Risotto isn’t worth the bother

[BarrelOfOtters]

So much stirring for what? There’s easier ways to get cheese into your mouth

I find it quite satisfying to cook! Like I would do that as an activity even if I didn't get to eat anything at the end.

I have the last of my Xmas ham and the ham stock in the freezer ready for a special treat of ham and pea risotto….a real January treat

To make a decent risotto you need a good homemade stock. That is what the flavour comes from. Think of it as soup porridge. The bits you add are just a bit of texture to compliment the stock. But the rice will get all its flavour from the stock.
Don’t even bother if you can only use shop stock cubes - it’ll just taste part artificial and the rest of Parmesan cheese- that’s by people say it just tastes of cheese 🤦‍♀️

i keep home made stock in my freezer just for soups and risotto. If I’m making a mushroom risotto though I’ll get dried mushrooms and use the liquor from that instead .

I’ve always used in minestrone soup but never risotto, so I’ll give it a go next time

I'm not keen either. Whether homemade, in Italy or in Ciprianis in Mayfair (I was lured in by the truffles). I don't think it's just bad cooking, it'll never be my favourite thing. Like soup, it's something I now never order in restaurants as I always feel cheated out of something truly delicious.

I stir in 100mls of stock lots of stirring to get that starch up, pour the rest of the stock leave to simmer, add Parmesan and butter more stirring leave off heat with lid on . Easy

I find it quite satisfying to cook! Like I would do that as an activity even if I didn't get to eat anything at the end.

Same - DP sees cooking as a chore, but I love it. Luckily oldest DC is an adventurous eater so I get to try out different things, including lots of risottos!

For those of us who make risotto in a pressure cooker, the final stage is important.
I make it quite liquid to avoid sticking (burning!), open it up and whisk in the butter and cheese with a balloon whisk. That helps distribute the starch better and you can check the required level of evaporation.

Thank you very much @SerenaTee @MissyB1 😊

Risotto is never worth the effort, it’s fucking dinner porridge.

As a result of this thread, guess what I am making tonight

YANBU. It's disgusting even when done well, so clearly not worth the bother. If you just want to cook some shit up in a frying pan just put some meat, potatoes and other veg and cook them, then slap some cheese on the top. Tastes nicer and is an actual meal from proper food, unlike "risotto".

Yabu. Mixed peppers, kale and parmesan risotto. Mmmmm. and capers for my bowl.

It's what I made for dinner last night. I couldn't stop thinking about a delicious bowl of butternut squash and sage risotto with crispy sage leaves on top😆 I added peas this time and they were really good in it. I do have to make mine dairy free due to allergic dd so the cheese I addd was a df Cathedral city one and a good hunk of Violife df Camembert.

Are those DF cheeses any good?

new to DF so trial and error atm. Binning a lot of stuff.

and getting particularly annoyed that DF often means vegan, gluten, egg and nut free as well. Might as well eat wallpaper paste 😂

I am too.

No wonder they don't like it if they don't have that lovely melted salty cheese in it.

@Cileymyrus The Violife Camembert is really nice, very creamy and I even did a baked one for dd for nye which she really enjoyed. I'm not keen on the Cathedral city mature cheddar tbh, but none of the cheddars have been that great. The best is Violife again, their extra mature I think it is. It's in a black packet. Violife also do the best cream cheese. Vitalite do a really nice melting creamy hard cheese which I think is similar to a feta. It's one I'll eat just a chunk of!
Yet to find a good df blue cheese though. I keep forgetting to go on the fauxmagerie deli website to get some for Christmas. Maybe this is the year I do?🤔
As for df butter, I think Floras plant based salted butter is the best, but for baking I use Stork baking spread as that's usually df (just check as the block used to be df and the tub didn't but now it's the other way round).

Forgot to say @Cileymyrus my dd also gets annoyed about df meaning she has to eat vegan when out. She still likes eating meat, she's just allergic to dairy! That said, it is much easier now to find df foods that when she first started getting issues (thought she was lactose intolerant to start with) about 6 or so years ago.

As a cheese lover I find that Violife "cheese" just doesn't hit the spot for me. We call it vile life because of the unpleasant background vanilla taste it has.

I love vegan food, well all food really, but IMO the only really good vegan cheese substitute I have tried is from the Tyne Chease Company. The "cheese" is made from cashew nuts, so is no good for the nut allergic.

When I took out a Hello Fresh subscription several months ago, it was the first time in my adult life I was regularly cooking proper meals. I loved eating the risotto's, but I hated the effort of making them, so eventually banned them. Then recently there was an oven one I allowed through, which reminded my how good they taste. Based on the advice in this thread, I will try the conventional ones again, but cheat by not adding the stock gradually.

Of course there is.

TBH, I don't cook risotto for the cheese. It's like going to the effort of making anything just to sprinkle it with cheese at the end.