike pasta, risotto tastes better when it has rested on your plate a minute or so. When Italians are served risotto, they often spread it on their plate from the center toward the rim, to dissipate some of the steam.
Risotto with Parmesan Cheese
THIS BASIC white risotto is the simplest way to prepare the dish, and for many, the finest. Good as it is,