risotto easy stir?
is it possible to create an excellent risotto without constant stirring? Mark Bittman thinks so in his NYT column this week.
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6 Comments:
Alton Brown had an episode on Risotto some time ago in which he didn't stir, but rather, he occasionally shook the pan. He said the shaking of the pan did more than enough to stir the rice grains and create the necessary creaminess that risotto is known for.
Marvin at 6:43PM on 05/04/07
Yes
Mario Battali has shown this a few times on Tv.
The correct way is to get the rice hot and coated with the fat you are using, add the liquid shake it a few times and only stir at the end when you "mount" the risotto with butter and parmesan.
It is runny just they way it is supposed to be.
chameleonz at 1:33AM on 05/05/07
Thank god! Stirring for a whole 20 minutes has to be the world's most difficult burden!
:)
mattbites at 7:05PM on 05/05/07
I first made risotto from a recipe in Bob Blumer's The Surreal Gourmet Entertains and I'm SO glad I did, because he specifically calls everyone out on this stirring vigorously for 20-30 minutes thing. According to him a few stirs every once in a while are all that are needed and that's what I've always done. Also, I use Kokuho Rose brand sushi rice instead of arborio; it's also a short grain rice and makes risotto that is just as good at a much, much lower price.
ceres at 10:41AM on 05/06/07
I took a cooking class with Judy Witts Francini (divinacucina) in Florence 4-5 years ago where I made my first no-stir risotto using Gabriele Ferron's rice. We used water, not broth, with a lot of great aromatics and wine - best risotto I've ever made/had (artichoke) - also made a kid (goat) roast stuffed with pecorino and more herbs.
ChrisV at 11:53AM on 05/06/07
I'm with the others, you don't have to stir constantly.
About the rice, I've been using Lundberg Farms Organic Arborio for years and have done taste tests in culinary school between it and Italian Arborio. The students could tell no difference in flavor, nor texture of the finished product.
As a side benefit, it doesn't get much more local for me, since the farm is less than ten miles from my home.
Calichef at 5:25AM on 05/08/07