Last year in Bologna, @peldi, mensch that he is, got us a cooking class with Stefano, a delightful, chain-smoking, ex-restauranteur & chef (pic w/ @everywhereist).

He taught me how to make risotto. I will share his technique, but be warned... It's a journey!

Risotto is an infuriating dish. Every time I thought I'd figured it out, I found another secretive missing element of why mine didn't match up to the Italian masterpieces.

At its best, the rice has a perfect, indescribable bite, chew, & flavor, with rich, silky liquid around it.

You're probably thinking risotto starts with rice... So did I, friends, so did I.

It does not.

It starts with water, beef bones, a whole chicken, carrots, onion, & celery. Because homemade, collagen-and-flavor-rich stock is essential.

I see that my replies already contain the most misleading phrase in risotto-world:

"The secret."

That's the maddening bit. There's not ONE " secret... There's 50. I bet I only know ~30 of them right now. Year by year I pick them up with "Eureka!" moments each time.

For example, I initially thought unadulterated beef bone stock was good enough. Nope!

There's like 10 secrets in the stock alone, e.g.
- Using beef bones, but a whole chicken
- Roasting the bones first, 1hr+, until they look like this (or darker)
- 6 hrs simmering (minimum)

- peel the carrots, but leave in chunks, not diced
- celery hearts & leaves are great, but carefully wash the dirt that sticks to the inside
- whole chicken+giblets
- no salt (yet)
- you'll need a f&#$ing giant stockpot. I bought a commercial kitchen one for ~$50

Couple hours later, if you want, you can remove the chicken meat for some future purpose (I like nacho-ing it, G prefers chicken soup).

We both usually salt & nibble on it to stave off evening hunger.

Even more hotly debated than Rudy Giuliani's hand down his pants in the Borat movie: whether to add Bay Leaves halfway through the stock-making process. I vote yes, but understand if you're stubbornly against it. No judgement... For this. Yes, judgement for Rudy.

8 hours later, you'll have a lot of stock. Which is good, because it goes fast. Also, your whole house will smell like a Michelin-starred kitchen just before service time.

P.S. If you want extra-clear liquid, cheesecloth is the way to go, but I'm happy with a fine mesh sieve.

Today was my grandmother's memorial. Due to the pandemic, it had to be done over video.

Can't think of a better day for comfort food. Our stock's all ready. So let's make this risotto.

Let's talk about rice. In ascending order of generally-agreed-upon quality, you've got 3) Arborio 2) Vialone Nano 1) Carnaroli, but...

You can age carnaroli, and quality control it. That's how they make @RisoAcquerello, the finest, commercially available risotto rice.

It's pricey, but worth it. Much like the butter we'll be using, @KerrygoldUSA. There are even fancier butters, but in most US grocery stores, that's the best you're gonna do.

Of course, we'll also need microplane-grated parmigiana (aged at least 18months, preferably 24).

And a good deglazing liquid. Today, we'll use a dolcetto from Alba (because I love the red wine risotto they make in the north). It'll boil to reduce volume by ~2/3rds & concetrate.

Time for another controversy.

Do you salt the stock before using it?

Pro: fancy chefs say the rice grains will "soak up" the salt all the way through vs. just on the exterior.

Con: You could oversalt if you're not careful.

What the heck, let's try it the chef's way.

Boil the stock. Then reduce to low. We just need it warm.
Boil the wine until it's reduced by 2/3rds.
Melt the butter and add the rice.

Another of risotto's frustrating secrets... How long to simmer the rice in butter?

You don't want it to brown or crisp up, but you do want it to soften and go translucent. This photo is just before I added the deglazing liquid, and not one grain has browned. Phew!

I love the color. And the smell. I wish I could have shared it with my grandma. Her sense of smell was sharp right to the end!