4 Levels of Risotto: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

I'm John and I'm a level one Chef I'm Diane and I'm a level two Chef I'm Lish and I've been a professional chef for over 25 years everybody likes Roto it's a crowd-pleaser no matter where you go I'm using a different kind of rice which I feel like is going to be really controversial I'm making bubbles and caviar risoto you're going to have to stick around so you can find out what all that means [Music] first I'm going to start by prepping all my ingredients I have no tricks about how to not get corn everywhere but my dog loves it I chose the corn and the tomatoes just because when I think about risotto I feel like it's always like mushrooms or my butternut squash and kind of like Colder Weather so I wanted to try something that would be a little lighter and brighter I like to keep it nice and simple but also a little bit helpful so I'm going to add mushrooms and asparagus a nice inch of the ends there wait were these pre-trimmed the flavor profile I'm looking for in my risoto is actually clean and refreshing we're going to add some scallops bit of that ocean flavor scallops would be great in risoto and then the fresh licorice flavor I guess of fennel and chives because that just brightens everything and makes everything happy now for the mushrooms roughly the same size as the asparagus people are going to again come for me with the chopping but I don't care it's my knife they always say John's going to get hurt and I'm like yeah I definitely have been nice thin little ribbons of Basil woo I'm going to address my fennel here for a little Savory sweetness I'm going to use the bulb for my risoto but I like to use the frond as well for a little gourmet garnish if you will so these perfect little light green ones that's what you're looking for it's going to impart that bright licorice freshness to the garnish of the dish I'm going to use parmesan to thicken it up and it's going to add like a nice salt to it as well and the next thing is my shrimp I bought these really nice big jumbo shrimp with the shell on so that I can use them to enhance my stock along with the corn cobs so I chose scallops today these are beautiful large drypack scallops they're going to add a little Fresh Ocean sweetness to the dish and it's going to pair perfectly with the risoto so now I'm going to sauté my vegetables I like to pre-cook them put them on the side and then add them into the risoto at the end just got some simple olive oil I'm going to use avocado oil because it has a higher smoke point and actually doesn't burn as quickly as olive oil does I'm just going to saute this for about 3 to 4 minutes minutes and really what I'm looking for is everything getting a little Browner a little softer I want to make sure that my scallops are super dry you want dry food to hit a hot pan season generously with salt and pepper I think really for a lot of food all you need is some salt pepper and oil and it's delicious keep things simple just let the flavor of the food come out little bit of olive oil into my pan Oho bubbles they're so to get a nice little Browning to them oh yeah see it's starting to curl up scallops cook very quickly they don't need much time at all I just want to get brown on the F side you can smell the sweetness coming out smells like the ocean hello lover it's got that nice Char the asparagus is that bright green color now so you can tell it's cooked the mushrooms are getting smaller and it's got this beautiful peachy color so ready go oh now I'm just going to add a little nubbing of butter here all right I'm going to remove these from the heat give them a little squeeze oh those are perfect I can tell they're done because they've definitely changed in texture but they're still soft in the center that's what I'm looking for and oh you see that that little jiggle it's almost like Jello-O stock is such an important part of risotto because it's really what flavors the whole dish the rice absorbs it so the rice ends up tasting like what it absorbs right so you really need need to build a solid base to start with my risotto broth is super complicated going to take this star broth and pour it in the pot why make it from scratch I'm using sorbot vegetable broth I'm doing this like no stir technique so I'm rinsing the rice and the vegetable stock so that some of that starchiness releases into the broth and it should thicken up with way less stirring I'm just going to give it a quick strain we have a little bit of toasted fennel seed here about 2 teaspoons which just going to break them up a little bit in the mortar and pestle to bring out some of those aromatics a little bit of the oil one bay leaf two garlic cloves smashed and peeled just some time bruise it up a little bit get the aromatics going oo that smells good lemon zest I want this to be a very clean stock light flavorful citrusy a little sweetness I have some shallots haved very simple you don't even have to peel them if you don't want and a couple of Parmesan cheese rins parmesano orano these not only add a lot of flavor to the stock but they're also delicious to nibble on at the end I'm going to cover it with a bunch of water here I'm going to let this come to a simmer after about 45 minutes to an hour I'll taste it strain it and then I'm going to get my risoto going I'm taking the broth that I rinsed the rice in and now I'm just adding the shrimp shells and the corn cobs for a little more depth of flavor I'm going to bring this up to a boil and then I'll drop the heat down and simmer it for about 30 minutes I'm just going to let the broth C up to a simmer because we'll use it little by little when making the risotto I have my stock here and it's been infused with the corn and the shrimp shells so I'm going to remove that it has this like really nice sweetness to it from the corn cobs and you can taste the shrimpy flavor my Stock's ready to go looks good so I'm just going to strain this through a fine mesh strainer push out any of the extra juices that might be in there I'm going to season my stock with salt I want whatever I'm using to be well seasoned so that all of that flavor goes into the [Music] rice light and refreshing delicious so now the fun part to actually make the risoto so the first step I'm actually going to sauté my shallots in butter and olive oil there's the great debate of do you use butter do you use olive oil why not use both I'm doing a mixure of butter and avocado oil the butter is I mean it's butter so it's delicious the avocado oil will keep it from bur I have some shallots I use shallots because it's kind of a hybrid between garlic and onion so you get the flavors of both in one some finely diced fennel I love the earthy licorice flavor of fennel a little bit of salt if you could smell what I smell right now this is the chef's happy place I'm not trying to Brown the vegetables I'm just trying to soften them and bring out their best flavors the most important thing about making a risoto is the rice I feel like this is going to be controversial but I'm going to be using bomo rice because this rice absorbs more water it will keep my risoto from being too gummy and it'll still be kind of firm so I'm going to take a cup of AR Boro rice I am using violone Nano rice this is a medium grain rice but it's still round in shape and it's very forgiving all I want to do is toast it a little bit so that it brings out that nutty flavor of the arboro this is just readying the rice basically it's making it taste a little bit more like the grain itself and it's going to stop it from breaking apart when I actually cook it it smells perfect right now now it's kind of nutty and so that's how you know when it's ready a little white wine I feel like you can't really go wrong with wine and butter in general and I'm going to let that cook until the wine fully absorbs into the rice it adds a nice flavor it helps de glaze the pan any bits from the bottom that are stuck I'm going to use bubbles because why not I love Bubbles I love the flavor of Cava so that is what I'm going to use in the end you'll see why bubbles go with the particular topping that's going on to finish fin the dish so Cava is basically Spain's answer to prco Champagne but it's dry it's bubbly it's delicious I just got so excited about the wine I forgot to put in my aromatics so I'm going to add in onions garlic shallots you can see that it's already bringing out some of the starches in my rice which is great that's exactly what I want now that it's reduced by about half I'm going to add in my stock about a cup or so at a time if you do it all at once it's not going to absorb nicely you want to continue to stir and let the rice absorb the stock as it needs to absorb the stock and as you're stirring you are releasing some of those starches and that's what is going to give you that velvety saturation on the rice this dish is a labor of love but I promise you it's worth it that's why it costs a lot of the restaurants I am going to try this no stir method just cuz like I don't have a lot of time sometimes so I'm going to just add in most of my stock and just save about a cup of it and then let it do its thing I'm going to bring it up to a boil I'm going to lower it down to a simmer and then I'm going to cover it I have heard of the no stir method I have not tried it I would be curious to know the results you know you could just tell that it's getting more like a a porridge if you will it looks creamy classic risotto consistency it smells amazing but we're almost there for me the ideal texture of risoto it has movement when you stir it and even when you plate it like you should plate it and it still like oozes on the plate and then it comes to a stop this is looking really good it's super close I'm going to add one more Ladle of stock here and give it a taste and see where I'm at around each individual kernel of rice you can see that wave happening that doesn't make you happy come on I'm going to give a little check to see how it's going oh it looks great it smells so good good so I'm going to give it a little Stern Shake just to see where it's at yes and it's perfect it's not sticking to the bottom it's like nice all the rice is like kind of separated it's good it's good it's almost there I'm going to add in my tomatoes and corn now and just start cooking these down final taste but I think we're there perfect and now for my secret ingredient which is actually not so secret but something that's totally optional gry cheese perano aano is the king of cheeses I am sorry sorry but I'm from Wisconsin and parm Edge is the way to go this is going to just finish off that creaminess of the risotto and it's salty it's Umami give it that nice creamy texture that we're looking for I think that the rice is in a good place I'm going to add in the rest of my stock I'm going to raise the heat up to high heat so that I can continue to let it cook down and reduce the amount of liquid and we're almost done here I'm going to stir just to make sure that nothing sticks and all the flavors are getting incorporated into the risotto this the no stir method is so quick and fast my risoto is already there it's like 10 minutes faster than I thought it was going to be the rice is definitely cooked in El Dente the only way to know if risoto is done is taste it delicious my very last step is to add in the mushrooms and asparagus I want these vegetables fully incorporated into the risotto I love it when you get a bite and every bite of rice has some vegetables in it all this looks so good guys I'm so excited as you guys know I like to eat so I'm going to put a lot of it on this plate come on that looks like restaurant quality you kidding me my risoto is about done and you can see the rice is like nice and separated but still kind of like creamy it has such great color for the red and the yellow of the Corn add a little butter for that J qua that butter can only provide add a little pepper which also just kind of adds a nice color to it too just another little texture I'm just piling my roto onto my plate I'm going to put the shrimp on top I'm going to add a little bit of the basil to give give it that nice color and also that freshness to it our risoto is done so I want to get it on the plate ASAP so you can see that movement and I was talking about it shouldn't just sit up like mashed potatoes it should flow if your risoto doesn't move it means that you need a little bit more broth to it and don't be afraid to add some more broth this rice can take it this is where we're going to make it seductively sexy so little crem fresh right in the middle I didn't finish with butter so the creme fresh is acting as that extra creamy element but you have acid too which is beautiful in a dish like this since it's so clean and fresh and delightful scallops go on I'm doing bubbles in caviar because why not osetra caviar is clean fresh it has a nice little pop to it and it tastes like the sea honestly all right I'm going to do a little bit of chai right in the middle here on the creme fresh fennel FR on top of each scallop oh mama and then secret weapon a little a little bit of fennel pollen fennel pollen is actually the pollen of the fennel and it also adds just this kind of Elegance to the dish this is my risotto and this is my risotto this is my roto this looks so good it smells amazing and I'm really hungry so let's dig [Music] in not to P myself on the own back but all right let's try it the best part of cooking oh my god I've done a lot of these damn videos this might be my best one yet it's creamy it's warm it's soft like I mentioned woodsy and nutty and and cheesy from the parm it's so good I'm going to eat this whole plate the texture of the shrimp is perfect you have like the little pops of the Corn which is really nice the Cava the fennel the caviar the scallops it builds this beautiful light bright Umami goodness that you can't even make up and then the creaminess of the risotto still has the El Dente individual rice texture it's just it's a stunning dish risoto is a rice dish made creamy by the method of preparation it's silky with a slight chew and just wonderful let's see how each of our Three Chefs made their version rice is high in starch a large molecule made of glucose units linked together classified by its size from short and medium to long grain John used Arborio a superfino or highquality Italian rice arboro is a medium grain specialty rice that's 2 to three times as wide as it is long our boreo releases some of the starch into the broth while also absorbing some of the flavor of the broth thickening it to the consistency of a sauce John toasted his rice in olive oil and butter Lish lightly toasted her rice until it had just a hint of color the lipids coat the rice grains keeping them separated as broth is added as starch Browns it breaks into smaller units of glucose making it slightly sweet John used hot broth and added it gradually to his rice adding hot stock one Ladle at a time continues the gradual cooking process and Coes more starch out of the rice thickening the broth and making it creamy Diane didn't use the traditional Roto method instead she soaked her rice in cold stock to extract starch and only stirred occasionally during cooking constant patient stirring causes friction between the grains and encourages rice starch to slowly release into the broth for a creamy and luxurious sauce only occasional stirring however causes some of the rice to stick and break apart so it's still thick but less creamy and decadent after toasting all Three Chefs added a splash of alcohol the acid in Licious wine causes partial hydris of the starch molecules into smaller glucose units so there's even more sweetness here in her risoto John added asparagus and crini mushrooms crinis are earthy and savory and really just white or portabella mushrooms picked at a different stage of ripening Diane added shrimp corn and tomatoes it was really mouthwatering with the corn adding a pop of sweetness and a textural contrast from the soft risotto Lish added seared dry pack scallops dry pack have a more concentrated sweet flavor from higher glycogen content compared to water plumped wet scallops lower water content of the dry scallops makes searing them more efficient we're talking about mayor Browning here which happens more quickly with lower moisture content risoto is a meal and a cooking method allinone next time you're in the mood for a self- saucing rice dish we hope you'll take some of these tips from our three amazing chefs

Channel: Epicurious

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Keywords: 4 levels, 4 levels epicurious, best mushroom risotto recipe, best risotto recipe, cooking challenge, cooking tutorial, creamy mushroom risotto, creamy risotto, easy risotto, easy risotto recipe, epicurious, how long to stir risotto, how to make risotto, how to make risotto at home, italian risotto, make risotto at home, mushroom asparagus risotto, pro chef vs home cook, professional chef, risotto, risotto recipe, shrimp and mushroom risotto

Id: eED0pSMBgfA

Length: 17min 4sec (1024 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2024