Cookbook talk:Risotto (Basic)

You can't translate risotto as big rice, the current tranlation is made by rice. big rice is risone a kind of riso. But for italian risotto is that plate. so risotto cant't be translated.

Matteo Pedani 01:43, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Having passed more than 60 years of my life based in Milano where the Risotto was created and where the Milanese Risotto is still a basic dish, I suggest to eliminate garlic and pepper from the basic recipe. In priciple, garlic never goes with onion in the same dish. Italian cousine is very simple and contains few elements: it allows people to take initiatives about adding any sort of "other" things to "improve" the dishes: see what happened to pizza; forget about pepper, vodka and other liquors but wine. For those interested a good Risotto can be made in 5 minutes with a pressure cooker

Sandro Marchesi


 * That's an interesting point of view. I admit I've learnt about Italian cuisine through the muddled channels of western European cooking culture, so there are definitely things I don't know, but I've always thought of the soffrito (which I took to be onions and garlic, and maybe more) as the basis of most Italian dishes. Can you back these statements up with any references? (this is a wiki after all, we must be rigorous). On the whole I think that recipes are disconnecting from their origins everywhere in the world. The hip new chefs reinvent everything they can get their hands on. And if that means that pizza's will have pineapple and ham, or scollops and raisins on them then so be it. The Italians can still have their basil and mozarella pizza's, but ideas will evolve, it can't (and shouldn't) be helped. risk 01:54, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I think paella (the many different kinds) has sufficient entity by itself as to be considered a variation of risotto

César Sánchez


 * I agree that paella can stand on it's own, but in the grand view of things, it's interesting to see how two neighboring countries produce such similar yet very distinct rice dishes. Perhaps it's wrong to refer to paella as a kind of risotto, but they are definitely related. risk 01:54, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER "Sprinkle a vinaigrette over the risotto just before serving"

Giorgio Benci, Gorizia, Italy


 * Thanks for the input. A quick google shows that it's not uncommon to combine risotto with vinaigrette. It cuts through the fat, and particularly with mushrooms the acidity can be a very pleasant addition. That's an addition that must come in liquid form, near serving, so a few drops of a strong vinaigrette seems as good a way as any. I think Gordon Ramsey even served a risotto with vinaigrette in Hell's Kitchen. Can you elaborate on your statement? risk 01:54, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Authentic Italian risotto and International adaptations of Risotto
There is Italian risotto and then there are the International Risottos where cooks and chefs who are foreigners to authentic Italian cuisine add their personal twists and touches.

Italians do not use garlic much at all, especially in Northern Italy which is where risotto originates and is most eaten. Italians often omit vinaigrette on salad ( just excellent olive oil and salt) let alone on risotto, the very thought would make a Milanese faint. These, by the way, are hard facts of Italian cuisine and not points of view.

A point of view is yours on the positive-ness of dishes changing and evolving away from their origins. In Italy we have respect for dishes which have roots and history, which make seasonal and territorial sense, which took decades to perfect. We look forward to eating the same dishes every year at the right season and compare them with those we ate in previous years thus buidling up our culinary and gastronomic culture and developing an attentive palate. We do excercise personal variation but within sensible -in a culinary sense- limits. We find the need for constant variation and innovation a little puerile to be honest. This is our point of view, on the whole.

Your "quick google", doubtless in Englisjh, will have brought up non authentic risotto recipes by non Italians.

There is the real world and there is Wiki.

Italian cookbooks written by Italians in Italian (and not by British or Australian or US chefs) will back up what these Italians are saying about their dish. But would you accept them as references? Or are you going to insist on telling Italians that unless they back up their comments on the dishes they grew up with references in English, then your version (point of view)is the the correct one?

Maybe this page ought to be divided into two: Authentic Italian risotto and International adaptations of Risotto. We'll eat the first kind you can enjoy the second.

213.156.49.142 (talk) 16:41, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Good grief. I did not mean to step on any toes, but if I have to learn Italian just to work out what a proper risotto is, I don't stand much of a chance, do I? From your arguments, it seems like the fact that I'm not an Italian, means I would never be able to speak with any authority on what risotto is.
 * I think we can agree that the basic recipe should be as simple as possible. This could well be the "authentic Italian risotto" (however you want to define that). If you're not allowed to use onions and garlic together, fine, we'll pick just one. All the rest can be added to the variations. But if we have to hold a referendum among "real Italians" to determine whether or not adding rosemary to a risotto is "allowed", I doubt we'd end up with anything sane. Most likely, we couldn't get any agreement on whether to use olive oil or butter.
 * This kind of authenticity vs innovation debate is going on all over the world. Any kind of regional style of cooking (Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese) has these issues, and there's no getting away from them. Perhaps we need a page discussing the issue in a general sense, so that we can link to it from all these particularly sacred recipes.
 * Plenty of Italian cookbooks have been translated to English, and plenty of Italian chefs have migrated abroad and written about Italian cooking, so I'm sure we can find references that everybody can read. My point of view is not the correct one, but neither is anyone else's. The whole point of a wikipedia and it's sister projects is that when there's disagreement, we can reach a consensus without referring to authority. That means that when someone says "it should be like this, and I know because I know Italy", that in itself is not enough, because the next person might refer to their authority and claim the opposite, we'd never get anything done. We need to find an objective way to establish a minimal risotto, and we need to establish what weight we will give to regional authenticity.
 * As for it being "not done" to use onions and garlic together, I wasn't trying to stall any edit by asking for references, I was genuinely interested. I've simply never heard this before and I have been cooking cooking our bastardized western-Italian cuisine for some time. risk (talk) 17:14, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Couple of quick comments

 * Risotto should be served immediately the butter is added. I would say a little Parmesan is generally beaten in together with the butter. The resting for a few minutes would come before the butter.
 * The butter MUST be beaten in vigorously rather than "stirred" in.
 * The risotto in the picture is extremely liquid and as such not very typical. Surely a better picture can be found?
 * Vodka instead of wine is not a good idea unless you are using other acidic ingredients such as lemon juice later on.

85.228.208.58 (talk) 02:25, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

"Alternative" Rices Varieties
I understand that it's not recommended, but can a satisfying result be reached by substituting an alternative short of medium grain rice (such as one commonly available in the US)? 76.232.77.118 (discuss) 00:55, 7 April 2011 (UTC)