Short, fat and pearly white. O – to be a grain of risotto rice in the prime of life.
At least, that’s what I thought. Standing in a market in Edinburgh the other night I found myself looking at two boxes of rice: an Arborio next to a box labeled simply “risotto rice.” One was short fat and white – my beloved Arborio – the other thinner and longer. For a moment, I felt a new attraction tugging at my loyalty.
Which is better for risotto, I wondered. Fat or skinny rice? Turns out, it depends on your how you like your endosperm. And that isn’t the start of a terrible joke.
Risotto can be made with a variety of medium to short-grain Italian rice. These rice varieties are chosen for their high starch content, which is released by the high heat and friction lent by the stirring of risotto. This rubs off the endosperm – the hard exterior tissue of the rice that is high in starch and other nutrients – and lends risotto its characteristic creamy consistency.
There are three dominant varieties of rice used in making risotto. In the US and UK, the most common of these is Arborio, named so after the town of Arborio in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The other varieties are Carnaroli and Vialone Nano.
Arborio is a short-grain, whereas Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are medium grains. Carnaroli is notable for having a higher starch content than Arborio. If a toothsome bite and creamy texture are the goals of risotto, than it would seem that Carnaroli must the right choice. Not necessarily so.
As The New Best Recipe Book points out, “rice is the key to a texturally flawless risotto.” Tastes differ. Cooks will like different textures to their risotto – firm, creamy, soupy – and so choose different rices.
First, then – decide how you like your risotto.
Soft and creamy: Carnaroli, with its thinner body and higher starch content, will yield a softer and creamier risotto.
Toothsome: Arborio’s thicker body makes it the easiest rice to achieve that al dente texture.
Soupy: Vialone Nano is allegedly most popular around Venice, where a looser and soupy texture is the common consistency.
I thinking about how I like risotto, I was reminded of a song my grandfather wrote with Johnny Mercer called “Huggin and a Chalkin.” In it he sings of a mighty sweet girl named Rosabelle Magee who “tips the scales at three-oh-three.” The song goes:
“Oh, gee, but ain’t it grand to have a gal so big and fat
That when you go to hug her, you don’t know where you’re at
You have to take a piece of chalk in your hand
And hug a ways and chalk a mark to see where you began.”
I like to get lost in my risotto. Arborio is short, white and wide. It’s the rice for me.
Source: Originally published in The Oxford’s Omnivore, October, 23, 2009.