COLUMBIA — “Pack your knives,” or in this case pack your wooden spoons.
Bravo’s “Top Chef” season 23 is headed down South to the Carolinas. Host Kristen Kish, Season 10 winner, head judge Tom Colicchio, eight-time James Beard award winning chef and owner of Crafted Hospitality, and perennial judge Gail Simmons, culinary expert, food writer and television personality, are back at the judges table for a tasty new season.
The upcoming season will be centered in the diverse culinary hub of Charlotte and Greenville. “Top Chef Carolinas” is set to showcase Southern hospitality, the region’s rich history and strong agricultural foundation. A new batch of chefs will compete for the coveted title of Top Chef. The Carolinas are the perfect culinary playground for chefs.
So to kick off the new season, I’d like to offer them a warm Southern welcome from one chef to another with a tutorial on how to master the art of risotto. If you are a “Top Chef’ show fan like I am, then you know that risotto is known as the “Top Chef Curse.”
Risotto dishes always end up getting a chef contestant eliminated. You would think chefs at that caliber could easily master the dish. The reason being, executing the perfect texture and risotto consistency is all about timing and precise cooking method. “Top Chef” challenges are under strict time restraints, making it difficult for the chefs to give the risotto the attention it deserves. Chefs often struggle to get the perfect texture with either the rice grains being undercooked (raw) or overcooked (mushy).
Daniela Savone teaches you how to make the perfect risotto.
Daniela Savone/Provided
How to make creamy risotto
Preparing risotto requires continuous stirring to create the dish’s signature creamy texture by releasing starch from the rice. Risotto is an Italian short grain rice that has a mild flavor to absorb other ingredients and a high starch content to create creaminess. It has a reputation for being one of the harder Italian dishes to master because if it is overcooked it is ruined. If it is over stirred you will lose the creamy rich texture. There is a real skill to cooking risotto and it all starts in choosing the correct type of rice grain. Arborio or Carnaroli are the only two types of rice grains used specifically for risotto. Risotto is rooted in Northern Italy where rice grows, particularly the Lombardy and Piedmont regions.
Risotto is a one-pot wonder.
The key is to get the right amount of creaminess where the rice melts in your mouth like butter instead of melding into mush like oatmeal. The trick is timing. Don’t stress about constantly stirring the risotto, but stirring every 30 seconds and trusting the cooking process will get you there. Over stirring is one way to quickly ruin a risotto texture. With the right cooking temperature and a steady medium bubble, the rice will move on its own, so you only need to stir it to ensure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. You want to cook it at a medium simmer, pausing until each portion of the liquid has been absorbed before adding more stock.
The “cook” step should take only 15 minutes. The ratio is one cup of rice to 2.5 cups of stock, plus a touch more, which will help you achieve that perfect creamy, silky consistency. To reach the ideal “al dente” texture that is just firm enough in the center, the entire risotto cooking process shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes.
Do not wash the rice. You do not want to strip off the starch, which is a key element to maintaining its classic creamy texture.
The key to making the perfect risotto is regular stirring as you slowly incorporate chicken stock.
Daniela Savone/Provided
Tips to keep in mind
The risotto should be loose “all’onda” which is a wave-like consistency.
When sauteing the onion or shallots in Step #1 adding oil works particularly well with seafood risottos and adding butter works best with vegetable based risottos.
Classic Parmigiano Risotto Recipe (4 servings)
Ingredients (4 servings)
5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, divided
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1.5 cups of Arborio or Carnaroli rice
1 cup pf dry white wine
About 1.5 cups of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
About 4 cups of chicken stock
The trick to mastering the trick to a perfect basic risotto that marries beautifully with seasonal ingredients yet does not stray too far from tradition is by following these four key steps:
Sauté the onion or shallots in olive oil and butter in a heated pot on medium until golden, translucent and fragrant.
Incorporate the rice with sauteed onion mixture and toast the rice. Stir and allow the rice to actually toast but not brown or burn. You will hear it actually “crackle” (toast for only a minute) Then add a splash of wine, stir until it has fully evaporated.
Be sure your stock liquid has reached a low steady boil before adding small amounts at a time to the risotto. Stir it every 30 seconds as it cooks. Eyeing the rice while it simmers to ensure the liquid is slowly pumping the grains rather than drying them out. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add more stock and continue this “cook” process for 15 minutes.
Once most of the stock is absorbed, remove the pot from the heat source and allow it to cool for a minute before what Italians refer to as the “mantecatura” stage, which is the final creaming step. Add butter and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or whatever cheese the recipe calls for) to reach the risotto’s creamy texture appeal.
I’d love to see a chef this upcoming season of “Top Chef Carolinas” take a bold risk and attempt the first-ever South Carolina Risotto, incorporating Carolina Gold rice but using risotto cooking techniques by adding a splash of muscadine wine during the “toast” process, collard greens to the rice and stock during the “cook” and Palmetto cheese for the final “cream” step.
It may be breaking all the risotto rules and steering far from a traditional Italian risotto, but the judges love to see an innovative dish that showcases the region’s local ingredients and represents its rich history. Just as long as the chef follows these four key steps, they’ll be sure to break the “Top Chef Risotto Curse.”
If not, Tom Colicchio might take one bite and say “bless your heart.” We’ll just have to tune in and find out to see if the risotto curse will finally be broken.
Dining and Cooking