Customer Reviews

Risotto

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I bought and heavily (!!! see below) used this cookbook soon after it first came out in the late 1980s. It was a breakthrough cookbook for its time, and hugely popular, and is still a wonderful resource that I can recommend today almost without hesitation.

In the late 1980s, I first started seeing risotto offered frequently in Mediterranean or even New American yuppie restaurants in the SF Bay Area when I visited on business--but not yet readily in fine restaurants in Seattle, for instance. Risotto was a clear trend for foodies, but hadn't yet hit mainstream nationally. So it was with impeccable timing that Barrett and Wasserman released "Risotto" in 1987.

I caught the bug early and hard. After I got this cookbok--in one my inspired food specialty frenzies--I wanted to make everything risotto. It was the perfect, versatile one-bowl (though usually 2-3 pots) meal that could fit any flavor or fancy, a base for any vegetables, seafood, meat, fruit, or herbs you wanted to cook with that day. I literally cooked risotto two or three times a week for 8 months, from fall harvest through a Seattle winter and into springtime baby vegetables. And I used this cookbook for all of it.

This cookbook "Risotto" had many virtures. First, it is an exceptionally clear introduction to risotto: its history, varieties of rice, geography, how it is cooked and used, etc. Second, as other reviews state (and you can see in the Search-Inside-The-Book table of contents), it covers many kinds of risotto and has plenty of recipes: cheese, vegetable, meat, fish, fruit, liqueur, leftover.

But the strongest (and non-obvious) feature of this cookbook is how it makes use of its Basic Recipe. Up front, with tips and tools and techniques, it describes a canonical recipe for making risotto: the broth, the oil/butter and minced onion and rice, the first stir of liquid, the stirring and adding broth, the sauteed "soffrito" ingredients, and the final additions of cheese, broth, and sometimes cream to stir in. The cookbook gives ingredient amounts for cooking the basic recipe for different size dinners, with a few additional tips for making more or less than the canonical (serves 4) recipe.

In the rest of the book, recipes all can then say, for instance: Start with the basic recipe, but this time we're going to add the chopped spinach after 10 minutes of stirring in step 3; or Once the rice is coated in the oil, stir in 1/2 cup of white wine (instead of broth); or In the last step, omit the cheese and broth and use 1/2 cup of cream. And of course the soffrito, the usually-sauteed ingredients mixed in, were different for every one.

I usually resist a standardized recipe, feeling like a straitjacket. But this had the opposite effect. Having a single Basic Recipe was a great way to build confidence and proficiency with a new way of cooking. And building 100 recipes off of it--including restrained, classic Italian risottos, together with more creative or adventurous combinations--made it clear how once you'd mastered the Basic Recipe and how to apply it, you could do anything with risotto! And even though I may have made the cookbook sound mechanistic by focusing on the Basic Recipe, it really is one of those cookbooks where all the recipes are a joy to read, with notes about the history of the recipe or about the ingredients, etc.

Now, nearly 20 years later, this cookbook easily stands the test of time. The techniques are clear, straightforward, complete. All of the best-known, classic Italian risottos are present. And there are dozens of variations that are great on their own, and as a guide to what you can create beyond them.

The only small hesitation that I have today with this cookbook is a consequence of its strength. The Basic Recipe is a good learning tool, and is the way that a generation of American home chefs have now been introduced to cooking risotto. But there are actually variations in how risotto is made--what fats to use, how much broth to add and how to stir, using alternative tools like pressure cookers, etc. Once you're an over-the-top risotto fiend like I became, you'll want to explore those as well. Fortunately, one of the co-authors of Risotto (Barrett) went on to publish a follow-on risotto cookbook that is just as delightful--and goes all out with different ways of cooking risotto and more novel and creative recipes. See "Risotto Risotti" at [...]

Oh, so what was my favorite single risotto of the dozens I made from this book? A simple one, actually. An asparagus risotto made with early-spring skinny shoots. It was the most completely-green risotto I've made, and was brimming, overflowing with that aromatic "grassy" flavor of the best asparagus--the closest I've come to ethereal grazing in a bowl.

This cookbook is a complete reference for cooking risotto, the classic dish of northern Italy. With 120 authentic recipes, covering everything from risottos with cheese, vegetables, meat, seafood, and fruit, there is definitely a recipe for everyone. You might try a tasty Risotto con Porcini e Rucola (mushrooms and arugula) which is one of my favorite recipes from the book, or perhaps a nice Risotto Rosso alle Vongole (clams in red sauce). The recipes are easy to follow, contain ingredients that are readily obtained, and most offer variations as well. As the Italian Food Host @ BellaOnline, I am always looking for books that share recipes containing ingredients that everyone can find.

Also included in this book,are also chapters that contain important information on risotto ingredients and traditional preparation methods. Although I found it disappointing that this book contained no photographs or illustrations, which would only have enhanced my opinion of this book, I feel that if you love risotto, you'll enjoy this book. When it comes to risotto, this book has everything you could ever need!

I first learned about risotto at a cooking class from a wonderful Italian chef. I never knew rice could be comfort food like this! Then my husband bought this cookbook for me and it absolutely blew me away. The basics of risotto are explained so clearly, exactly as we had learned in class, and the recipes are concise and easy to follow. The really amazing part is all the different combinations of foods you can combine with simple arborio rice and create a culinary masterpiece. One of my favorites is the Fresh Herb Risotto... so easy, just a short walk to the herb garden and you have the most amazing side dish ever! I have a LOT of cookbooks and this is easily one of my favorites... one I won't part with, one I give to others as a gift!

Risotto has been a dish that I have loved ever since I was a child, and this book not only includes a truckload of recipes, ranging from the traditional to the truly creative, but it's also prefaced with an interesting account to the origins of this fabulous Italian creation. Not being a cook, I enjoy this book for its straightforwardness and lack of pretension. Risotto is also a versatile dish that can be easily prepared with various vegetables, cheeses, fish, beef, etc. As such, the chapters are broken down according to the kind of risotto one would like to prepare. This also makes the book easy to understand and thoroughly enjoyable. It takes a lot for me to invest in any kind of cook book, so if I say this one is worth it, I mean it.

There are so many cook books that you buy and only find a few recipes that are exciting. This book offers a multitude of recipies that are exceptional and always turn out. Whatever you are in the mood for beef, poultry, or seafood, this book has it.

`Rice, The Amazing Grain' by Marie Simmons and `Risotto' by Judith Barrett and Norma Wasserman are two older books (14 and 18 years respectively) on a most interesting culinary subject. In fact, to most of the Asian cultures, rice is THE culinary subject, dwarfing all talk of wheat and its principle derivatives, bread and pasta so dear to the western European culinary palate. (The other side of the coin may be that Italian and French cuisines can claim some level of primacy over Asian cuisines in that both have an important role for rice, while Asia ignores wheat and its vassals.)

While the first book deals with rice as a whole, including, per its subtitle, `Great Rice Dishes for Every Day', the second book deals only with the classic rice dish of northern Italy. On the face of it, therefore, one may think that the first book is more valuable than the second, but, for serious cookbook collectors, I think that is not the case.

For starters, the author claims that `Rice, The Amazing Grain' started out as a book on the grain alone but, like an unruly child, it grew into a cookbook. From that introduction, I expected a major treatise on rice, its cultivation, varieties, and nutrition. Instead, we get something which is far inferior to what I found in the recent book, `The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook' by bread baking Guru Beth Hensperger and culinary colleague, Julie Kaufmann. This book on a very specific rice cooking technique actually has more useful information on varieties of rice than this book devoted to the whole grain.

So, it took me some time to warm up to `Rice, The Amazing Grain', especially as Ms. Simmons did nothing to really show me how amazing the grain was. I grew to like the book a bit more when I discovered a clear explanation of the differences between a pilaf and a risotto, aside from the fact that one was born in Milan and the other in the Levant. (The difference is in the variety of rice used and the fact that all liquid is added at once to a pilaf at the outset of cooking). I was also very glad to find a good chapter on rice salad dishes. Most good salad books contain few if any recipes for rice in salad, much fewer, for example, than for rice in desserts.

So, my final word on `Rice, The Amazing Story' is that it is only worth your while if you are exceptionally fond of rice as an ingredient. If you are a foodie and your interest is not specifically centered on rice, you are much better served by getting `The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook' and `Risotto'. I recommend you get both, since, while risotto can be made in a rice cooker, it is, by its nature, something that is done with lid off and with constant serving. So, what a rice cooker gives you is ersatz risotto, with the same ingredients and flavors, but maybe not the same great creaminess. You can imagine the difficulties by visualizing cooking Risotto in a microwave!

On the other hand, if you really like rice and Italian cooking, `Risotto' is probably a book you should really own. It is only slightly dated as when it says that risotto ingredients and recipes are rare. Today, you can't go a week on the Food Network without someone making a risotto. And, arborio, one of the rices of choice for making risotto is on the shelf of every single supermarket I visit these days. What is really good about this book is that it deconstructs the risotto cooking process so that you can very easily see the similarities and differences between each recipe. All recipe ingredients lists and procedures are broken down into up to four different elements, the Riso (rice), brodo (broth or stock and wine), soffrito (oil and aromatics), and the condimenti (veggies, meats, poultry, or fish).

The varieties of risotto are pretty much what you would expect, with classic, cheese, vegetable, seafood, meat and poultry, and dessert (liquor and fruit) risottos. It is also not surprising to find a chapter devoted to leftover risotto, as many varieties of rice have a habit of stiffening up as starches are reabsorbed into the grains. The Chinese have created whole families of dishes of fried rice for dealing with leftover rice. Also not surprising in the western cuisines that the leftover of choice for rice is in fritters and pancakes.

As someone who has successfully made risotto on more than one occasion, I will vouch for the statement that risotto is NOT a difficult technique. It is you main dish, it can even fit into the favorite 30 minute limit for fast cooking. The only tricks to risotto are, like stir frying, prepare EVERYTHING in advance and stay with it. It needs you constant attention for up to 20 minutes. In fact one service this book does over the usual Batali / Bastianich / Hazan / Scicolone etc recipe is cut a few minutes off the time usually specified for good risotto making. This may not be much, but it helps us get under that mystical half-hour limit.

I suggest you go to the Encyclopedia Britannica for your scoop of rice background and get the two books on specific rice techniques. `Rice, The Amazing Grain' is a good choice if you really like rice, but don't want to store a lot of books on the subject.

Great book for anyone who wants to excell at making risotto. I have tried many recipes and they all turned great. What a find for people who, like me, find risottos to be one of the great dishes ever!

We love the book and have used it for years. Besides having excellent recipes, the book often serves as a springboard for our own creativity and we have made some riffs on the recipes that we like a lot.

One caveat: I don't know if it's the book, our rice source, our cooking pot, or us, but we invariably find that we need up to a cup more broth than specified, and that it takes us 10-20 more minutes than the recipes suggest (and we like our risotto al dente, so it's not like we're cooking it to mush). Just an FYI; it certainly hasn't kept us from using the book.

There are just two of us, so we always have leftovers, but the suggestions for using them are excellent. In fact, we sometimes make risotto just so we can make the risotto "fritters" the next day.

I love this cookbook. I have found that its variety and ease of use make it indispensable in the kitchen. We have made over 50 of the recipes and have found our favorites. I highly recommed this book for anyone who likes to eat well. I have bought my second copy for myself and numerous copies for friends and family. I am sure you'll enjoy it as much as I have. Happy risotto

I took with me my Milanese Cousin, who is a risotto expert, she said that this was the only book she ever found that was so complete on the subject. In addition, the recipes were very accurate.