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 www.traditio.netThe Italian website living in Scotland |
Amanda traditio |
| IL RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE | |||||||||
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Since March,21st Healthy and happy children 
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 VEDI ANCHE: VINI DOCG PRODOTTI DOCPRODOTTI IGT/STGPRODOTTI DOPCARBONARAPIZZAPIADINAMATRICIANA |
The legend |
The true story (kindly sent by Roberto Fontana) |
Felice Luraschi's recipe | Gualtiero Marchesi's recipe | Rhymed recipe |
History of rice
Anatomy of rice |
Ente Nazionale Risi National Rice Authority | ||
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How "RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE" was born (the legend) 
From "Legends and stories of Milan" by Laura Maragnani - Franco Fava Libreria Milanese - La Martinella di Milano ZAFFERANO and the yellow risotto. It was September 1574. For almost 200 years, by this time, work had been going on to build the Cathedral (Duomo of Milan), at the back of which had grown up a veritable town of huts, arcades in which lodged workers in marble, joiners, sculptors, carpenters from every part of Europe. In a kind of dairy farm of that multilingual Babel, lived a little community of Belgians: Valerio of Fianders, master glass-maker, commissioned to complete some glass windows with the episodes of the life of St. Helen, had in fact brought to Milan the best of his pupils. One, in particular, stood out from the others for his extraordinary ability to mix colours, obtaining really amazing effects. And so it was that after so many years of teasing, the young man decided to play a sneaky trick on his master: Our Lady's day Valerio's daughter was to get married, and what better occasion to sprinkle a little yellow powder in the risotto for the wedding feast? It didn't take much to bribe the cook.... and imagine the surprise of all the people at the meal when at table appeared that most strange pyramid of saffron-coloured risotto. Someone took their courage in both hands and tasted it. And then another and then another. In a blink of an eye, of that enormous mountain of yellow risotto, not a grain was left. Saffron's sneaky trick had gone badly wrong. On the other hand,"Risotto alla milanese" had been born. | |||||||||
The true story of "RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE" Document sent to us by Roberto Fontana - Trattoria Casa Fontana Tales, legends, they say that.... once for all, we will try to get back to the origins of the recipe, relying on historical documents. the principal characteristic is the colour yellow, provided by the saffron. Highly coloured dishes were a feature of Arab and European and Medieval cooking. It was the age of disguised and fancy dishes aimed at surprising the guests; gold and its substitute, egg-yolk, were the symbol of nobility, reserved for a privileged elite. In 1300 rice was being cultivated extensively in the Naples region. From here, thanks to close family and political tieswhich connected the Aragonese and first the Viscontis and later the Sforza families, its cultivation moved to Northern Italy, to become established, thanks to marshy nature of the land, in the Po Valley, and particularly in the Vercelli area. A century later Scappi would speak of "Rice from Salerno or Milan", in the recipe for "Minestra di riso alla Damaschina" (Damasquine Soup with rice) as it to record the origin of this food, just as, for centuries sugar would specified as "from Cyprus" or "from Madeira". The first cookery-books of the 14th century describe dishes in which rice plays a fundamental part. The "Biancomangiare" plays a fundamental part. Similarly the "Minestra di riso e farro (Broth with rice and emmer)" calls for rice cooked in broth, seasoned with yellow cervellata and, once cooked, beaten eggs, grated cheese, pepper, cinnamon and saffron can be incorporated. It may be noted that the term "Risotto" is still completely unknown, and the present-day technique of cooking the rice slowly, adding the stock gradually, also unknown, because every recipe invariably begins with preparation fo the boiled rice. There is no change in the numerous 18th century's Italian cookery-books. In the cookery book of Massialot (Paris 1691) translated into Italian in 1724,there is advice to cook the rice in broth, as a garnish for capon or chicken, flavoured with cinnamon and mutton broth or lemon. One has to wait till the end of 1700 for "Risotto alla milanese" as it is known today, to take shape.Finally the recipe of Felice Luraschi, the celebrated milanese cook who in 1829 published his "New Thrifty Milanese Cook". here the former yellow rice becomes Yellow rice "alla milanese", complete with beef dripping and marrow, saffron and nutmeg, cooked in stock, seasoned with the cervellata traditional in Middle Ages and Parmesan. Felice Luraschi's "Risotto alla milanese": chop an onion with a half-moon, add some beef dripping and marrow, a little butter, and fry it all; set it aside and add the desidered quantity of rice, a little saffron, a little nutmeg, and cook it in good stock, topping it up gradually; half-way through cooking add half a "cervellata", let it cook, add some grated cheese, and serve. In our time, Gualtiero Marchesi, a master of creative cooking, has refined the recipe, suggesting the following method: fry the rice in a little butter, begin cooking it in stock, then add the saffron; meanwhile in another frying pan, sweat the onion in a very little butter and white wine, add really cold fresh butter to get a creme of good consistency.Recipe of risotto alla milanese expressed in rhyme, in milanese dialect, by Giuseppe Fontana  "Gina, Gina, stavòlta che el risòtt voeui cural mi. Prepara bella netta la padella, che sem in sett o vòtt. El broeud te ghe l'ee bon? Si'? De manzetta? Famel on poo saggià. Bon, bon, va la', sent che odorin? El fa resuscità. El ris l'e' de vialon rivaa su jer? L'e' mondaa? Torna a dagh ona passada. Sù, sù, mett in padella el tò butter e on tochell de scigola ben tridada. Mett a foeugh, fà tostà movend sul fond col mestolin e tirel d'on bell biond. Dent el ris. Ruga, bagnel cont el vin bianch, magher (mezz biccer). Dent el zaffran. Ruga. Fagh sugà el vin. Sent che odorin! Sugaa? Gio' el broeud da man a man. Boffa sòtt che'l dev buj a la piu' bella da vedell a sparà in de la padella. Bagnel del tutt e rangiel giust de saa. Lassel coeus. Brava. Gratta gio' el granon. Oi, oi sòtt, sòtta foeugh chel sè incantaa! Gina, che risottin, che odor de bon' Ten rigaa veh! Adasi e deppertutt. Varda, l'e' quasi all'onda. On trii minut. Giò che l'e' pront. L'e' moll? Fa nient, el ven. Dent el grana abbondant e on bell tocchel de butter peu mantecchel ben, ben, ben, menand su' svelt ch'l ven bon e bell. Quest chi si', l'e' on risott che var la spesa, on risott pròpi faa a la milaanesa! Còtt al punt, mantecaa a la perfezion, bell, mostos, el te fà resuscità anca un mòrt che creppaa d'indigestion. Tirel giò e mett in tavola che in la' con tant d'oeucc e sopiren duardand chi. Sèrvel, che vegni subit anca mi" |
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Foto: "Mondine al lavoro",
da http://www.vialonenanoveronese.com/, website of the "Consorzio per la Tutela del Riso Vialone Nano Veronese" Visit their site to know how it's gathered and processed still today with a water-mill dating to 1648 |
RICE: VERSATILE, USED ALL OVER THE WORLD! 
Illustrations and text kindly provided by the National Rice Authority. IL NOME: In Sanscrito lo chiamavano "Vrihi", e, a dire il vero, risulta subito un'assonanza con la dizione attuale, assonanza che si perfeziona, se cosi' si puo' dire, con il termine adottato nelle lingue iraniche, e cioè "Brizi", per arrivare, nel bacino del Mediterraneo, al greco "Oriza" che i romani nazionalizzandolo come del resto avevano fatto per i nomi degli dei, hanno fissato nel latino "Oryza". E Oryza e' rimasto anche quando Linneo lo ha inserito nella sua classificazione. Rice constitutes the staple food of over half the planet's population. There are very many varieties (hundreds, world-wide). Of these, about fifty are cultivated in Italy, which can justifiably be considered the cradle of rice. Italian rice, in fact, is among the best both for the quality of the seed-strains chosen and for the advanced technology emplyed in the processing. Thanks to these the raw rice (the product obtained after harvesting and threshing) can be treated to obtain the various types of rice ready for eating, while preserving intact its nutritional qualities. 90% of the national rice production comes from Lombrady and Piedmont. In Lombardy the annual production of raw rice (called "risone") is about 5 hundred million kilos. In the Po Valley in fact are found the environmental conditions favourable to its cultivation, which is actually under water, with high temperatures and humidity during the growing season. From the nutritional point of view, rice is comparable with other cereals and proves easily digestable since the grains of starch are very small and so easily attacked by the gastric juices. Rice is also rich in mineral salts and vitamins of the group B complex, especially the less refined varieties (whole-grain rice) and the "parboiled" type. The rice grains can be, according to the botanical variety, rounded or long; for commercial purposes they are classified as:
Other rice marketed are:
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Chinese proverb:"Eat your rice, heaven will look after the rest" 
THE ORIGINS OF RICE,THE PEARL OF THE ORIENT The Emperor Kangh Hi understood 1600 years before Christ that to satisfy the food requirements of a populous China they needed a quick-rowing variety of rice, which could be grown north of the Great Wall, where owing to the Continenatl climate the first Autumn frosts arrive early. And so was born the varietyYu-mi, the Imperial rice, which became synonimous with quick-growing rice and is recorded in so many oriental legends. Today the People's Republic of China produces about 1900 million x 100 Kg of rice. Nevertheless it is only a third of the present annual world production which is about 5,000 million x 100 Kg. ORIGINS IN JAVA 
Fossil remains confirm that the peoples af Asia have been living on rice for 7000 years. The rice-plant must have originated in the island of Java or in Cambodia. The Egyptians did not know of it, nor does the Bible refer to it. On the other hand the Greeks and the Romans knew of its existence, but they considered it a spice. Pliny the Elder, wrote in his Natural History that it had fleshy leaves. Theophrastus and Strabo were more precise. How rice travelled from the East to the West is a mystery. Perhaps Alexander the Great introduced it to Greece. It's probable that the Arabs introduced it to Italy. Other tractitions give the credit to the Venetians. As documented by the Household Expenses Book of the Dukes of Savoy, rice was already on sale in Turin in 1300. During the Middle Ages it was also cultivated in the Botanic Gardens of the Monastic Orders. The monks of Monte Cassino would have studied it thoroughly, and would have selected the first seed for cultivation, paving the way for its success in the West as a food of extraordinary nutritional qualities. From: "Rice idea" dell'Ente Nazionale Risi Illustrations and text kindly provided by the N.R.A. |
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ENTE NAZIONALE RISI Piazza Pio XI-1 Milano ITALY |
 Belle spighe di riso | |||||
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ENTE NAZIONALE RISI
Da: "Il riso nella ristorazione" - Ente Nazionale Risi Alla fine degli anni Venti la risicoltura italiana attraverso' uno dei momenti piu' delicati della sua ultrasecolare vicenda. |
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www.peltuinum.it Antica Azienda Agricola PeltuinumL'Antica Azienda Agricola Peltuinum produces the Saffron of L'Aquila in a traditional way, according what has been done for generations and for centuries. You will find even the history of Saffron, of the Firm and some interesting recipes. www.23risotti.it Trattoria Casa Fontana A Milano, questa famosa Trattoria dei 23 risotti. Ottimo trattamento e ambiente raffinato fanno da cornice a indimenticabili risotti. www.esperya.com Ecco un sito in cui potete trovare informazioni sul Riso Vialone Nano Veronese DOP e Carnaroli www.cucinainternazionale.com Tante belle ricette da tutto il mondo con in comune il riso |
