BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stu
Date: 26 Sep 14 - 07:27 AM

Thanks Steve. I have to say Imperial certainly does have kudos!

Musket: Love the Greggs Bosun joke. That will get an airing at the session tonight.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Musket
Date: 26 Sep 14 - 02:23 AM

Yeah, some scientists are salad Dodgers. It comes from researching the particle that adds mass. The Greggs Boson.

Take heart. They don't put bay windows on shit houses.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 06:42 PM

Stu, all of us of good will here who read your posts know that you are a true advocate and enthusiast for your chosen path in life, and a damned good honest scientist to boot. I shouldn't really have mentioned Imperial College, as it didn't have the kudos in 1969 that it has now... :-(

Good luck with the doctorate. Whatever else happens, I know it'll be full of good honest science. And, though I'm leaner now than for many years past (thank you to the missus for that), I can guarantee that I've very often been a far fatter bloke than you!

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stu
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 10:35 AM

Also Steve, kind words about the palaeontology work, but really I'm a fat bloke who was slated for a factory job by the careers advisor at school (bottom class) and lucked into a self-funded, part-time Ph.D in my middle age, which I'll be fortunate to finish as I'm a skint sole trader by day.

All this talk of neeps has made me peckish though.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Musket
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 08:09 AM

Begone! Thy heretics!

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stu
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 05:33 AM

"But a parsnip that isn't cut lengthwise and roasted in goose fat alongside roast spuds & carrots is a waste of a good parsnip."

Break free of thou's parsnip myopia and stick 'em in a risotto and see the light!

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 04:53 AM

Giovanni,
Neeps are really almost any root vegetable. When eaten with haggis, they should be swede, but others work as well.
You see the core of the word in the "nip" suffix in parsnip and turnip.
And to help any other foreigners, swede are often called rutabaga and only fed to animals, but are a fine supplement to the vegetable palette: just be aware they should be peeled, cut small, not more than 1cm cubes, and cooked for quite a long time.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stu
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 04:06 AM

Steve - I have to admit I had to look up 'mantecura'. I stir in parmesan (with some vigour) but tend to leave the butter out as it gets a bit too . . . something.

I'm not much of a risotto connoisseur. I don't make my own stock either as I rarely have a chicken carcass about, preferring to make my mum's Devilled Chicken recipe which is my favouritist dish of all time.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Musket
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 03:34 AM

Only in the areas where they point at aeroplanes.

Parsnip.. I know this is only personal taste, but I find parsnip to be a flavour that stands out and rarely compliments any other dimension. (Dimension.. Been watching Hairy Bikers again...)

But a parsnip that isn't cut lengthwise and roasted in goose fat alongside roast spuds & carrots is a waste of a good parsnip.

Mind you, each year I threaten to grow them in tubes because I get the sorts of shapes Esther Rantzen would have blushed seeing.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,giovanni
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 03:25 AM

Being a foreigner of course I can't be sure, but I always understood "neeps" to be either turnips or swede, depending on which side of the argument you rage.

And don't the Scots call parsnips "white carrot"?

g

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Sep 14 - 06:56 PM

Stu, I am in awe of you in your role of palaeontologist (being a botany graduate meself, though I did do a palaeobotany course at Imperial College under the great Kenny Alvin, and got a first in it...), but I cannot easily respect a man who omits the mantecura, the sine qua non, from his risotto. I take it that this was an undeliberate omission. Please tell me I'm right. I wouldn't want to be thinking of you as the pete of the cucina...

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 24 Sep 14 - 04:00 PM

Thanks, Stu. I'll give it a go.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stu
Date: 24 Sep 14 - 12:48 PM

Sorry, parsnip risotto recipe here:

I cut my neeps 1cm cubes and parboil for three minutes. Fry a white onion in butter, add the parsnips and cook a little longer - a little colour on the neeps won't hurt. If you have any white wine about you can stick a splash in now to deglaze (although nothing should really be burnt). Add the rice and then the stock, although I do mine in stages and cook as usual. Finally season with salt and pepper and stir in a generous handful of parmesan to finish. That's it! No herbs or anything else.

It tastes a lot better than it sounds, and is not overly sweet too. I had doubts when I first made it but on a cold winter's day it's really warming and hearty. I got the recipe from one of Hugh Fearly-Whittingstall's books I think. I have tried it with asparagus but the parsnip works much better.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 24 Sep 14 - 09:01 AM

Parsnips will dictate the flavour if left unchecked: that may be OK if you like them, I'd be far more tempted to tie it back by cubing and roasting them first, it will give texture, too. At an extreme, could they be grated before roasting lightly?

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 24 Sep 14 - 07:49 AM

Refreshing in hope of more info about parsnip risotto....

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 08:12 AM

Yeah, do tell, Stu. I love parsnips and I found this recipe but I'm thinking it might be good with a garam masala spice blend.
Click here

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 07:43 AM

Never heard of parsnip in risotto, I'd imagine it's quite sweet. Do you include any herbs or spices?

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stu
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 06:00 AM

Parsnip risotto is wonderful, especially on a cold winter day.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 04:45 AM

The best way to buy Basmati, is to get the stuff that Indian folk buy - and that comes in sacks not bags. We get ours from Lidl it costs about £12 for 10Kg and is perfect. No broken bits, no stickiness, perfect light fluffy grains. I cook it on a fast simmer for ten minutes - lid on - after bringing back to the boil.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,giovanni
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 02:04 AM

Ah, MikeL2, glad to have helped you to discover arancini - cucina povera at its best.

Many people stuff the arancini balls with leftover ragu or cheese, but it's not really necessary if your risotto was good in the first place.

cheers

g

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Sep 14 - 09:07 PM

Steve, your method is essentially the one I've been using for yonks, only using long grain rice, for a superbly adaptable recipe with the family name of "Rice Thing" (but I accept that a proper job demands proper risotto rice) Well, the thing about rice is that even the most expensive rice is cheap. It's an ingredient I won't compromise on. The best risotto rice for two of us costs less than a portion of good organic spuds for two of us. I've heard about folks using rice other than traditional risotto rice for risottos, and getting good results, but I've never tried it. For my curries I buy the best basmati I can lay my hands on and it's still cheap. By the way, cooking basmati: measure out your rice. Rinse it in cold water several times and drain it. Put in pan with salt and EXCESS BOILING water and boil for exactly twelve minutes. Stir at the beginning only, to ensure that grains don't stick to each other. Drain. If this doesn't work for you, you're barking mad.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 22 Sep 14 - 05:28 AM

Hi Guest giovanni

<" if you insist on wasting leftover risotto in that soupy thing of yours, how on earth do you make your arancini? ">

The simple answer is....I don't. Until your comment I had not heard of it. I have looked up what it is and how to make it so maybe next time I do a risotto I will try it....sounds delicious to me.

Thanks

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,giovanni
Date: 22 Sep 14 - 04:30 AM

GUEST MikeL2 - if you insist on wasting leftover risotto in that soupy thing of yours, how on earth do you make your arancini?

g

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Musket
Date: 22 Sep 14 - 03:35 AM

Microwave....

Warming milk and defrosting an ingredient I forgot to get out earlier. To be fair, our new one can warm a pasty without making the pastry go soggy. It's witchcraft I tell you.

Saffron is an expensive colourant but we brought a shed load back from Azerbaijan a few years ago and only recently ran out so we have been using it in some risotto dishes. Will we buy more? Yes but only because you get used to it, not because it adds a dimension to some dishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: BobL
Date: 22 Sep 14 - 03:16 AM

Steve, your method is essentially the one I've been using for yonks, only using long grain rice, for a superbly adaptable recipe with the family name of "Rice Thing" (but I accept that a proper job demands proper risotto rice).

There is, as you say, no substitute for Real Chicken Stock. A pressure cooker is a useful weapon to have in the kitchen armoury here - the boiling time is cut to 40 minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Sep 14 - 09:00 PM

Depends on how good your saffron is, and what other flavours are involved. On a plain and simple risotto, possibly with peas or sparrow-grass, then it is as important as a drop of truffle oil can sometimes be with more robust flavours. But you do have to learn how to use it, simply chucking it in with some water is pointless.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: sciencegeek
Date: 21 Sep 14 - 08:53 AM

microwaves are great for reheating items and steaming vegetables...   

put some brown rice in a tube sox heat for a minute and you have a handy heating pad for sore shoulders, etc.

it's merely a heat source with certain characteristics need to be understood - its effect upon proteins is a major reason why overcooking meat is so easy to do. or steam creation is why you can't do hardboiled eggs... well, not without an explosion LOL

considering the fact that earlier people cooked by adding hot stones to containers of water and meat/vegetables, I'm happy to forgo the soot in my meal...

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Sep 14 - 12:55 AM

"Hangman, slacken the rope. . . "

good one, Garg!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Sep 14 - 07:27 PM

Saffron is an expensive waste of time in risottos. Use good ingredients and you need neither the flavour nor colour of that pretentious colorant. As for microwaves, we have one, but the only use I ever put it to is to emergency-soften butter on a cold winter's day. As for "gargoyle", whoever he, she or it is, he, she or it does not understand stock, sadly. I wouldn't want to be dining anytime soon at his, her or its house/stable/kennel, unless there had been a prior solid promise of one hundred percent takeaways only.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 20 Sep 14 - 02:40 PM

Hi Guest

Microwave - I warm the plates in it !!

Cheers

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Sep 14 - 02:36 PM

Microwave. If you warm it on the stove, you risk making the milk stick, with a slight burned taste. While you can extract the oils with alcohol, you risk bringing some extra proteins from the saffron too which can make it a tad bitter - they normally cook out.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 20 Sep 14 - 06:43 AM

Hi

Guest - Microwave ?? Sacrilege !!!

Gargoyle - I didn't realise that I was that good...lol

Thanks for comments

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 Sep 14 - 11:21 PM

I know, that for the original poster .... this is barley-peral before a porcine glutton.

Dear Mikel,
You were close to one of the culinary secrets of the world's great kichens. In order to speed the "to table" time, the mixture is prepared for only 20 minutes, it is then spread quickly over a parchment covered cold tray and quickly cooled under refrigeration then lightly recanted to a bowl. AT time of serving it it is blended with boiling broth for 5 minutes a-dente'

Now...about you Mr. Shaw's. pathetic haphazard poultry base.
It must be prepared the day before with the four noble vegetables, and the four noble spices. It MUST include the chicken head, feet, butt, wing tips and ovaries, roasted golden brown and added to the stock pot. Simmer no less than four hours. Immature eggs from the ovary should be blended with butter and cream and added to the stock immediately before straining to to help clarrify. Stock should be reduced 75%

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

If food is simply a means of filling you pie hole ... and you don't know the real thing ... the original posting for chicken rice casserole might work.

BUT....if you were on death's row...and you requested a last meal with risotto, I am sure they would delay the execution until a "real chef" could prepare "the real thing." /Hangman slack the rope awhile....For I can smell, Real Risotto, coming foe many a mile.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: bobad
Date: 19 Sep 14 - 05:18 PM

GUEST, that's pretty much how I make saffron risotto except for a couple of small diffs. I soak the saffron in white wine or vodka or whatever alcohol is at hand. This solubilizes both its water and alcohol soluble compounds. I also use EVOO rather than butter (elevated cholesterol issue).

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Sep 14 - 04:36 PM

I knew there was something wrong with that recipe. You're drinking the wine, you need a glass in the risotto as well as drinking it.
Let's redo that recipe.
1. Make a couple of litres of white stock. To be honest, stock cubes save you the pain of making your own, the difference these days is so small as not to justify it other than the masochistic knowledge of having been a pain in the kitchen the day before.
2. Melt a knob of butter, take the edge off a crushed clove of garlic and soften a small onion, stirring occasionally.
3. While that's ackling, crush a few saffron stalks in a ceramic mortar, add a small amount of milk, and warm it in a microwave so the colour comes out.
3. Add the rice to the onion, partly glaze in the butter, add the saffron and a glass of white wine. Then start on the stock.
4. Finish, leave to rest a tad, add some butter and freshly grated parmesan.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: MMario
Date: 19 Sep 14 - 04:18 PM

Cream of rice soup.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 19 Sep 14 - 06:16 AM

Hi

Seeing this thread prompted me to make a vegetable risotto for dinner on Wednesday night. I made it to my own recipe and used the "traditional" method of adding stock gradually while stirring.

I made too much ( I am not very good at portion control) so I put the remainder in the fridge.

My wife took her sister, who had been staying with us to the airport for he flight home to Spain.

I was busy at home and when it came to my lunch I dug out the left-over risotto and threw it in a pan I added some stock (all at once) and just a touch of cream and then processed it to a smooth consistency.

I dipped in my spoon and did not know what to expect. To my surprise it tasted great. I kept some soup for my wife and she enjoyed it too.

Have I discovered a new dish....risotto soup???

Try it with your leftovers...see what you think.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 08:46 PM

What I am tempted to try is a water-oven slow cook. The temperature is more precisely controlled. But as I haven't done it yet, I don't know.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Gurney
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 04:57 PM

Change my life? Not with rice, you won't!

I'll eat it, but it will never replace food.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 04:26 PM

I agree about that three-minute resting phase off the heat. Very important. As for leaving out the butter, that's unthinkable, but I would suggest that you could try using a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche (but not that reduced-fat rubbish, pur-leeese!) instead of butter. Not traditional, but pretty good, especially if your risotto contains chicken. Those of you who have said that what I cook is not risotto had better try it out first before you make silly remarks of that nature. My risotto is indistinguishable in texture from any that I've had in the finest Italian eateries, including several in Italy, and I have been to a good few! I'm positively maniacal about getting my rice perfectly al dente, and my method is ultra-reliable in achieving that goal.

By the way, do not buy cheap own-brand supermarket risotto rice. It's rubbish. My favoured brand is Gallo, who do arborio, carnaroli and vialone nano, which all work beautifully. But here in deepest Cornwall my choice is somewhat limited.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 01:34 PM

interesting... though a Sicilian co-worker with an engineering background decided to try making risotto with a slow cooker crock pot and will never go back to the old way. He's a darn good cook, so some day I'll give it a try.

I like congee... jook... rice porridge with vegetables and salty tidbits. Or Greek lemon rice soup... umm hungry...

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 12:01 PM

"supermarket packets, (the culinary version of masturbation"

,..,

worrever turns you on Ian. I am sure I could think up better fantasies than that, way back in the day when ... but you were clearly not much of a wanker.

Printed small coz I was posting risotto voce

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 05:25 AM

Hi Steve

I cook my risottos a la 1954 definition...lol

Like Musket I have slightly differing methods depending on what main ingredients I am using.....Vegetables,fish, meat etc. Not tried the putting lid on pan after cooking though. Will try it next time.

My wife having been in the catering trade and a great cook means we have a full set of Le Crueset pans, including a slow oven cooker.
Please note Guest CS - these are not for sale....lol

I prefer to use the "traditional" way. I like to keep my eye on things when I am cooking.

I agree Steve that the stock is most important and dried Parmeson is useless for risottos. In fact I don't know what it is any use for !!

Michael - Don't like packet grub full stop. But thanks I will recommend Occams to my mate who uses mostly packet food these days.

happy Cooking

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Musket
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 03:51 AM

Never trust a man who doesn't put cow juice in his tea. Let alone prefer processed supermarket packets, (the culinary version of masturbation.)

I make risotto my way which is different depending on what the other ingredients are. My common to all technique though includes putting a lid on after removing from the heat and leaving for three mins, a bit like resting meat. It somehow makes it more creamy.

You had better have divine authority for your method Co Messiah Steve because I have made a note of your method and will give it a try next time I make one.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 03:12 AM

Nice if you have a decent heavy based pan. I keep looking out for a le Crueset casserole second hand, but for some strange reason, no one seems to give their old ones away...

I will however be trying out the slow-cooker method mentioned by Rahere above. What a good idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Andrez
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 02:58 AM

Occams Risotto? Very good MGM Lion!

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Sep 14 - 12:20 AM

What you're making sounds yummy, but you are making soubise, not risotto, which is a French way of making rice by doing what you do with the onions etc without the parm. If you add the liquid all at once and cover, instead of doing that which makes it risotto and not rice, pedants like I will be all over you. Like butter on rice. Hee hee.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Sep 14 - 11:34 PM

Not a risotto eater - I lived for 20 years with a Puerto Rican who had VERY specific instructions for preparing rice that, in the end, is light, fluffy, not sticky, starchy, or creamy. My mother made horrible rice (I thought - I never liked it) as a Norwegian treading into unknown territory. My ex is a beans-and-rice man and I learned to make rice from him and from his mother (the abuela of my children).

Your method sounds foolproof for making a kind of rice that doesn't appeal to me, but I applaud your efforts to note the steps so others can reproduce it if that is what they want to eat. :)

SRS

P.S. the one corollary to all of this is that when you cook rice long enough even with the PR method that you end up with a brown crisp layer against the pan when it comes of the stove you NEVER put it in the sink - you scrape the "pegau" off of the pan, leave it on the top of the plate or bowl of rice, and watch all of the Puerto Rican's at the table grab it quickly and wax nostalgic about eating pegau when they were kids.

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Sep 14 - 11:31 PM

It's called an "Occam's Risotto"..

Subject: RE: BS: Risotto: I am going to change your life
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Sep 14 - 11:29 PM

I know how to cook a risotto worth 10 of any of these.

Method:-

,,,,,
1 Drive to supermarket & take package labelled 'risotto' from freezer cabinet

2 Take home

3 Microwave

4 Voilà
,,,,,


Delicioso

Enjoy


≈M≈