Risotto con Salsiccia

The creaminess of risotto does not come from cream. If someone has told you otherwise, they have misled you. The creaminess comes from technique: the patient addition of warm broth, the constant gentle stirring that coaxes starch from the rice, and the final mantecatura with cold butter and cheese. Americans add cream because they have not learned this. You will learn it today.

Risotto con salsiccia is working-class food from Lombardy, the kind of dish a butcher's wife would make because she had access to fresh sausage and the knowledge to transform simple ingredients into something that warms you from the inside. The sausage must be good. Not the hard, dried links you find in supermarkets, but fresh Italian sausage with a high fat content and simple seasonings. The pork fat renders into the rice, enriching every grain.

This is not difficult cooking, but it demands your attention. You cannot walk away. You cannot answer the phone. For twenty minutes, you stand at the stove and stir. If this seems like too much to ask, make something else.