Risotto

• 1 1/2 cupscarnaroli rice · or vialone nano, arborio works but collapses sooner
• 6 cupsvegetable stock · held at a bare simmer in a pan beside you, never cold
• 10 ozmixed mushrooms · cremini and oyster, torn by hand rather than sliced
• 1 largeshallot · diced as finely as you can manage, almost to a paste
• 2 clovesgarlic · minced
• 3/4 cupdry white wine · something you would drink, at room temperature
• 3 tbspextra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tbspcold unsalted butter · cubed and kept in the fridge until the very last minute
• 2 ozParmigiano-Reggiano · grated fine, plus more at the table
• 4 sprigsthyme · leaves picked
• 1 wholelemon · zest only, no juice
• 1 1/4 tspkosher salt · adjust down if your stock is already salted
• 1/2 tspblack pepper · coarsely ground, added at the end

Method

1. 1

   Buy carnaroli, and the rest of this gets much easier

   Risotto rice is chosen for a high amylopectin starch content that leaches into the liquid and thickens it. Carnaroli has a firmer amylose core than arborio, which means it releases the creaminess without the grain itself going to mush, and it gives you a window of two or three forgiving minutes rather than thirty forgiving seconds. Vialone nano is the third option and cooks faster. Do not use long-grain, basmati or any pre-rinsed rice, because you would be washing away the entire mechanism.

2. 2

   Brown the mushrooms separately, in a dry pan, and set them aside

   Mushrooms are mostly water and they will not brown in a crowded pan with oil already in it. Tear them, put them in a wide dry pan over high heat, and leave them alone until the water they release has evaporated and they start to squeak and colour, about eight minutes. Only then add oil, thyme and salt. Cooking them in the risotto itself gives you grey, boiled mushrooms and a watery base. They go back in at the end.

3. 3

   The tostatura: toast the rice until the edges go glassy

   Sweat the shallot in olive oil until soft and not coloured, add the garlic for thirty seconds, then add the dry rice and stir it in the fat over medium heat for two to three minutes. The grains should feel hot to a fingertip and the outer edge should turn translucent while the center stays chalky white. This step firms the outside of each grain so it survives the stirring, and skipping it is why some risotto turns to porridge at minute twelve.

4. 4

   Wine first, and let it disappear completely

   Pour in the wine and keep stirring until the pan is almost dry and you can drag a spoon through and see the base for a second. If you add stock while there is still raw wine in the pan, the finished dish tastes sharp and thin in a way you cannot correct later. This takes about two minutes on a decent heat. Room-temperature wine rather than fridge-cold, so you are not repeatedly stalling the pan.

5. 5

   Hot stock, a ladle at a time, and stirring is agitation not devotion

   Cold stock drops the pan temperature every time you add it and stretches the cook by ten minutes. Keep it at a bare simmer in a pan beside you. Add a ladleful, stir until it is mostly absorbed, add the next. You do not have to stir without stopping, and the folklore about it is wrong: what you actually need is enough agitation to knock starch off the grains and stop the base catching, so a good stir every thirty to forty seconds is plenty.

6. 6

   Start tasting at eighteen minutes, not at the time on the packet

   Rice varies by harvest and age, and the pan you are using changes the evaporation rate, so the printed time is a suggestion. From eighteen minutes onward, bite a grain every couple of minutes. You are looking for tender with a definite firm point at the center, no chalk. That is usually somewhere between twenty and twenty-four minutes with carnaroli. Stop adding stock a minute before you think you are done, because the next step loosens it again.

7. 7

   The mantecatura happens off the heat, and it is the entire texture

   Pull the pan off the burner and wait thirty seconds so it stops bubbling. Then beat in the cold cubed butter and the grated Parmigiano hard, with a wooden spoon, until the whole thing turns glossy and looks like it has cream in it. Cold butter and no heat is what emulsifies the fat into the starch instead of splitting it into a greasy pool. On the heat, this step produces an oily risotto every time. Beat for a full minute.

8. 8

   All onda: it should move on the plate

   Correctly finished risotto is loose enough to spread into a slow wave when you tap the side of the plate, which is where the Italian phrase all onda comes from. If it holds a mound, it is too thick, and a splash of hot stock beaten in fixes it in ten seconds. Fold the mushrooms back in, add the lemon zest and the black pepper, and serve immediately in warm shallow bowls, because it stiffens as it cools and there is no rescuing it at the table.