Tips on Making a Great Risotto

Cooking is a mixture of creativity and art. If a person has passion to cook, he or she can master a dish. To perfect a dish, there are some tips which can be considered while making it, also the most important thing, practice and experience, the two things which are necessary in making a dish perfect.

Risotto is one of those dishes, that when seen on television, seems easy to cook, but it is very difficult to master. The dish can be easily undercooked or can be overcooked. Its a bit tricky to get the perfect texture, which comes with some tips, experience and practice.

Picture courtesy http://realfood.tesco.com/

Some of the tips to master this death dish are.

1. Never wash the rice, as it will lose all the starchiness. 
2. Use the best rice available for risotto in the market. for eg. Arborio, Vialone Nano or Carnaroli.
3. Start with butter and toast the rice a bit in the butter. 
4. While cooking, add stock little at a time and cook till almost done. 
5. Keep stirring the rice, so that it doesn't stick to the pan. 
6. If possible, deglaze the pan with white wine, to extract all the flavors stuck to the bottom of the pan. 
7. To finish off the risotto, take it off the heat, add in the cheese and butter and stir. 
8. Always taste the food and cook the rice till the Al Dente stage, which means 'To the tooth'.
9. The texture of the risotto after it is cooked, should be close to flowing lava.
10. When cooked risotto is kept outside, it tends to dry up, so while serving, add some more stock and heat it up once again if needed.
11. Last but not the least, keep experimenting and trying.