Risotteria

[jaybee]

OK OK enough of this idle chit chat, or shit shat as the case may be. Sandra's post caused me to go to Risotteria for lunch today. It is a small, almost coffee-shop sized place with a small number of tables along a banquette and a long counter separating the kitchen area from the eating area. It is bright and pleasant during the day, and the service was both friendly and efficient. I ordered the most basic risotto--the saffron, parmesan version with the addition of pine nuts. I could not finish the whole dish (else tonight's dinner would be shortchanged). I give the dish a B+. After adding more ground parmesan and some black pepper the taste picked up. The texture was excellent. The grains were perfectly al dente in a creamy yellow base with pieces of fresh chopped parsley and chives dropped in at the end. Two good italian beers on menu. I wil definitley reurn and try one of the more complex versions. The woman at the next table said she loves the mozarella, porcini mushrom and truffle oil version, and comes in from Park Slope to eat there. It's a great neighborhood to shop in too.

[Fat Guy]

good italian beers

Are you feeling okay?

[peterpumkino]

Peter - I've been to the Isola Comacina in 1983. Did they still do that crazy fire ceremony there?

I don't believe it, somone who's actually been to Isola! I'm impressed and, yes, they still do the fire cermony but what I view. You know my bedroom is Sala actually looked out onto Isola! And there's now a lovely restaurants called La Tirlandana at the boat drop in Sala before you even get to Isola.

[jaybee]

Are you feeling okay?

I like Moretti.

[Fat Guy]

Okay, that's respectable. Moretti tastes like a German beer. It's one of those doppel-schmockel-whatever-bocks. I had forgotten about its existence, but now that you mention it I recall I like it too.

[jaybee]

It comes from San Daniele, where they make good proscuito. I been dere.

[cakewalk]

There was a thread a while back in which everyone "waxed rhapsodic about risotto." It was a good thread, and I realized I had no idea what the hell risotto was (never mind how to pronounce it). So about a week or so ago I decided to try to make some.

My main objective was just to get an idea of what the rice "does" when you make risotto, since it seems to behave completely differently than when you make regular rice. I didn't have any stock, of course, since I've never made any stock (I make soup, hell with stock), so I used fake stock (Seitenbacher vegetable broth, not too bad really). I guess it served its purpose. And of course I bought arborio rice, since to use regular rice would be a major sin, and in addition it probably wouldn't work. I followed along with a basic risotto recipe from The Joy of Cooking.

So. Diced and fried an onion in olive oil (EVOO, voila) until translucent. (Is this what you call sweating an onion? Jeeze, I been doing that since I was two.) I think butter would have tasted better in the long run. Added the rice and stirred till combined w/onion and EVOO. I think that's a more important step than Joy of Cooking points out, it needs to hang out a bit longer than that. Started adding the simmering stock, cup by cup, and stirred and stirred and stirred. It's quite incredible to watch this process. Anyway, at a certain point I realized I had forgotten to grate the cheese! So I left off stirring to grate (in thirty second intervals). I wasn't making a large amount, so it wasn't too terrible.

It came out not bad. It wasn't as creamy as I thought it should be, given everyone's descriptions, but it wasn't all clumped together either. It's hard to know if the rice is all through soaking up liquid or if it's still ready for more. I didn't use any wine, which would certainly make a difference in taste, but would that also make a difference in how much other liquid the rice will take? (I mean because of the alcohol effecting absorbancy, not because of amounts of liquids used.) I'll have to try it again. Does anyone have any idea if the Rissoteria uses vegetable stock or meat stock?

I think learning to make it properly might be just a tad easier than learning to pronounce it properly!

[SobaAddict70]

try using white wine next time. makes a significant difference in the final product.

also, when you're adding the stock (and this comes only with practice), you want to add it when the volume of liquid in the pan has reduced quite a bit. I can't define "quite a bit" in concrete terms, but basically you want to add more stock when you've seen that the rice has absorbed about half of the most recent addition of liquid.

not sure if this makes sense.

the finished product should have a creamy texture BEFORE the addition of butter/cheese/cream and still be al dente.

SA

[jaybee]

SA's direction is right. The rice should be wet but there should be no liquid visible before you add the next ladel-ful. You also need to watch that the bottom does not stick, hence the careful stirring, with a wooden spoon or wooden spatula so as not to break the rice kernels. Stir right to the bottom of the pan, I start with a 1/2 cup of dry white wine before adding the stock. When this is absorbed, the stock goes in. It's good to have a one-cup ladel. I think 5-6 cups of stock usually work for 1 1/2 cups of rice, which is enough to serve four. The volume of rice almost triples in the pot, so you need to use a deep and heavy bottomed pot.

[cakewalk]

Thank you, Soba and jaybee. I can see that I'm going to be practicing this a lot. I always cook more as winter approaches, and risotto is going to be a biggie this year, I can tell.

[Suzanne F]

the finished product should have a creamy texture BEFORE the addition of butter/cheese/cream and still be al dente.

The creaminess comes from the starch released from the surface of the rice grains. And the only way to tell if it's done is to keep tasting. Just thought I'd add my 2 centsentences, now that the thread is back on track.

[Charles Smith]

another point that it took me years to learn, was that it cooks faster at lower heat, because the stock is being absorbed by the grain, as opposed to evaporating- experimenting and tasting is the only way to get this right on your stove-

It's worth the fuss IMHO

Cheers,

Charles

[Fat Guy]

If we're going to have a discussion of how to cook risotto, let's not bury it on a thread about a specific restaurant in New York. Somebody start a new one.

[peterpumkino]

I've had risotto in Milan and I make it at home, and I can make it taste as good as it does in Milan.

Many, many 'people in the know' think they can cook exactly the same as they cook in Milano. I, for one, have never, ever, in forty years seen it done. Now, you could be the exception to this rule therefore next time I'm in New York I'll come to your house and try it (without the Duomo and shopping of course).

However I won't hold my breath.

Ma sei proprio un cretino!

[g.johnson]

I asked an Italian colleague about risotto today. She confirmed the consensus view of short first and long second o, with a little pause after the second syllable. She also spontaneously mentioned Rissoteria as providing an excellent version, not that a native’s opinion is necessarily privileged.