Other than the half a day I worked at a Hardee's when I was fifteen, I have no restaurant experience. While enthusiastic about trying new dishes and techniques, I really have no foundation on which to build. Enter my risotto experiment.
I have made risotto before and it has turned out lovely. Creamy, delicious, spreads on the plate just as it is meant to. So I feel I have a decent handle on making the dish. My beau and I have been talking about having a dinner party and I got it in my head I wanted to make this wild mushroom risotto. Not wanting to ignore our guests for half an hour to make the risotto, I concluded I would have to make it ahead of time and finish it just before serving.
Realizing my limitations, I thought it best to practice on my beau ahead of time. Thank goodness I did. This was an epic fail. I did a little Googling about pre-cooking risotto and mostly the advice was to never do it. Some places did suggest that restaurants cook risotto about 2/3 of the way and then finish to order. It was recommended to cook it to that stage, then put it in the fridge to cool and stop cooking. I happily cooked up my risotto, checking it regularly, and reached a pre-al dente stage that I guessed was right. I put it on a cookie sheet and directly into the fridge. About 90 minutes later when we were ready for dinner, I pulled out my risotto.
Epic fail. I put it back on the stove to finish cooking and heat through. The final result was overcooked and thick. Basically, it was nothing I would ever serve guests. My only consolation was that the flavors were good. The texture was nearly too much to overlook. Needless to say, our dinner party menu has been revised.
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