“Science can be illustrated through cooking experiments and cooking can be better understood through science.” (The Kitchen As Laboratory, Vega, Erik, and Van der Linden, 2012)
Starch is the basis of many foods in their natural state and a magical ingredient in the kitchen. But its properties have been exhaustively studied and its behavior can be predicted. Found in legumes, grains, pasta, and rice, starch plays a principal role in thickening sauces, giving structure to bread, and transforming tubers into fluffy mashed potatoes. The starch in rice, bred and bound for risotto, comprises 70 to 80% of the kernel and defines its unique character, carrying delicate to deeply savory flavors and melding rice and sauce into a unified whole.
For centuries risotto rice has been grown predominantly in Northern Italy in the Po Valley, an area that is ideal due to its cool climate and abundant moisture from Alpine watersheds. The Po River and its tributaries play a crucial role in the irrigation of rice paddies and is a vital source for agriculture as it flows 400 miles to its outlet in the Adriatic Sea. The two most common cultivars for Risotto are Arborio and Carnaroli, both high in starch, plumpish, of short to medium-long grain size, and with distinct pearly centers. Both contain varying ratios of two types of starch resulting in differences in their heat resistance, consistency, and the final texture of Italian risotto. Of the two, Arborio typically contains a more sticky type of starch (amylopectin) that can easily result in soft, gummy risotto if not handled with watchful attention. Most chefs prefer Carnaroli for risotto which has a higher ratio of the nonsticky sort of starch (amylose) and is more forgiving. Its al dente bite gives way to a swollen tenderness.
Like most living things, rice is full of countless cells all tightly knitted together. Inside them are microscopic granules of starch. When heated in water or broth to about 160F, the two starches absorb the liquid and swell to form a viscous complex that nearly fills its cells. This is called gelatinization not to be confused with the gelatin from collagen protein in animal bones and connective tissue. If the rice cells were to remain swollen and fully intact, risotto would not develop its characteristic creamy consistency at the finish. But as the cooking time lengthens, more heat is applied, and the pot is stirred, the starch gel oozes out trapping liquid and flavor-packed additions.
Overcooked or reheated risotto, particularly Arborio, leeches abundant starch and even more so when reheated. In general, the practice of aging rice has proven to beneficially stabilize the starch for greater resistance to disintegration although this is not a common practice in Italy.
In his piece “All Mashed Up”, Jeffrey Steingarten noted that the instant mashed potato industry discovered early on that if potatoes were cooled after reaching the gelatinization stage and then mashed, the amount of free starch would be reduced by half. Steingarten found that his super smooth, non-gummy mashed potatoes were part of the same science. He concluded that heating the potatoes to 20 F degrees above the gel point, and then cooling them before ricing them, resulted in the smoothest, dreamiest mash.
Starch-containing foods undergo an important change when they cool down. The starches form new organized structures and lose much of their ability to dissolve again, preventing them from oozing. This is known as retrogradation and is one good reason to serve risotto immediately after cooking. But retrogradation can also benefit the risotto-making process if time is a factor. Allowing the rice to cool after it gelatinizes, pre-cooking all additions, and scaling any enrichments in advance ensures that a dinner party or a hungry family hardly waits and takes away the stress of last-minute cooking. Yet, if time is of no concern, the two-step process may not be worth the trouble. Heating the rice to the gel stage means you have to babysit it for at least 25-30 minutes and keep a rapid response thermometer at the ready to monitor the temperature to its target climb. Then you’ll need to strain and cool the rice quickly and store it. Add the time necessary to prepare additions and enrichments and you will not end up saving any overall time, you’ll just be getting ahead of it by dividing the prep from the finishing steps. The advantage is that a two-step process may be accomplished days apart.
In our experience, cooling the rice and heating it with the remaining water after it gelatinizes and retrogrades did not improve the consistency or texture of risotto measurably compared to the two-step scientific method Steingarten used to bring his potatoes to ethereal heights. Nor did it hurt. You might just call the two-step process an interesting experiment. In any case, it’s probably best not to mention to your guests that you gelatinized and retrograded their risotto, otherwise they might not want to eat it. This is where science and appetite parts company. What matters most is the magnificence of the risotto that ends up on the end of your fork.
Preparing all ingredients in advance challenges the risotto canon I referred to in Part II of this essay and the presumption that the principal additions that define it (e.g., Risotto with mushrooms, with shellfish, spring vegetable, alla Parmigiana, al pomodoro) need to spend time with the rice early for flavors to merge and harmonize. This does not prove out. Owing to starch’s predominance in risotto rice and its entrapment behavior, flavor has nowhere to go but in and throughout. So, everything you add must be full of flavor and ready for blending with the rice as it reaches the end of cooking. This means that the additions should be par-cooked, steamed, sautéed or reduced to intensify their flavor or bring them into focus from the raw. Fragile foods such as shellfish and tender, quick-cooking ingredients such as spring peas or spinach should be added ⅔ to ¾ of the way into the cooking. Otherwise, the tender ingredient will be marred or the risotto will be diluted and the final consistency and texture compromised. It’s also important to maintain the right overall ratio of liquid added to rice. Risotto should not contain more than 3.5 times the weight of the rice in water, broth, or other liquid. If you are in doubt as to how much water your additions contribute, add less water or broth to start. Water or broth may be added at the end to provide for any deficiency. In short, you don’t want the rice to cook before the additions have or vice versa.
With these considerations in mind, here are our comments on the traditional risotto method, our simplified technique, and finally, the two-step scientific approach.
The Traditional Method
Use short-grain Italian rice suitable for risotto. Plan to make 6-8 portions at a time.
Melt butter, olive oil, or animal fat in a pot. Add minced onion and cook until soft and translucent. Coat the rice in butter or other fat to prevent sticking and toast the rice to break down surface starch.
Toasting the rice to break down surface starch is unnecessary. Starch will be released from the rice in the course of cooking with no help at the beginning. And if you add water or broth straight away, there is no concern for sticking,
Add wine and reduce it entirely or leave wine out
Adding wine has no functional value but taste. It is usually added in a small amount and does not need to be reduced.
Add water or broth (as preferred) incrementally, allowing the rice to absorb it gradually. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon.
It is not necessary to stir tirelessly and there is nothing magical about a wooden spoon
Add meat, poultry, vegetables, etc. in the course of adding liquid and according to their cooking time. Or cook them ahead for inclusion before the rice is fully cooked. Add Butter and cheese or other enrichment when the rice is very nearly cooked. Time: 20-40 minutes
The wide outside range in cooking time relates to the practice of caressing the rice with many small incremental additions of water or broth. The conviction is that this is necessary for the rice to absorb flavor and the flavors themselves to harmonize. We agree with cooking additions ahead for inclusion before the rice is fully cooked. The incremental additions is a waste of time and only complicate what should be a simple process.
The consistency of the final rice with all additions should be loose but integrated and maintain an al dente texture. “All’onda” (like a wave) is used to describe its finished consistency
“All’ onda” refers to jerking the pot back toward you and allowing it to slosh back in a ‘wave-like’ manner while on the flame. I wouldn’t recommend this unless you are a practiced chef and are willing to risk scalding rice on the stove, or worse, on your arms and torso. In any case, it is not easy to manage this maneuver in a deep pot, much less with one that contains 6-8 portions of rice. The consistency is better judged in the pot by watching how it flows when pulled away from the bottom with a spoon. (“All’onda might better be thought of like an incoming tide than a wave, leisurely running to the edge of a beach.
Our Method
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