What Is Truffle Risotto?

Truffle risotto is a rice dish composed of rice, stock, truffles, seasoning and butter or oil. Some people substitute truffle oil for actual truffles in this dish because of the high cost of most truffles. Rice that has a short or medium grain is the best type of rice to use for risotto.

Risotto is a creamy dish, attaining its creamy consistency from the interaction of the rice starch and the stock used to cook the rice. To make truffle risotto, butter or oil is heated, rice is added and sautéed for a couple of minutes, and then truffles and stock are added slowly. After each addition of stock, the rice is stirred. The risotto is continuously stirred for approximately 20 minutes until it has a creamy consistency and the rice is cooked through.

Truffles are relatively hard to find and the harvest season is relatively short, so they are usually very expensive. Many people feel that despite the price, truffles are well worth the cost and can enhance many dishes. Although there are many recipes for risotto, truffle risotto is considered by many people to be the ultimate risotto recipe because of the taste and aroma of truffles. They have a very distinct aroma and flavor that complement the dish well.

To help avoid the exorbitant cost of truffles, many people use truffle oil instead. Although this oil has a taste very similar to actual mushroom truffles, it usually is not flavored by them. Truffle oil is usually an olive oil that has been flavored to taste like truffles. It is available in both white and black varieties, just as actual truffles are. Although truffle oil might not be the real thing, many people think that it does an adequate job of flavoring truffle risotto.

The length of the rice grain makes a difference when cooking with risotto. Rice that is short- or medium-grain is best to use in truffle risotto because it tends to be stickier than long-grain rice. Arborio, vialone nano and carnaroli are three types of rice that work well when making risotto. Each type is not readily available in every locality, but one of the three usually can be purchased, either in a specialty store or over the Internet.

Truffles tend to be expensive, so many people practice making risotto before purchasing truffles. The ingredients in the dish might change, but the basic steps of making risotto are the same from recipe to recipe. Despite the seemingly simple nature of the dish, sometimes it takes someone a few tries to perfect the dish.