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Risotto a LA Milanaise

A saffron-infused rice dish cooked with onion, butter, flour, and Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and saffron work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Risotto a LA Milanaise

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Fry the sliced onion slowly until browned.

  2. Strain the butter.

Toast the rice

  1. Add the rice to the simmering butter.

  2. Gently color the rice to a bright yellow over low heat.

Cook and serve

  1. Combine the rice with the boiling broth.

  2. Stew in a copper pan for 15-20 minutes.

  3. Stir in the butter mixed with flour.

  4. Season with pepper or cayenne.

  5. Add grated Parmesan cheese.

  6. Boil gently for 10 minutes.

  7. Serve hot as a potage.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Rice + saffrontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Saffron + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together781 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Rice + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together879 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Starch that absorbs broth and releases starch to give the risotto its creamy, thick texture.
Butter
Fat that carries flavour, enriches the dish and adds richness to the finished texture.
Broth
Liquid that hydrates the rice as it cooks, providing moisture and savoury flavour.
Saffron
Aromatic spice that gives the broth its characteristic golden-yellow colour and subtle flavour.
Onion
Browned slowly to build a sweet, savoury base flavour for the dish.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savoury depth and helps make the finished dish creamy.

The step that matters

Gently color the rice to a bright yellow over low heat. Toasting the rice in butter over low heat coats the grains in fat and seals their outer layer, helping them stay separate and firm while cooking. Too much heat can scorch the butter and turn the rice brown and bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, saffron, butter, flour, pepper, parmesan cheese):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, saffron, butter, flour, pepper, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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