What's the real secret to perfect risotto?

Traditionally risotto came from the north of Italy, the area where most of the rice is grown. Seafood risotto probably originated in the harvest of the waterways around Venice. Traditional flavours are only part of the story of risotto, however. Today the flavours are limited only by the cook's imagination. My advise however is this: don't get too tricky. Less is more and quality of ingredients is probably the single most important factor to making a truly excellent risotto.

This brings me back to the new and wonderful rices that we have recently introduced to the store. One them is grown by a family in Vercelli in Piedmont. They only grow carnaroli rice, which is the most difficult to grow and has a very low yield per hectare. Since 1934, three generations have cultivated this rice and since 1992, organically. Their rice is aged in stainless steel temperature controlled silos for a minimum of one year, when it is poured into beautiful resealable tins. The aroma of this rice is the first thing you notice when the vacuum is broken. They really do age the rice! The reason for this is that the rice dries over a long period in controlled conditions. The grain retains only the tiniest amount of moisture which enables the rice to absorb the maximum possible amount of stock when being cooked. The core is solid making the possibility of gluey, gluggy or sticky risotto impossible. Marco Balestrini brings this rice into Australia and, in his best Italian accent states that no matter what you do to this rice when you cook it, you cannot mess it up. It is called Acquerello and it is available in 500g tins. Once you use this rice you will love it. Pair it with our truffled parmesan and you will be hooked. The other important new addition to our stable is the semi-integrale vialone nano. Integrale in Italian means 'wholemeal'. This means this rice is as close to a high fibre risotto as you're going to get. Good news for those people that just can't get enough risotto. We did a special tasting in the store in August and all who tried the finished product were impressed.