If you've ever watched Chef Gordon Ramsey's cooking show, "Hell's Kitchen," you have no doubt seen him ranting and raving about most of the contestants failed attempts to properly make Risotto (Braised Rice). He screams, he yells, he usually curses, and eventually throws a pan or two of the rice into a trash can. Since it appeared to be such a difficult dish to master I've been avoiding it ever since I came across Julia's recipe for Risotto. It was time to conquer my fears and, when I was done making this, I found myself scratching my head wondering where the hard part was!
Over the years I've actually become pretty good at making rice. While living in South Korea I learned the difference between Japanese style "sticky" rice (needs to be sticky so you can eat it with chop sticks) versus the Korean rice which is not sticky since they eat their rice with a spoon. In Korea I learned to thoroughly rinse the rice until the water is clear (not milky) before cooking it. Removing the loose starch keeps the rice from being sticky.
The other reallllllllllly cool trick I learned in Korea was how to measure the water and rice properly. I've never needed to use a measuring cup for rice or water since. Once the rice is rinsed it is leveled in the bottom of the cooking pot/pan. Then you place the palm of your hand on top of the rice and fill the pan with cold water until it reaches your top knuckle (where your finger attaches to your hand). The pan goes on the stove and is brought to a boil, then the pan is covered and simmered for 25 minutes. Then the lid is removed and you'll find a batch of perfectly cooked rice. I have no idea why that knuckle measuring method works every time. Size of the pan doesn't matter. Amount of rice doesn't matter (well, I suppose it might if you only used one or two grains of rice). Even the size of the hand doesn't seem to matter (i.e. my hand versus my wife's hand). I'll chalk it up to magic. Try it, you'll be amazed!
Back to risotto. Instead of rinsing the starch off of the rice, the French method starts by first slowly sauteeing the rice in butter for 2 or 3 minutes, until it turns a bit of a milky color. Julia explained that "this cooks the rice-flour coating and prevents the rice from becoming sticky."
I actually sauteed my onions first. I had chopped up about 1/2 cup of onions (for two cups of uncooked rice - yeah, I had to measure since I wasn't using my proven Korean method) so I sauteed them for about five minutes until soft but not brown. Then the rice went in and was cooked over moderate heat for a couple of minutes without letting the grains brown. They started to turn a bit translucent when they were ready for the next step.
Boiling liquid was added next. Remember, the liquid should be brought to a boil in a separate pan before being added to the rice! I choose to use beef broth this time but chicken broth, mushroom broth, fish stock, or even just water could be added for different flavors. The amount of liquid used should be twice the amount of uncooked rice. This time I used four cups of broth for the two cups of rice. I brought the contents to a low boil and then adjusted the temperature so that it simmered just below a boil for about 15 minutes. When you make your rice, resist the temptation to open the lid and peek!
Doing so releases much of the evaporated moisture and lets it escape instead of being absorbed into the grains of rice. If you peek you will have only yourself to blame for the rice being dry! When the time was up, I removed the lid and fluffed things up and transferred it into a serving dish. When I sampled the first bite I was amazed at how good this was! Simple to make and reallllllllly tasty. My sweetie loved it too. As a matter of fact, when we ate the complete dinner we ended up having seconds of rice but not the entree!
Take that Gordon Ramsey! Perhaps I should offer a tutorial to your contestants before they show up? Nah, why would they practice? That would be like a contestant for Survivor actually learning how to make a fire before they head on to the show, but that's a bit of a digression. In any case, I'm looking forward to making Risotto again and trying it with a different broth! I hope you enjoy it.
Bon Appetit!
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