Cookbook talk:Risotto

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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)

[edit] 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)