Risotto is one of those things that is incredibly deceptive in it’s difficulty. Cook it too long, and it turns mushy; cook it to quickly, or with too little liquid, and it’ll be crunchy.

Now, let’s be clear about one thing: there is a huge difference between crunch and bite: crunch is a nicer way of saying undercooked; bite means that it has some resistance, but you can feel the tenderness on the instead.

For me, the perfect risotto has creaminess and bite.Marcella Hazan’s Parmesan Risotto is the platonic ideal (huh, Dave Chang fans?) of a risotto for me. Between the rather patient way in how the stock is added; to the ridiculous amount of butter and oil used (what is this, a French recipe?), along with a surprisingly scant amount of cheese—comparatively, to the butter, I mean—this risotto is so tender, which just the right amount of bite, and is also super creamy.

• 4 cups homemade meat broth or veggie broth
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons onion or shallot, chopped finely
• 2 cups carnaroli or arborio rice
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• Salt

Now, there is a super involved meat stock that Chef Hazan teaches on page 15 of her book, but if you don’t have the time (or inclination), Marcella herself suggests using one can of meat stock—preferably beef—and four cups of water in a pot—also, preferably lose to the burner you’ll be using the to cook the risotto in. Bring this stock very gently to a low simmer.

Now, I, myself, prefer to control the taste and the salt content, so I instead opted for 1 tablespoon of beef stock and 5 cups of water—although, I personally only added one cup of water at first, while I honed in the flavor of the stock, and then I added the remaining water.

Once the stock begins simmering, add the vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter and onion to the pan, and turn the heat to medium high. Once the onions are translucent but not caramelized, add the rice —taking care to thoroughly coat the rice with the butter and oil.

Begin spooning the stock into the rice mixture, a 1/2 cup at a time. As each cup is added, the rice will need to be stirred and folded to ensure that it not only doesn’t stick to the pan and overcook, but also to help incorporate the liquid evenly—which helps produce a more even cooking.

All in all, this process should take somewhere between 16-20 minutes.. At this point, a taste test of the rice is needed, in order to ensure it has enough bite but is neither soft or crunchy.

When the rice is within the last 1-2 minutes of cooking, fold all the Parmesan and the remaining butter to the rice. The importance of folding the butter and cheese in is to wrap the individual grains; this helps ensure a uniformly cheesy risotto.

All that’s left is to remove the risotto from the heat and add some salt to taste. I’d strongly suggest serving it immediately—especially if you’re wanting to garnish with even more Parmesan (is there such a thing as too much?) and/or parsley and/or red pepper flakes.

Alright. So, a bit late, but still posted by Monday, so… counts for something, right? Anyways, try making this yourself and let me know what you think!