Hang on, you're contradicting yourself and having a go at Sadie for saying exactly what you're saying now, too!  She said it doesn't have to be sitrred constantly, which is correct.  You're saying so yourself! 

Don't have a go at active and established members of this community unless you have a valid point to make, which is clearly not the case.

Last edited by Anna (Thu 31 May 07 3:08pm)

Mutiny - I do not cook italian 'cuisine' (a french word). Much Italian 'cuisine' is cooked by poncey 'cheffy' types (jaime excepted) who have possibly never actually set foot in an Italian families kitchen.

I cook italian food that I was taught by my friends Italian mothers and grandmothers while hanging around in their kitchens from when I was a youngster. We didn't ask where they immigrated from - we just learned to cook the food and enjoyed eating it. I also learned a little bit of Italian (now forgotten) as my friends grandmothers spoke very little english and we all communicated through food.

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Bcrain - it is the rice itself that makes it creamy - when the liquid is added the rice grain releases its starches etc which 'sucks up' the liquid and softens the core of the grain enabling the starches to soften and expand and the liquid thickens.

This is why if you keep the heat very low and add the hot liquids and barely stir, you will still get the same result as when you are doing a lot of stirring.

Possibly not explained very well, but that is the basics of it.

Last edited by sadie-hoshi (Thu 31 May 07 4:21pm)

Thanks Sadie, you explained it very well

I have heard of a 6 min variation using a pressure cooker, although i have never tried it... supposedly it has the creamyness and firm grains of the traditional stirred risotto..   the basic changes for a risotto recipe to work in a pressure cooker are 2 times broth to rice instead of approx 3 times for stirred.  Plus you add the flavourings and extras..eg shrimp/peas etc after the basic rice comes out of the cooker.

Mutiny .. from how i read the posts in the Thread you were the only one that was worried about "TRUE" risotto.  If it is an italian rice {Carnaroli ,arborio ,Vialone nano} and has been toasted before adding the stock i would say it is risotto..   IF it is  baked it may not have a texture i would like but bad risotto is still risotto.. Unlike these pilaf dishes ppl try to pass off as risotto 

yes ashen, i was worried about "true" risotto - that was the whole argument 

just because a rice primarily used for risotto is toasted before its had stock added, does not make it a risotto. thats like saying because im using spaghetti, any tomato sauce im adding to it makes it spaghetti bolognese. sure, many people would call it that - but that doesnt make it correct does it?

bleh, either way, i dont really care. i just thought that when telling people how to make *risotto* that you should use the most traditional/commonly accepted method. I would say that many things can be a *variation* - but not the actual thing.

Either way - its rice with stock in it -_- so long as it tastes good i dont really care. just dont tell me its something that its not.