| Cipriani's rice |
The peoples of the Orient are famed for being great rice eaters, but in the East, rice is generally used in quite a simple way as a steamed and rather insipid accompaniment. Italian flair, on the other hand, takes rice, with all its infinite combinations, and turns it into a gastronomic masterpiece.
The type of rice that has always been used at Harry's Bar is the "Vialone nano semifino" variety. This is a type of rice that comes from Mantua and is perfect for making risottos or pilafs. Rice is often rather unpopular in a restaurant situation because of the time it takes to cook.
Eighteen minutes for a hungry customer can seem an eternity.
Despite this, I do not believe in belying expectation by serving a customer something else.
A good risotto should and must be eaten as a first dish.
Cipriani packages
Mercato del riso a Rialto
For years we had an exceptional maître, Angelo Dal Maschio, working with us.
He had very set ideas and always put them into practice with his customers. He insisted that nothing, not even a basket of bread was to be brought to a table before the risotto. Angelo was Truman Capote's favorite as well as many other people's, who preferred to wait for a table, if it meant being served by him. Besides the "Vialone nano", another excellent risotto rice is the "Carnaroli". This has an extremely limited production and is very difficult to find in the shops.
There are many different ways of cooking a risotto, probably as many ways as there are people who adore it.
- The
saucepan is fundamental.
It must be made of a metal that conducts heat well.
You can find saucepans on the market that have steel interiors and copper or aluminum bottoms.
These are perfect, as steel, on its own, is not a good heat conductor and tends to burn food that is directly over the flame.
Combined with copper or aluminum, on the other hand, it distributes heat uniformly, while remaining easy to clean.
-
The "soffritto".
I am often asked whether it is right to fry a little onion with a knob of butter, in the bottom of the pan before adding the uncooked rice.
Some years ago, I used to say no, but now I have changed my mind. With one reservation: always let the butter cool down before adding the rice as otherwise you may burn the starch.
When the rice has been thoroughly mixed with the onion in the bottom of the pan, light the gas again and heat the rice so that it does not stop simmering when the boiling stock is added.
- The cooking time.
A third question is: should the risotto be constantly stirred or should it never stirred at all?
I think that if the amount of stock has been calculated correctly, i.e. if it is judged so expertly that it all boils away after 17 minutes, then no, the rice should not be stirred during cooking.
This is because with this method the starch around the grain remains intact. Naturally, some of the rice may stick to the bottom of the pan, but the risotto will be a lot creamier. Calculating the correct quantity of stock is something that takes a lot of practice.
I would therefore recommend the old system of stirring right from the start. The important thing is to keep stirring all the time as otherwise the starch that comes away from the grains will burn at the bottom.
Arrigo
Cipriani