The original risotto and arguably the most elegant rice dish in European cooking: Carnaroli or Arborio rice coaxed with ladle after ladle of hot beef stock into a golden, saffron-tinged wave that flows slowly across the plate, finished with a generous amount of cold butter and aged Parmigiano-Reggiano
Risotto alla milanese is the foundational risotto: the dish from which all other risottos descend. Its origin legend, almost certainly apocryphal but too good to abandon, dates to 1574 when a glassworker at Milan Cathedral, nicknamed 'Zafferano' because of his habit of adding saffron to every paint, used it to colour the wedding rice of his master's daughter. Whatever the origin, the combination of the Milanese tradition of cooking rice in meat stock with Sicilian saffron (introduced to northern Italy via Arab trade) produced something unique. The technique of risotto: adding hot stock ladle by ladle, stirring constantly to coax the starch from the rice into a creamy emulsion; is fundamentally different from any other rice cooking method in the world. The 'mantecatura' (the final vigorous beating of cold butter and Parmigiano into the hot rice, off the heat) is the crucial final step that produces the characteristic all'onda ('wave') texture: a risotto that flows rather than sits, pooling slowly on the plate.
Ingredients
Rice
360 g Carnaroli rice (first choice) or Arborio (widely available alternative)
Stock
1.5 litres good beef or chicken stock, kept at a gentle simmer in a separate pot throughout
Soffritto
1 medium white onion (or 2 shallots), very finely diced
Wine
80 ml dry white wine
Mantecatura
60 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes (for mantecatura)
80 g Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated (24-month minimum, not pre-grated)
Cooking
40 g unsalted butter (for the soffritto and toasting the rice)
Saffron
0.5 tsp saffron strands, steeped in 3 tbsp hot water for 20 minutes
Seasoning
1 tsp salt (adjust to taste, Parmigiano is salty)
Method
Bring the stock to a gentle simmer in a pot beside your risotto pan. Keep it at a very gentle simmer throughout; adding cold stock to hot risotto lowers the temperature and disrupts the cooking process. The stock pot should be whispering throughout.
In a wide, heavy-bottomed pan (a 28cm sauté pan is ideal), melt 40g of butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring regularly, for 8–10 minutes until completely soft, translucent and sweet; not coloured.
Increase the heat to medium. Add the rice directly to the pan and stir to coat every grain with the butter. Toast for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains are hot to the touch and slightly translucent at the edges.
Pour in the white wine. Stir vigorously until fully absorbed; about 1 minute.
Add the simmering stock one ladleful at a time (approximately 100–120ml per addition), stirring constantly. Each addition should be fully absorbed before the next goes in. Adjust heat to maintain a steady, active simmer; the risotto should be bubbling steadily, not sluggishly.
After about 15 minutes of stock additions, add the saffron water with one of the ladles of stock. The rice will immediately turn a beautiful gold. Continue adding stock and stirring for another 3–5 minutes.
When the rice is al dente (tender throughout with the faintest central resistance) and the risotto is flowing rather than solid, remove the pan from the heat. The risotto should be slightly wetter than you want the finished dish; it will tighten during the mantecatura.
Mantecatura: add all the cold butter cubes and all the Parmigiano at once to the hot risotto, off the heat. Beat vigorously, stir and shake the pan simultaneously, for 60–90 seconds until the butter is fully incorporated and the risotto is glossy, creamy and flowing. Taste and season. Serve immediately on warmed plates; risotto waits for no one.
Notes
There is no other rice that will produce a proper risotto. Arborio is the most widely available suitable rice; Carnaroli (also known as 'the king of risotto rice') has a higher amylose content in its core that makes it harder to overcook and produces a slightly creamier result. Vialone Nano, grown in the Veneto, is the third variety used for risotto. All three release starch differently and produce slightly different textures. Do not wash risotto rice; you need the surface starch. Leftover risotto is converted into arancini (fried rice balls); Sicilian in origin but today a pan-Italian classic.
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