On 3/17/2017 at 7:30 PM, Alex said:1) To marrow or not to marrow? That is a question. Classic recipes say yes (although Kasper says she prefers hers without); modern recipes don't include it. Why the heck is that? I do have some very nice marrow bones at home, so that's not the issue, but I was wondering what, if anything, would be missing from the aroma and taste if I omitted it.
I don't always do marrow but it should be there. If I have the time, I will cook the marrow on very low heat to melt it and strain it, so I won't have black spots on my risotto. It is traditional to use also a tiny bit of "sugo d'arrosto", roast jus.
You start with butter and marrow (and a very small quantity of roast jus) if you have it.
On 3/17/2017 at 7:30 PM, Alex said:2) Hazan and Kasper add the marrow at the start, while cooking the onion; Bastianich adds it after the first ladle of stock has been absorbed. Any thoughts here?
Beginning, already answer on 1.
On 3/17/2017 at 7:30 PM, Alex said:3) Speaking of cooking the onion, there seems to be no clear preference in the recipes for olive oil, butter, or a mixture of butter and oil. Unsalted butter seems more appropriate to me. Do you have a preference?
Never ever oil in risotto alla milanese. Although in the rest of Italy some people will use oil for a true Milanese is a sacrilege. And I agree, oil doesn't belong here. The only thing is that sometimes I like to cook more onion on the side with butter, for long, until it's melting soft (no color) and use just a couple tablespoon to add when I toast the rice. No wine btw, I don't like it in here.
On 3/17/2017 at 7:30 PM, Alex said:4) And speaking of stock, Kasper uses poultry; Bastianich and Hazan use beef or meat stock. All of the modern recipes use chicken stock. Any thoughts about why that is? I imagine there's a not-insignificant difference in the taste of the final product.
No doubt for me, beef stock! 100% and differently than the French it's never a brown stock, no roasting, and done with a mix of bones (no marrow) and meat. The taste is off to me if it doesn't have beef stock.
On 3/17/2017 at 7:30 PM, Alex said:5) All of the classic recipes hold back some stock in which to dissolve the saffron, then add this liquid part-way through the cooking process. All of the modern recipes, except for Parisi, dissolve the saffron in the big saucepan of stock before starting to add it to the rice. (Parisi crumbles the saffron and adds it to the wine in the pan, prior to adding any stock. Weird.) Any ideas why? Have people just gotten lazy over the past 20 years or does it truly not make a difference?
To me it's depends on the saffron you have, very good quality or "fake". The good quality, I'll add only at the end dissolved in stock.
But many times I'll use the fake powdered saffron from 3 cuochi that I bring back from Italy and I will cook my risotto 90% of the time in my pressure cooker, because, regardless a culinary degree and being brought up by Lombardi grandparents, my risotto in the pressure cookers comes so much better than the traditionally made.
Just as a curiosity, in Lombardy, nobody calls it risotto alla milanese but risotto giallo, yellow risotto.
