The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

creamier.
For now, though, we’ll ignore this theory (and get back to
it later). The second argument is that the technique helps the
rice cook more evenly. This one happens to be true. Sort of.
Cook risotto in a standard risotto pot—that is, one that is
relatively narrow across the bottom—and your rice and
liquids stack. There’s a big difference in height between the
rice at the bottom of the pot and that at the top. The rice at
the bottom, closer to the heat source, overcooks, while the
rice at the top barely gets done.
Stirring helps prevent this, but there’s an even easier way:
use a wider, shallower pan. In a good wide skillet, the rice
forms a fairly even thin layer over the bottom, which
translates to much more even cooking. Using very low heat
after initially bringing the liquid to a boil also helps. I found
that by cooking the rice in a wide skillet like this, I could get
perfect results by adding the rice and almost all of the liquid
at once, covering the pan and cooking over very low heat
until the rice was done, stirring just once during the process.