flavor. On the other, you’ve got rice with great nutty, toasty
flavor but relatively little creaminess. The question is: how
do you get your risotto both creamy and nutty?
Isolating Starch
Here’s my theory: I know that starch can break down under
high heat Ever compare the thickening power of a very light
roux to a dark-cooked roux? The blonder it is, the better is
thickens. Perhaps a similar thing was happening to the
starch in my rice as I toasted it, robbing it of it’s thickening
power.
To test this theory, I had to first isolate the starch used for
thickening from the rest of the grain. Now, some folks claim
that the starch that thickens the sauce in a risotto comes
from within the rice grains themselves—indeed, they say,
that’s the very reason you have to stir the rice as it cooks.
The jostling movement of the grains causes them to rub
against each other, slowly scraping starch off and into the
liquid. This could be true, but it doesn’t exactly explain how
many of the more modern no-stir risotto cooking methods
work so well. Is it possible that this thickening starch is
simply on the surface of the grains to begin with? There’s a
very easy way to test whether this is true or not: rinse the
rice.