No. 2981

Risot with Piedmontese Truffles

Risot aux Truffes du Piemont

Put six ounces of butter in a saucepan; when it begins to heat add to it two ounces of chopped onion and fry for a moment, then put in a pound of unwashed but well-picked rice. When this becomes quite hot moisten to double its height with broth (No. 194a), and cook very slowly while covered for twenty minutes. When done add six ounces of butter in small lumps, and four ounces of grated parmesan, stirring them in with a large carving fork, also two tablespoonfuls of meat glaze (No. 402) or chicken glaze (No. 398). Range the risot in a casserole or vegetable dish, cover the top with two ounces of fresh white Piedmont truffles, warmed in a little butter. Serve a clear gravy (No. 404) at the same time.

← No. 2980 Risot a la Ristori Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous No. 2982 Souffle, Creamy, with Cheese →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's risotto is made by the older covered-pot method rather than by constant stirring, and it is very rich even by nineteenth-century standards. A few conversions and one judgment call about the truffles are all it needs.

The hinge: do not wash the riceThe instruction "unwashed but well-picked" is deliberate — the surface starch is what thickens the dish. Pick over for grit and stones (a real concern in 1894 rice) and put it straight into the butter.
Rice to useA Piedmontese risotto rice: Carnaroli, Vialone Nano or Arborio. A pound is about 2 1/3 cups.
"Moisten to double its height"This means liquid standing twice as deep as the rice in the pan, roughly 4 to 5 cups of broth for a pound of rice. Because the pot is covered and barely simmering, little evaporates; check at 15 minutes and add hot broth if it looks dry.
Covered 20 minutesThis is the older all-at-once method, closer to a pilaf than to modern stirred risotto. Keep the heat very low and the lid on; the finishing butter and cheese, beaten in vigorously, supply the creaminess that stirring would otherwise develop.
The butterSix ounces at the start and six more at the finish is 1 1/2 cups of butter for a pound of rice. Halving the finishing butter gives a dish most modern palates prefer, at some cost to the gloss Ranhofer wanted.
Meat and chicken glazeHis No. 402 and No. 398 are stock reduced to a syrup that sets firm when cold; a commercial glace de viande substitutes directly, while demi-glace is much less reduced and is not an equal swap. Two tablespoons is enough to darken and deepen the rice noticeably.
"Casserole" hereA serving vessel, not a baked dish. The risotto goes into it finished; nothing is put in the oven.
White Piedmont trufflesTuber magnatum, the Alba white truffle, in season roughly October to December and sold by the gram. Two ounces is a substantial amount. Modern practice is to shave white truffle raw over the hot rice rather than warm it in butter as directed, since heat drives off the aroma quickly.
YieldA pound of rice with this much enrichment serves eight as a course on its own, more as an accompaniment.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of that kitchen, which is why the recipe cross-references broth, glaze and gravy by number instead of repeating them. Rice cooked in butter and broth and finished with cheese belongs to Lombardy and Piedmont, and the spelling "risot" reflects the French-language framework Ranhofer worked in. The white truffle of Piedmont was already a luxury import in the 1890s, available only in a narrow autumn window, and its appearance on a New York menu was as much a statement about the restaurant's supply lines as about the cooking. A clear gravy (No. 404) is served alongside, so the rice can be moistened further at table.