From left: Bomba, Arborio, and Vailone Nano.- Bomba is a Spanish rice used primarily for making
creamy paellas. It’s extremely short-grained, with a
moderate level of amylopectin, and it makes a very fine
risotto, despite the fact that it comes from the wrong
country. - Arborio is the most common risotto rice of choice. It’s
short-grained with almost zero amylose. It has a tendency
to create a very thick sauce and can very easily be
overcooked to the point of mush because of its lack of
structure. Even perfectly cooked Arborio will tend to be
relatively soft. - Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are not quite as available as
Arborio, but they are my favorite varieties of rice for
risotto. They strike a good balance between creaminess
and intact texture. If you can find one of these, use it.
You may see the words fino or superfino written on the
packages of imported rices. While it’d be nice to imagine
some Italian committee deciding exactly how fine a