Let's set the scene of the finished dish: round glass bowl with a mound of steaming, softly gilded, richly creamy, savory rice; each grain still distinct, yet each consciously clinging to its neighbor. The hot risotto is graced with a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese and a generous twist of coarsely ground black pepper. When you bite into a forkful of risotto you'll find a complimentary contrast between the overall creaminess of the dish and the al dente firmness that remains in the heart of each grain of rice. (More about risotto).

General Rules: The process for making all risotti is essentially the same. 

• Never wash the Arborio rice. Every bit of Arborio's starch helps make risotto creamy.

• Toasting the rice: Adding the rice to the saucepan on the heat without any liquid is an important step, because how it is done can determine the final texture of the risotto. Toasting the rice quickly heats up the grain's exterior (toast until the rice is hot to the touch and the color should remain pearly white, not turn brown.

• It is important to add hot stock, not cold, to the rice during the cooking process. Adding cold broth to hot rice results in a hard, uncooked kernel in the center of the grain. Add approximately 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup, at the beginning, and decreasing the amount to 1/2 to 1/4 cup toward the end of the cooking process. Adding too much broth at the end can result in overcooked risotto. Keep the broth simmering slowly while you add it to the rice. This helps maintain a constant cooking temperature.

• Run your wooden spoon across the bottom of the pot to determine when each addition of broth is almost completely absorbed.

• Begin tasting the rice about 14 to 16 minutes after the first cup of broth is added. Cook the rice until it is "al dente," or the tooth still finds a little bit of resistance when it bites in when you chew. It shouldn't be rock hard in the center and mushy on the outside. The total amount of cooking time may vary within 2 to 3 minutes. Perfectly cooked risotto should not be hard and stick to the serving spoon, nor should it be so liquid that it runs off your plate. The texture should be supple and fluid, with a creamy, slightly soupy consistency, but with body.

• You can always add simmering water if you run short on broth.

• Serve risotto in preheated plates.

Ingredients: There's really three key ingredients to making a great risotto: the rice, the broth, and, much more often than not, Parmesan cheese. Buy the best, but don't try to fit everything you ever liked to eat into a single potfull.

And all risotto starts with some onion and either butter or olive oil. Beyond that there's not much to limit what else you can put in. I've yet to find anything reasonable that couldn't be added to a good risotto. Vegetables of any sort, most any cheese, olives, meat, fish, chicken. Vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, cream, herbs, nuts, olives, seafood, saffron, spices. 

RICE: The rice is the key. There's no way around it -- it's got to be Italian.

In all you'll need roughly about three times as much broth by volume as you use dry rice. I find that a quart and a quarter to a quart and a half is about right for a half pound of rice, making two very generous main dish portions, or four to six first course servings.

If you look closely, you'll find the biggest part of each grain is nearly transparent, almost opalescent, with that same kind of polished and smooth surface. The pearl at the center is actually less developed starch. The translucent outer part of the grain is the hard, dense starch which bonds so creamily with the broth while the risotto is cooking. The high level of starch (amylopectin) in the grain is what gives Italian rice it's amazing ability to absorb a lot of liquid, yet at the same time retain its integrity - each grain stays independent, yet clings closely, creamily, to its neighbor. No other rice I know of is able to pull off this seemingly contradictory feat.

COOKING LIQUID: Risotto is cooked in liquid. Always start with a good broth, chicken or ham stock. Beef is too strong. Homemade is great if you've got the time or purchase from the grocery store. I find that broths that are all-natural taste much better. Look for brands in the soup or health food isle. Pure chicken broth becomes distractingly sharp, and so does stock produced in the French manner. All the flavors that the cooking liquid starts out with become more concentrated and intense as it evaporates.

Water is the best choice for seafood risotto. Liquids that come from the ingredients in the flavor base should be retained, such as the juices released by clams or mussels, the water used to reconstitute dried mushrooms, and the vegetable flavored liquid left from the preliminary blanching of asparagus and other greens. 

Wine may be added, but it must not be the sole liquid used. After the rice has been sautéed, most risotto recipes call for the first addition to the pan to be a half a glass of white wine. The wine adds a bit of depth, a touch of extra character, to the finished dish. But I've certainly made perfectly delicious risotto without the wine, so I'll leave the call to you. As always, the better the wine, the better the risotto.

Note: The quantity of liquid suggested in the recipes is always approximate. In actual cooking, you should be prepared to use more, or sometimes less, as the risotto itself requires. When cooking with broth, if you have used up the broth before the rice is fully cooked, continue with water.

CHEESE: I don't think I've made more than a few risotti without grating on some parmesan cheese  before I bring it to the table. There's something about the sweet, subtle nuttiness of the cheese that makes it the ideal end to risotto preparation. I like to use the best quality parmesan cheese called Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy. Found in specialty stores and some supermarkets, it is expensive, but the flavor and texture are superb. It lasts forever if stored wrapped in the refrigerator. Grate it right before adding to the cooked risotto or often, I put the wedge of cheese on the table with a tool called a microplane and let my guests grate their own. 

COOKING: Depending on the variety of Italian rice you use, the level of heat, the age of the rice and the amount in the pot, that could be somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes - the only way to know for sure is to start tasting a grain or two at about the fifteen minute mark. Just before the rice is done, add any final ingredients: cheese, fish, whatever. Stir well (of course.)

1. Start with a wide, heavy pot and a wooden spoon for the rice. You'll need a medium-sized pot to heat the broth or water. In the pot for the rice, you want it to have room to roam while the risotto is cooking. Non-stick pots can help keep your rice from sticking on the burner to heat up. In a medium-sized saucepan heat the broth so it boils. 

2. Heat a little olive oil and/or butter in the wide pot. Boil the broth or water. You can use either or both - each has its advocates. I usually use olive oil, but many believe that butter makes better risotto. I like to use 1/2 butter and 1/2 olive oil. 

You want the broth or water really hot when later adding to the risotto. Set it on the stove in the medium-sized pot to boil. Other ingredients can be added to (or, blanched in) the broth as it heats, to add their flavor there - mushrooms or asparagus for example. When it boils, cover and turn off the heat. You can add them in with the broth or strain. (If the added vegetables are stringy or look dead, strain them from the broth).

3. When the oil is hot, sauté a little chopped onion until it's soft and golden. Examples are cooked, chopped fennel, celery, shallots or carrots might go in in the initial sautéing with the onion. 

4. Add the rice. Don't rinse it beforehand. Just pour it right out of the bag. A hefty handful, per person, which translates into about 4 ounces (by weight) per person for a generous main dish serving, about 2 ounces per person for a first course. Me, I always like to have a little leftover, so I add an extra shake from the rice bag to the pot.

5. Stir to coat the rice with oil and sauté it for a couple of minutes. Look into the pot and you'll see a mélange of soft golden onion pieces and hard white rice grains. In a couple of minutes, the rice should be hot, glistening with a thin coat of oil or butter. This stage of the cooking - the tostatura - is an important part of what makes risotto so different from most rice cooking we're used to. It serves a pair of purposes. First it seals the rice's high natural starch content into the grain. Secondly it introduces the flavor of the oil and onion into the rice.

6. Add the broth or water to the risotto. You want the broth to be hotter than the rice, so that when you add it to the pot it doesn't cool down the rice, (which would detract from the quality of your risotto) so be sure to bring it to a boil. When you add the first bit of liquid it should result in a puff of steam. When the liquid hits the pan you want to hear a swish, a swoosh. A puff of steam ought to go up from the pan. No puff? Then the pan isn't hot enough. (If you're doing all this for the first time, then test the heat by dropping a spoonful of broth in the pot first to "test the waters." Not hot enough, increase your heat a bit, then try again in a minute.)

Add the hot broth slowly, about a two ounce ladleful at a time. Enough so that the rice stays wet, surrounded by small rivulets of boiling broth, but never so much that it runs the risk of drowning. You don't want to see "large bodies of water" in the pot. Just small rivers running 'round the rice as it simmers. When the rice has absorbed all the liquid from the last ladleful, add another one. Keep stirring. Keep going.

When you add the liquid you'll see the rice grains start juking and jumping; like little Mexican jumping beans in the broth. If the rice isn't jitterbugging, then you need more heat.

On the other hand, having your pot too hot isn't any good either. If the rice is sticking almost instantly to the bottom of the pot no matter how much you stir, it's too hot. Turn it down.

7.There is a fair amount of stirring involved in making a good risotto. Enough so that the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and that the liquid and rice stay evenly distributed. I like to use a wooden spoon. Stir gently. You don't want to pound your rice down to puree.

8. Finishing touches: When the risotto seems done and ready to remove from the stove, add one last ladleful of broth. This gives the risotto something to "sip on" as it sits in the bowl for a minute or two before you eat, leaves it with a fine creamy texture, and keeps it from getting too dry.

In addition you may want to add a spoonful of butter at the last minute. This is known in Italian as the "mantecatura." As the butter melts it coats each grain of rice, yielding a richer, creamier risotto.

Other ingredients can be added, but they should be precooked. 

On the other hand, ingredients that are already cooked are best added near the end, so that they aren't broken to bits by the stirring, or overcooked in the pot. Cooked salmon or chicken come to mind as ingredients I'd add as the risotto reached the end of the cooking process. 

Cheese should also be added at the end of the very end of the cooking process or right before serving. I like to add a generous amount of Parmesan cheese.

Finally, some recommend that you let the risotto rest for just a minute or two before serving in order to let the flavors meld fully. But don't wait too long. This isn't a dish you can prepare in advance and then have sitting around. It's meant to be eaten right after it's cooked. Risotto rules the roost best when it's still steaming hot from the stove.

adapted from arborfood.com