Why I stopped stirring my risotto.

if it's broken down into its base components risotto looks like this first an aromatic base is toasted in cooking fat next rice is added so the fat can coat the individual kernels then the liquid is poured in and the rice is slowly cooked to your desired creamy texture before finishing with a flavor base like cheese and a fresh garnish now this can be done a number of ways and people can be quite opinionated about it my preferred risotto technique doesn't take 45 minutes of constant risk tendinitis induced stirring instead it's a conglomeration of methods from marcello hazaan and sirius eats that takes about 31 minutes in total cutting cooking and cleaning all included does it make the best risotto in the world i don't know but i think it's plenty solid for a home cook like me hey everyone i'm ethan a home cooking nerd who likes to find better ways to cook and share them with all of you risotto is one of the techniques that i think everyone should have in their cooking tool belt because you can turn almost any ingredient or leftover into a risotto and this video isn't about making the perfect risotto instead it's just to give you the basics so you can make risotto however you like it so let's talk about that when making risotto you have two big decisions to make number one how do you want the consistency and number two how long do you want to cook your rice marchello hazan notes in her book that risotto's primarily fall into two camps the piedmont milanese bolognese style which is more sticky compact and tight and venito which is looser and runnier the piedmont style is achieved by evaporating the liquid as the rice is finished cooking and veneto is done by finishing the rice when it's still quite moist you can do whatever you want i usually just make a game time decision to decide how long you want to cook the rice it's simple do you prefer firm or tenderize for a firm chalky arborio rice kernel 15 minutes will be plenty but for a tender more cooked through rice 20 to 25 minutes should be enough if you want it even softer you can go for longer i usually do my arborio rice for about 20 minutes with the basics covered let's walk through the step-by-step recipe for a risotto with parmesan reggiano to start set a skillet over low heat and add 2 tablespoons or 28 grams of butter to let melt meanwhile you can slice an onion into an eighth and then grate it i find that using a grater is perfect for this dish as the tiny pieces of onion cook down fast and the texture is almost imperceptible while the buttery oniony flavor is undeniable once the onion is grated do the same with two cloves of garlic back of the stove toss the grated onion and garlic into the bubbling butter and let it cook for about one to two minutes until it is fragrant and softened meanwhile you can weigh out 120 grams or two thirds of a cup of arborio rice arborio is probably the most readily available risotto rice but marcello notes that vialone nano and carnarole are other great options but if you aren't picky like me you can absolutely make risotto with plain old white rice it's not as creamy due to the lower starch amount but it works well enough if that's all you have additionally measure out 113 grams or a half cup of chicken stock mixed with 227 grams or one cup of water i find that store-bought stock is on the salty side so i like to dilute it in order to have better control with tasting the salt at the end pour the rice into the buttery aromatics and then toss it so every kernel is coated in fat i'm not actually looking to toast the rice here as that breaks down the starch on the rice and will mess up the thickening power instead i'm just looking to coat them once the rice is coated pour in about 80 to 90 percent of the total liquid now slowly adding the liquid can be done but it's not necessary for risotto and instead here's what i prefer to do turn the skillet up to medium high heat and bring the liquid to a simmer then set the heat to low i actually move this to my less powerful back burner and place a cover on it then set a timer for 10 minutes and let it sit there like seriously you don't even need to touch it meanwhile you can grate a bunch of fresh parm slice up the parsley wash your dishes put away any ingredients then after 10 minutes check on it and give it a stir or two it should still be fairly loose in liquidy at this stage and set another timer for 10 minutes where again you don't have to do anything but you could wipe down your counters film the intro to this video jam out to your favorite song solve the world's problems i don't know you can literally do whatever you want after the second timer 20 minutes in total test the rice for doneness if it's to your desired texture then you just need to balance out the creaminess you can add a little bit more of the stock or water or add a lot more if you're going for that smoother style and then finish it with a small pad of butter and a bunch of fresh parm until it reaches your desired consistency this is really that final step where it actually becomes risotto gets a little bit of creamy and cheesy you can maybe add a crack of black pepper and a touch of salt if you need it creamy parmesan risotto with about five minutes of active time now you can top it up with another grating of cheese fresh parsley or other herbs and there you have it serve it with chicken steak roasted vegetables the risotto world is now yours carpe diem so i've just realized i forgot to press record while i was filming the outro and doing the taste test so this is the what i have left of my risotto before i realized that so you guys can tell it's pretty good but creamy you know i like mine a little bit on the stickier side make sure you just don't overcook the rice you know but it's really not that hard to do just to get it nice and tender and then mix in really whatever you want to that's like the the best thing about risotto you can mix in any other ingredients you could do roasted vegetables in here you could do just serve it with like some chicken or steak you could you know mix in like a puree of some kind there's so many different ways that you can take risotto and you can make it exactly how you want to if you want it more on the tighter kind of stickier side like like i like you can make it like that just you know take more of that moisture out if you want on the soupier side just add more of that moisture in right as it's done finishing in the pan and that's really why risotto i think is a base blueprint recipe that really everyone should know how to make so hopefully you were able to pick up one or two things i'm gonna just finish my risotto plate now that i'm actually recording this time i'll catch you all in the next one recipe will be up on my website peace [Music] you

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 54,506

Rating: 4.8801136 out of 5

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, Risotto, how to make risotto, 30 minute risotto, risotto basics, risotto with parmesan cheese, parmigiano reggiano, italian risotto, risotto rice, arborio rice, carnaroli rice, carnaroli risotto, risotto, risotto with cheese, basic risotto recipe

Id: YELqjUDEgmw

Length: 6min 19sec (379 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 01 2020