How to choose rice for risotto?

Among all rice dishes, risotto is considered one of the most popular, along with paella and pilau.This dish is loved all over the world due to its delicate texture and rather delicate taste. It would seem that it is quite easy to prepare, because the main component here is boiled rice, but getting the desired result is not at all easy - for this you need to know the particular recipes and choose the right rice.

Experienced housewives and cooks know well that cooking rice for Italian risotto is one of the most difficult tasks. Having mastered the skill of its preparation, the cook learns a lot of subtleties that generally affect his ability to cook food and increase the degree of professional skill.

Risotto is more than just porridge for dinner, it’s a real philosophy. Therefore, absolutely everything is of fundamental importance here - what kind of rice to pick up, what spices and vegetables to supplement with cereals, what container to cook all this and, most importantly, with what mood to approach the matter. Great importance here is following your own culinary flair and inner voice, and not blindly repeating recipes taken from the Internet.

But this is in general, and if we talk specifically about rice, then the most important requirement is a large amount of starch being created, that is, the active component of amylopectin, which is released during the heat treatment and forms some kind of paste - this is what gives the dish that creamy creamy texture and delicate flavor, which make the dish so popular.

Amylopectin accumulates on the surface of the grain of rice, it is very soft and has the ability to quickly bind with water and glue rice on each other. At the same time, amylase must be present in high-quality rice - it is a solid substance that is located inside the grain and allows it to remain dense in the core until the very moment of full readiness. In the process of cooking rice for risotto, it is very important to keep both of these substances.

Far from every type of rice is suitable for making risotto; therefore, several basic criteria should be followed when purchasing cereal.

• Rice must contain a high concentration of starch, as it gives the desired texture of the risotto.
• There should absolutely not be any chips on the grains, otherwise the cereal is quickly boiled soft and instead of the desired dish you will get a sticky mash.
• The larger the rice, the better, the optimal use of the round grain product.
• Most often on the product packaging is a mark that it is suitable for risotto. Sometimes on the package you can see only this one inscription without specifying a specific kind of cereal - such rice can be safely bought, in most cases it is arborio.
• It is very important to study the shelf life and storage conditions of the product - a product that is stored for a long time or in the wrong conditions is not suitable for cooking this appetizing dish. For the same reason, the packaging must be complete - its damage may indicate that the pack has been repeatedly moved from one place to another. Most likely, at the same time the grains split up - in this case the dish becomes smeared and does not hold the shape at all.

Many manufacturers are engaged in making rice for risotto - on the shelves of shops you can find a wide selection of rice of various varieties, which differ in their appearance, as well as starch content and quality. All these differences can literally taste, because risotto requires only the best products. Let us dwell on them in more detail.

This is the most famous type of rice in Russia for risotto. Arborio is home to Piedmont.Grains are very large and loose, include quite a lot of amylopectin. This rice is quite easy to cook, because the correct creamy texture is absolutely always.

But there is a drawback - the dish must certainly be served and eaten immediately after cooking, otherwise the cooled product will lose its shape and will be a little tasty sticky goo that cannot be reheated. The Italians themselves, by the way, use this type of rice only for cooking basic dishes that do not require complicated side dishes.

This is one of the most popular type of rice in the country. Grains of this cereal are slightly smaller than arborio, and slightly elongated. The starch content is enough to give the necessary texture, however, its concentration is lower, which is why the dish even after some time after cooking in a cold form does not “float”, but retains its shape and structure. This is the perfect risotto rice.

This is one of the best varieties of "Carnaroli", which is among the highest quality of all used. The product has a rather complicated manufacturing technology - during the processing of the cereal, the core is extracted from the grain and kept in the cold for seven years, then it is ground and returned back to the grits. Such croup is prepared rather quickly, it does not boil soft and perfectly keeps its shape, keeping it for a long time after the creation of the dish.

In our country, such rice is not sold, since there are no official importers on the market that can provide retail outlets with the product. Therefore, it can only be purchased through a friend or through online purchases. For risotto, this kind of rice is considered to be the best - it gives the perfect texture, the dish comes out extremely gentle and very soft, but at the same time it perfectly keeps its shape even when it is cold. It is "Vialone Nano" that is preferred by the most famous chefs in the whole world.

This variety of rice culture grows in Lombardy and represents cereals of the average quality level. It has a fairly high concentration of starch - its content is so high that the characteristic flavor can be felt even in the finished dish. When boiling, white foam is formed on the surface of the water. The grains are rather large, however, soon after boiling they begin to lose their original shape and the risotto does not look so appetizing anymore.

This is one of the most versatile varieties of rice, which is equally good for both warm salads and risotto. It has a high concentration of starch and excellent taste characteristics, therefore, suitable for the manufacture of this savory dish. At the same time, consumers note that there are usually too many broken grains in the rice of this type, this leads to the fact that the texture of the prepared grain is kept very bad, and in the shortest time the risotto loses its shape.

This is one of the most famous and common rice varieties for risotto, which is in wide demand due to the optimal price / quality ratio. This culture is grown in Italy, rice has the necessary amount of starch and exceptional taste. The dish turns out tasty and fragrant. However, broken grains are often present in the croup, however, their content is small, so it is still quite possible to achieve the correct texture, but the product does not hold the shape well, so you need to eat it right after its preparation.

This type of rice is cultivated near Verona and is characterized by an exceptionally high quality of grain, the croup is sold almost without damage, therefore it is optimally suitable for preparing the original Italian risotto.

Besides rice, risotto needs broth, cooking itself involves several basic steps.

1. First you need to cook soffritto - that is, roasting onions and other vegetables. It is very important that the onions do not turn out to be too deep-fried, it should only slightly change its shade, but not completely change color.
2. The next stage is mixing rice with prepared vegetables and slow roasting in butter until rice fully absorbs it.
3. In the third stage, the rice is mixed with broth. For risotto most suitable chicken. To the rice-vegetable mixture pour a pair of ladle and cook until the liquid is completely absorbed. These manipulations are repeated many times.
4. When rice is almost ready, you can add other components of the dish - mushrooms, seafood and the like, and then pour all the remaining broth and boil all over the low heat for another 15-20 minutes. After this time, remove the pan from the stove, wrap it with a towel and let it stand for about 2-3 minutes in complete rest.

See the recipe for making risotto below.