Adam Liaw’s mushroom risotto masterclass has changed the way we’ll cook risotto forever

Making a great risotto is very simple, once you know how.

August 22, 2023

Adam Liaw’s mushroom risotto. Bonnie Savage STYLING: Deborah Kaloper

easyTime:30 mins - 1 hourServes:4-6

A great risotto is both simple and elegant, and it certainly isn’t anywhere near as difficult or labour-intensive as you might have been led to believe. Once you’ve mastered the process of making a basic mushroom risotto, you can take it in any number of directions.

Ingredients

20g dried porcini mushrooms
1 litre chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
200g Swiss brown mushrooms, thinly sliced
5 tbsp olive oil
1 small brown onion, peeled and finely diced
2 garlic cloves, bruised
2 cups carnaroli, arborio or vialone nano rice
½ cup white wine
salt and black pepper, to season
25g butter, cubed
1 cup grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley, to serve

Method

Step 1
Steep the porcini mushrooms in 600ml of boiling water for about 30 minutes. Drain the mushrooms and combine the steeping liquid with the stock. Place the Swiss brown mushrooms in a bowl and microwave them on high for 5 minutes. Drain the mushrooms and combine any liquid released with the stock as well.
Step 2
Heat the stock and mushroom steeping water and juices in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Step 3
Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a shallow, heavy-based casserole dish over medium heat. Add the onion and whole garlic cloves and fry for about 3 minutes, until the onion is translucent, then remove and discard the garlic. Add the rice to the casserole dish and toast in the oil for about 1 minute, then add the white wine and stir until the wine has been absorbed. Add about a third of the hot stock and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the stock has been absorbed. Repeat two more times using the remaining stock, keeping a little back in case you need to adjust the texture at the end.
Step 4
While the risotto is cooking, heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the microwaved Swiss brown mushrooms and fry for about 3 minutes, until golden brown, stir through the rehydrated porcini and remove from the heat.
Step 5
When almost all of the last addition of stock has been absorbed (the rice should be al dente but the dish still quite “soupy”), vigorously stir through the butter and parmesan to create a creamy texture. Stir in the mushrooms, then taste and adjust the seasoning. The texture of the risotto should be quite soft so that it spreads easily on a plate if you tap the bottom of the plate. If the texture looks too firm, stir in a little more hot stock or hot water. Scatter with a little parsley and grind over some black pepper to serve.

Masterclass

Risotto is easy

The idea that risotto is a difficult dish to make is entirely a made-for-TV drama.

I love Jamie Oliver, but telling people all those years ago that you have to stir risotto constantly for half an hour while it cooks has done the risotto-making world a huge disservice. I don’t know a single professional chef who stirs risotto constantly, and I know quite a few who don’t stir it at all (until the very end). I find that a constantly stirred risotto is too gluggy because the grains have been mashed together rather than remaining separate.

It’s not only Jamie’s fault. Reality TV taught us that risotto was a “death dish”, but that has nothing to do with risotto being difficult and quite a lot to do with the fact that on reality TV cooking shows, there’s often a verrrry long time – sometimes hours – between a dish being cooked and it being tasted and judged. Risotto changes texture very quickly, which is why I recommend reserving a little stock so that you can adjust it at the last second. You could make the most perfect risotto in the world, but let it sit for an hour in a TV studio and you’ll have hard plaster.

This isn’t the first time TV has lied to you and it won’t be the last, but now that you know risotto is as easy as cooking a pot of rice, there’s nothing to stop you from achieving risotto perfection.

Dried porcini mushrooms add intense savoury flavours.iStock

Dried mushrooms

Almost all mushrooms are high in natural glutamate, and some (like shiitake) are also high in guanylate. These two compounds give mushrooms a strong savoury flavour, and when dried, these savoury characteristics go into overdrive, so a little dried mushroom can go a long way. It’s like the difference in savouriness between a piece of fresh pork belly and a piece of pancetta.

Dried porcini can be expensive, so if you want to save a few dollars, a little hack that I often use at home is to substitute dried shiitake for the porcini. It’s a different mushroom with a different flavour, but you’ll get a similar savoury boost at less than a tenth of the price.

Really, the microwave?

Yes, really. If you want to stop fresh mushrooms from absorbing too much oil when you cook them, the microwave is a game-changer.

Mushrooms are made up of a network of fibres called hyphae, which trap a lot of water and air. Cooking mushrooms damages the fibres, releasing water and air, but sucking up oil in the process. Microwaving mushrooms helps break down the fibres, so that when you fry them, they absorb far less oil. It also releases the water trapped within the hyphae, giving you cooked mushrooms that are ready for frying and a few tablespoons of concentrated mushroom stock to use in your dish.

Don’t worry about overcooking the mushrooms. The fibre in mushrooms is called chitin, which is hardier than the cellulose that makes up the cell wall of vegetables. Its toughness helps the mushroom push through rocks and plant material as it grows, so it doesn’t break down very easily when cooked. This is why, when you cook a mushroom, it retains its shape rather than breaking down as a carrot or onion might.

Beat butter and parmesan into the risotto at the end to make it creamy.iStock

Mantecatura

We discussed mantecatura back when we were analysing Australian bolognese. It’s the process of emulsification that provides a rich texture to pasta dishes, but for a creamy risotto, it’s the whole ball game.

“Creaminess” as a texture in pasta or risotto is rarely from cream. Rather, the emulsification of starch, protein and fat create the texture we’re after. In carbonara, this is cheese and egg emulsified with pasta water. In risotto, the starch and protein from the rice is agitated with grated cheese, butter or oil to create a creamy texture.

For one or two serves of risotto, this is best done by finishing the risotto in a frying pan, adding cheese and butter or oil and tossing it in a wave motion like you might if you were tossing a wok. For larger serves, vigorously beating in the cheese and butter with a wooden spoon is entirely fine.