The Secret For A Perfect Italian "Risotto"

How many times did you thought to prepare a real italian risotto? "Risotto" is the italian word of the rice cooked through a particular method. Sometimes you tasted it boiled, but that's not what we call "risotto". The preparation of it for us is a real cult, nothing can be left to chance, there are rules to follow and ingredients to use, but the final outcome is guaranteed. THE RICE There are different quality of rice: personally my favourite one is the vialone nano quality. The size of the berry is smaller than others but if you respect the right minutes (15' in average) it will not overcook and will keep the originary consistency.

Don't worry, this is only my best choice: to prepare a typical italian risotto you can use also other kind of rice, like the following: – Arborio (large berries, this is the most common rice used in Italy) – Carnaroli (second best-choice for italians) – Roma (long and rounded berries) – Venere (China-style) Please forget about "parboiled" quality, since this kind of berry request a different cooking method (and, in my humble opinion, it's really far from the result you'll obtain using a non-parboiled rice).

THE BROTH Yeah, you need a good "brodo" (the italian word for the broth) to cook the risotto. I've seen, travelling around the world, so many self-made cookers use the normal water with salt......horrible! The broth need to be obtained from meat (or vegetables, no worries, it will be only lighter than the meat broth) and, during the preparation of the risotto, need to be "on fire", boiling while you start cooking it. The perfect broth have to include: – a piece of meat (cow bones too, it will help to taste better) – a carrot – a celery – an onion Just take a pot full of water, put everything inside and watch a football match: after 90 minutes you will see that the water will be turned into a wonderful beef broth!

THE GOD OF RISOTTO: "ALLA MILANESE" You know which one to use, what to use to cook it, then....ready to know the perfect companion? Yes, it's yellow, it's tasty: the Saffron! The history, unofficially, says that a few centuries ago some worker, sat on a high roof of the DUOMO DI MILANO, during the lunch break bumped a can full of a yellow dough (used for the domo outdoor) and it went down into the cooked boiled rice. At that time nobody wanted to waste money or food, therefore being the dough made with natural ingredients (saffron) they tasted it and....yeah, fantastic! Maybe this is also the reason why the Yellow Risotto (with saffron) is also called "Risotto alla Milanese" (Milan Rice)..maybe not, maybe it's only a legend, anyway I can confirm the saffron and risotto is the perfect mix!