Hello again, and welcome to part 3 of my recipe series. This week I practiced the art of the fold by way of cooking risotto. It was an arduous yet therapeutic process.

I have no ties to risotto and have probably ate it only two or three times in my life. It rarely pops up on the menus of Italian restaurants I visit here in the States. So there is no deep connection I have to the dish. However, the reason I was drawn to cooking it was because of a video I watched from one of my favorite chefs, Adam Byatt, enthusiastically making this simple dish. It highlighted the simplicity of the ingredients and the star of the dish being the most humble of ingredients: rice — arguably the most popular and widely consumed ingredient in the world? (someone fact check me) What stood out to me was the dish was less about the ingredients and more about the technique / methodology. The art of cooking risotto well is all based on allowing the rice to soak up the flavor (stock) in incremental batches (ladle pours of the stock). And hence, I wanted to attempt the cook.

Of the 3 dishes I’ve cooked so far in this series, this was the simplest one. However, what took me by surprise was the amount of time it took to properly cook the rice through. There are some key lessons I want to pass along so you don’t spend an hour and a half folding the rice continually. That is not an exaggeration.

There were various recipes I found, but this was the primary one I followed.

Ingredients

See image below. As mentioned throughout this series, nothing was measured and it was all eyeballed. In my kitchen we treat it more as an art than a science.

Arborio Rice — A short-grained rice with a high starch content is critical. Carnaroli rice was recommended, and I believe it is the most authentic rice option. However, Arborio works great and it was the only option my grocer offered
Yellow Onion
Celery — Some recipes included this as a base and others didn’t
Chicken Stock — A lot of liquid is necessary. You can either use a stock (chicken or vegetable) or water. There was not a consistent option across recipes. However, I’d suggest a flavorful stock because that results in a tastier risotto
Parmigiano Reggiano
Butter
Mushrooms — Optional. Not all recipes included mushroom. However, I highly recommend them because they add a nice umami to the dish and more importantly, a nice textural contrast to the wet rice. A meatier mushroom is better. My grocer was out of King Oysters so I settled with Portobellos
Cod — This is not traditional (or even common) whatsoever . However, I couldn’t have my full meal consisting of solely rice… granted a flavor-packed, fatty rice but still just rice, nevertheless. I needed some form of protein, so I thought a white fish would be a good option since it wouldn’t overpower the dish
Cilantro — Not pictured below. Again, this is not traditional (or even common) whatsoever. However, I realized last minute I had extra cilantro leftover in the fridge and thought it would top the cod well
White Wine — Many dishes recommend this, but I did not include it. The acidity is supposed to balance the richness of the dish
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil — I’d suggest a flavorful oil like olive oil rather than a neutral oil like canola oil. The rice absorbs these flavors and this dish is all about allowing the rice to cook and simmer in the tastiest flavors

*In case you were wondering, Zoup makes delicious bone broth.*

The Cooking Process

This is a simple cook. The key is around the technique and to never allow your rice to sit. Remain attentive and avoid multitasking.

30 mins: ~15 mins prepping the veg by finely slicing the onion and celery (and in my case, also the cilantro). Make sure the pieces are tiny. See image below. ~5 mins rinsing and drying the mushrooms. ~10 mins grating the parmesan. I decided to grate the whole wedge so that added a bit more time. See image below to see the difference in volume between parmesan in solid wedge form versus fully grated.
20 mins: Sautéing the veg for ~10 mins until it turns translucent or lightly browns. Then pouring the rice in and sautéing it without any liquid to allow it to toast. My preferred recipe mentioned waiting until there is a cracking sound, which signifies that the rice is partially opening. This ultimately allows the rice to soak up the broth. I also added some butter at this point to build some flavor into the rice and to prevent it from burning.
90 mins: Pouring one to two ladles of broth or water into the rice and stirring continually until it reduced and the rice absorbed ~70% of the liquid. Repeating this process continually until the rice was no longer hard and finished cooking. The recipes I used said the process took ~25 mins but because of the sheer amount of rice I added originally, it took me much longer. More on this below.
5-10 mins: Taking the rice off the heat and incorporating parmesan, butter, and/or any other high-fat, creamy ingredient (e.g., mascarpone — not traditional but Adam suggested it in one of his versions).
20 mins: Cooking the mushrooms and cod separately.

Lessons Learned

Overall the cooking process for this dish was more straightforward than the other two dishes I cooked in this series. However, I had a major blunder this go round, which resulted in a much more significant lesson learned. I’ve also included some other minor lessons learned and tips below.

Do NOT be greedy, glutinous or careless like me and add more rice than necessary. This will increase the cook time exponentially (maybe linearly, but it did not feel that way at the hour and fifteen minute mark…) and is the reason why the specific step in the process of cooking the rice took me 90 mins instead of the intended ~25 mins. I finished at 10:45pm, which was not ideal… Anyways, I cooked 1 pound of rice, which was half of the full container I bought. I’d recommend about a third of that. I poured the rice into a small bowl and used one and a half of those bowls. See image below to reference the bowl size. I should have used half of a single one of those bowls. This matters because as I mentioned above, the key to this dish is to continually fold the rice over in the liquid. This folding process allows the rice to absorb the broth and to cook evenly. When your pan is crowded due to an excessive amount of rice, it creates a taller layer of rice, which results in the rice at the bottom cooking more, while the rice at the top cooks less. Avoid this uneven cook because it will ruin your final dish . While the continual folding process mitigates this issue, the more rice in the pan, the more difficult it is to prevent the uneven cook. Additionally, as you progress through the cook, the rice absorbs more liquid and the volume in the pan grows — even with much of the liquid evaporating. This results in the content in your pan edging closer to the brim, and you are at the risk of pouring the rice over the edge as your fold it. And lastly and most importantly, the more rice in the pan, the longer it takes to cook. You don’t want to spend all night folding rice, so don’t pour excessive amounts of rice!!! Err on the side of less than more.

This is related to the above point, but ensure you continually stir / fold the rice. Don’t ever let it sit. The whole cooking process for risotto is a labor of love. Letting the rice sit and trying to do something else in the kitchen will result in the rice unevenly cooking — with certain pieces turning tender and perfect, while others remain hard. Show restraint and avoid multitasking. That other task in the kitchen can wait. Never neglect the rice!

Use lots of liquid and ensure it’s flavorful (i.e., brother is better than water). My blunder of using excessive rice naturally resulted in more liquid being needed. I originally thought the full quart of bone broth would be more than enough. I quickly realized how wrong I was. I not only used all the bone broth, but I also filled the jar with water another one and a half times. All the water was used. So all in I used 80 ounces of liquid, which is more than half a gallon! This additional liquid was needed because at the 30 minute mark of the folding process and I realized the rice was still extremely hard and undercooked. So keep pouring in liquid and letting it reduce until the rice is cooked to your liking.

I recommend finely chopping the vegetables. Added bonus: it’s a chance to also practice your knife skills. The vegetables are meant to serve as a base of flavor. They are not intended to be little bite-sized chunks accompanying your rice.

Don’t rinse the rice. For other dishes you may be used to rinsing your rice until the water runs clear, which indicates the starch is removed. However, risotto requires all the starch possible, so do not wash the rice. The more starch the better. The starch enables the emulsification process that results in the ideal end product: a wet and creamy rice. The starch is what allows the broth and fats to turn into one cohesive layer that coats the rice.

Lastly, I recommend adding mushrooms to this dish. I know they are not everybody’s cup of tea. However, the taste of the mushrooms compliment the chicken- and parmesan-flavored rice very well. And to be quite frank, as tasty as the rice ends up being, eating just rice by itself is flat out boring. Topping the rice off with something — whether that be mushrooms, an egg yolk or protein — makes for a more well rounded dish. Don’t be boring!

Images of the cooking process and final output are below. As it is starting to become a consistent theme across this series, presentation is not a priority of mine. While I know what good plating looks like, I could care less about making my dish look pretty after being in the kitchen for 3 hours. I just want to eat.

Stay tuned for more dishes!

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