General Tips on Making Risottos

Risotto is a wonderful Italian dish made from rice that's gently simmered in broth while being frequently stirred. It's a somewhat labor intensive dish, but it repays your efforts in full!

The most important thing about risotto is the rice. You must use the correct type of rice for risotto or you'll end up with a disappointing dish that's just not anything close to the real thing. The rice you use has to be starchy enough to pull the grains together in the final dish.Look for these types of rice when making risotto:

Arborio  Fairly common imported rice from Italy. Available in some supermarkets and many specialty food stores.
Vialone Nano Somewhat harder than Arborio, or so I've read.  I haven't used this type of Italian rice, only read recommendations for it.
Carnaroli Marcella Hazan, a reknowned Italian chef, calls this rice "Unquestionably the best of the three." It's more difficult to find and more expensive.
California Pearl Grown in California (surprise!) and supposedly works quite well for risottos.  I haven't used it myself, but folks I trust say it's a good substitute if you can't find the other types.

The next step is getting a good broth for your risotto. When possible, make the broth yourself. Chicken broths are preferred for most risottos, although a lovely beef broth is perfect if you're using heavier meats in the rice dish. When it's just vegetables or cheese, use a lighter broth.

Cooking the risotto may sound somewhat intimidating. Most classical recipes make it seem that you've got to stand over the pot each and every second the risotto is cooking, constantly stirring and adding in more broth. That's really not the case at all!  As long as you keep a close eye on the risotto pot and stir it once every couple minutes, you're not going to end up with a hideous batch of burnt or glumpy rice.

The best thing I can do is actually walk you through a batch of basic risotto. You can use these techniques as a basis for other variations.

1. Heat four cups of chicken broth and one cup of water in a pot near the burner you'll use for the risotto pot. Bring the liquid just to a simmer.
2. While the liquid is heating, chop up half of a small onion and mince a clove of garlic.
3. Heat a heavy, large and shallow pot over medium-high heat.  A Dutch oven is quite nice, although since I don't have anything better, I use a somewhat lighter, shallow stock pot. It works fine, but isn't quite as forgiving as heavier pans.
4. When the pot is hot, add in 2 Tbs of butter and 2 Tbs of olive oil. When the butter is melted, sautee the onions for 2 minutes, then add the garlic.  Sautee for another minute until the garlic is aromatic and golden (but not brown or black!).
5. Add in 2 cups of risotto rice (see above) and stir so that all the grains are covered with the butter/oil mix.  Continue stirring for another minute, then ladle in a cup of broth, stirring as you add the liquid.
6. Lower the heat to medium and continue to stir the rice as it absorbs the liquid.
7. As the pot starts to dry out a bit, add another cup of broth, stirring it into the rice.  At this point, if you've got the heat carefully set, you can start to do a few other things in the kitchen, but you'll still need to keep a close eye on the rice pot, stirring once a minute or so.  Continue to add a cup of broth at a time, allowing the broth to be almost completely absorbed before continuing.
8. After 15 or 20 minutes of cooking, stirring and adding in more broth, the rice should be almost cooked.  Test a grain or three for doneness: it should be still barely firm in the middle. When the rice reaches this point, add 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese to the pot.  Stir it in well, adding a small amount of broth if needed.
9. At this point, the rice should be finished: soft, but with a firm center and surrounded in a rich, starchy binding that's mixed up with the flavors from the broth, onion and garlic and finally the parmesan cheese.
10. Serve the risotto immediately, passing a bit of extra cheese for the side.

That's all there is to making risotto!