How to Cook Restaurant-Quality Risotto at Home

Risotto has a reputation for being difficult that is only partly deserved. The technique is not complicated, but it is unforgiving of shortcuts. There are three rules that, if followed, produce a restaurant-quality bowl every single time. Rule one: your stock must be hot. Adding cold stock to the rice drops the temperature and stops the starch from releasing properly, producing a dish with separate, chalky grains rather than a unified, creamy mass. Keep a small pan of stock at a quiet simmer beside the risotto pan throughout cooking.

Rule two: add stock in ladles, not all at once. The constant addition of small amounts of liquid -- and the constant stirring that follows -- is what coaxes the starch from the surface of each grain and turns it into the glossy binding sauce that holds the risotto together. Add too much at once and the rice boils rather than absorbs, the starch escapes into the excess water and you get a soup with rice in it. Each ladle should be absorbed to the point where dragging a spoon across the bottom of the pan leaves a trail that holds for a full second before the risotto flows back.

Rule three -- and the one most often omitted at home -- is the mantecatura, the vigorous beating in of cold butter and Parmesan at the very end, off the heat. This step creates a micro-emulsion between the hot starchy rice liquid, the cold butter fat and the Parmesan protein. The result is a coating so creamy that the risotto flows slowly ("all'onda" -- in a wave) when you shake the pan. Add the butter in small cubes, shake and beat the pan hard. The risotto should be plated and eaten within 4 minutes of this step before the starch begins to set.