THE RISOTTO ENIGMA. A cheffy rant!

What is it with British chefs and Risotto? A recent (2010) visit back to my adopted city of Bristol showed that even some of the city’s top chefs just don't get it!

CRIME SCENE 1: COOL NEW WATERSIDE GASTROPUB.
DESCRIPTION: SWEET POTATO RISOTTO WITH GRILLED GOAT CHEESE

The first error the chef made was to keep his vegetable risotto vegetarian. In 15 years of professional cooking all my many attempts at producing a risotto made with vegetarian stock have failed. The problem with vegetarian stock is that it lacks depth and texture. Even essentially vegetable-based risotti such as the classic Venetian Risi Bisi (fresh, young, sweet peas and a chiffonade of lettuce) require the umami flavor and sticky collagen texture of a good chicken stock.
Umami is the Japanese word for the fifth taste. Back in the 50's a Japanese scientist produced research which indicated that, as well as sweet, salt, sour and bitter, our nervous systems detect a fifth taste which is best described as meaty/savory. This is naturally present in meats, fish, soy products, cheese, seaweed and mushrooms. It is this savoriness coupled with the stickiness of the collagen that is so essential in a risotto that contain as few ingredients as Risi Bisi, and was so absent from the risotto I ate here. As a result the whole thing was too sweet and too ‘shallow’ in taste.

The second error was that the rice was 'too cooked' (sic). By this I don't mean overcooked. Simply that it wasn't cooked to produce a true risotto result. The rice was swollen, soft and slightly fraying at the edges, with no residual bite, and no discernible central core. This usually arises from cooking the risotto too much at the pre cooking stage in order to save time. In a restaurant situation it is possible to take 10 minutes off the cooking time for a risotto, but you must not over-do this process; Proceed in the usual manner, sweating your ingredients in butter and oil and stirring in an equal volume of boiling stock to rice. Cook on high until fully absorbed (aprox 7 mins) then spread out on a tray to cool rapidly and evenly. The rice should still be mostly raw, hard and inedible but this is as far as you can go at this stage. When you finish the dish make sure to use boiling stock again and proceed as usual. It requires undivided attention.

The final error was the addition of the disc of baked goat cheese added to the dish as a garnish. This was probably a valiant attempt to introduce that extra umami boost usually supplied by the noble Parmesan. However it was misconceived and backfired. The heavy, cloying texture and overpowering flavor of the goat killed the dish, and only served to highlight the weakness in the rice base. It was like wading through treacle.

CRIME SCENE TWO
SHINY NEW ‘MODERN ITALIAN CONCEPT’
DESCRIPTION: PRAWN AND SEAFOOF RISOTTO

This is probably the worst attempt at a risotto I have ever witnessed…..and I say ‘witnessed’ because I had the misfortune to be shown this recipe by the out-going head chef of an establishment I had been brought in to rescue. His disastrous procedure was as follows:

How not to cook risotto:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Pour in 500g of risotto rice. Boil rapidly until cooked. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain and chill.
Saute garlic and finely chopped onions in olive oil.
Add peeled tiger prawns, cooked mussel meat and squid rings.
Sauté 2 minutes.
Add tomato concasse (peeled diced tomato flesh) and some cooked rice.
Add cream (*!?*), season and cook until hot. Add chopped parsley and serve.

The result was hideous as you can imagine….more akin to kedgeree or a savory rice pudding than risotto. The errors are many and varied….no stock is used to build flavor….the ingredients are cooked separately and merely combined in the final process etc. But the biggest misunderstanding in the procedure is the assumption that cream produces the creaminess so synonymous with a good risotto. This is NEVER the case!
Although risotto originates from North Italy where dairy products are prevalent, cream is never used to create the famous creaminess. This comes from starch, collagen and butter. The collagen has been explained already so lets address the starch and butter.
Classic risotto begins with some melted butter and olive oil as the base for sweating the garlic, onions and other ingredients. But the creaminess is mainly a product of the incessant stirring of the dish as it cooks. As you stir, layers of starch are rubbed off each grain of rice and dissolve in the stock. The more you stir, the more starch is rubbed off, and the creamier your resulting dish will be. The finishing touch is what the Italians call ‘mantecare’ whereby fresh butter is stirred in to the dish at the last minute. It must be fresh, whole butter so it maintains its emulsified structure and creates an even richer finish without becoming oily. This is the secret of true risotto texture.

You see Risotto is unique. No other rice dish is cooked with the same technique or the same variety of rice. Therefore the result is unique, and the problem with unique products is that anything short of the mark is by definition highly conspicuous. The second problem befalling the ‘wannabe’ risotto chef is the universal paradox of 'cucina povera' or poor mans food. Dishes that fall into this category result from an alchemy that transmutes very few simple ingredients into something that is much more than the sum of its parts. But you have very little leeway for compromise. If you leave out an ingredient, or a step in the method, you have nowhere to hide, you will be destroying the magic. The paradox is that simple food is not necessarily simple to produce well.
Sadly I seldom order risotto in restaurants because I know very few chefs understand the above principles, and I’d rather have beans on toast than bad risotto. But I still live in hope that with the huge advances in Uk gastronomy in the last 15 years, our ambitious and hard-working chefs will one day understand this Italian classic.