Kimchi Risotto Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret ingredient in risotto? ›

Use Salted Water Instead of Broth in Risotto

It's an ingenious tip on many levels.

Always use warm stock.

Warming the broth before adding it to the warm rice coaxes more starch out of each grain of rice and helps prevent it from overcooking. Cool broth takes longer to warm up in the risotto pan and may shock the grain into holding onto its starches while the rice itself continues to cook.

Great risotto cannot be made with long-grain rice, such as Basmati or Jasmine rice. Sometimes, other grains can be used to make risotto-style dishes, such as barley, farro, buckwheat, and quinoa.

Despite its appearance, risotto is not a type of rice but an Italian dish made with a special high-starch, short-grain rice such Italian Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano rice. This special kind of rice can absorb quite a bit of liquid without becoming mushy.

The stock is added a little bit at a time and should be fully absorbed into the rice before more stock is added. This process can take up to 45 minutes and will result in a delicious creamy mixture of al dente rice.

The key, instead, is to undercook the risotto and cool it rapidly to prevent that rice from overcooking, so you can easily finish cooking it later.

According to Salvatore, it all depends on the ingredients. The chef prefers oil over butter (and oil works particularly well with seafood risottos), but butter is better for vegetable-based dishes like Rampoldi's black truffle with mushroom or mixed vegetable and ginger risotto.

Yes, the foundational creaminess of well-made risotto should come from the starches that the grains release slowly over the cooking process—but a bit of actual cream doesn't hurt, either. Make sure to season the risotto with salt after you've added the whipped cream.

The only rice to really avoid is long-grain, like basmati or jasmine, as it doesn't have enough starch content to get achieve risotto's signature creaminess.

Can I use orzo instead of risotto rice? ›

First, you'll swap rice (risotto recipes usually call for arborio or carnaroli varieties) for orzo, a rice-shaped pasta. You'll get the same luscious consistency thanks to the starch released when stirring pasta, but in a fraction of the total cook time.

You can use any short-grain rice variety to make risotto. Carnaroli or arborio rice are the most common, but you may see boxes labeled generically as “risotto rice.” The latter should be fine, but check the label to make sure it isn't preseasoned or otherwise flavored. In a pinch, even sushi rice will work.

In Italy, risotto is often celebrated as a standalone dish, especially when it's seasoned with robust flavors from meat, cheese, or fish sauce like risotto with crabs. However, there are rare occasions when risotto might share its glory with another delicacy, like the classic pairing of risotto Milanese and osso buco.

Most risotto recipes also include butter and cheese. We're totally on board with these additions because they're delicious, but they're not strictly necessary. All that creaminess is created by slowly coaxing out the rice's starch molecules, so added dairy isn't required.

Traditionally, risotto is made with a kind of rice named arborio rice instead of whole grains. It includes whole grains like farro, brown rice, or steel-cut oats which are essential for health. It is the best choice for nutritious food, controls cholesterol levels, and helps in maintaining weight.

If you are able to get white wine vinegar then you can add a tablespoon of this to the rice and let it boil away before adding any stock and this will often give some of the flavour of wine, whilst reducing the alcohol content.

Yes, the foundational creaminess of well-made risotto should come from the starches that the grains release slowly over the cooking process—but a bit of actual cream doesn't hurt, either. Make sure to season the risotto with salt after you've added the whipped cream.