If you buy the correct rice, then to turn out a perfect risotto is not so hard. Some cooks mutter about skilled technique. Well, they're just stirring it up...which is the only technique required.

Risotto is a dish from west Lombardy and eastern Piedmont in Northern Italy where the rice paddies are found. Only Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano, a relatively recent rice developed in the Veneto area with advice from the Japanese, are suitable.

By first poaching the grains in butter or olive oil (or a balance of both) then adding very small amounts of boiling broth less than one ladle at a time and gently folding it in, the starch molecules on the surface of the rice are slowly released to turn the whole into a creamy mass of separate grains, each with a bit of bite ('al dente', or 'to the tooth'). 

The creaminess can amplified by stirring in, once cooking is complete, cubes of chilled butter or a generous spoonful of heavy cream.

But the key ingredient, after the correct rice and a good stock, is patience. Over the course of approximately 20 minutes, you need to gently stir in small additions of boiling broth, never adding more until the previous ladle has been absorbed. How hard is that? At certain point, about half way through the process, a creamy sauce will begin to form in the bottom of the pan and around the grains.

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