The Milanese are literally crazy for risotto, just like the Romans for spaghetti. It’s their daily bread.
So how did this addiction start?
There are many tales tracing the origins of risotto allo zafferano – but only one is backed up by historical documentation, related to a lavish Renaissance feast.
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Cesare Battisti, one of Milan’s top chefs who proudly serves traditional cuisine at his stylish Ratanà restaurant, went searching for the answer himself amid piles of dusty books.
“At Milan’s Ambrosian Library there is a text describing a banquet held in the 1500s at the court of the House of Sforza, the rulers of Milan, during which a Flemish glass painter called Valerio di Fiandra served a peculiar yellow rice that had a huge success,” says Battisti.
The artist, commissioned to paint part of the Duomo di Milano’s glass cathedral windows yellow, had a knack for using saffron as a colour. So to impress the diners, he decided to sprinkle some of the spice on the white rice and make a golden, aristocratic dish.
Then there’s the more whimsical version of the story. Back then, the painters of the Duomo were divided into groups – one in charge of each colour – and some suggest that someone from di Fiandra’s “yellow” group mixed saffron into his lunch one day as a practical joke.
Chef Alessandro Negrini, of Milan's Michelin-starred restaurant Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, doesn’t believe in the tale of the painter.
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“Nobody in Milan really calls it risotto allo zafferano, it’s just risott giald – ‘yellow rice’ in local dialect,” he says. “Risotto is the product of culinary contamination, of different civilisations coming together. It probably even has a Hebrew kosher influence.
“The saffron was added just as an aesthetic whim to shock, and it most likely came from Sicily, which was ruled for centuries by many Mediterranean people including the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Phoenicians and Arabs.”
One thing is certain. Today the Milanese are dubbed “risottari”, meaning rice-eaters.
“Risotto is part of the Milanese DNA, a reflection of their soul,” says Battisti.
Traditional risotto is both humble and rich at the same time.
The saffron – which was imported from the Middle East by merchants following in the steps of Marco Polo – is still an elite spice today, costing cooks thousands of euros at a time. It’s so expensive that when Battisti buys his for Ratanà, he purchases only a small amount from Italy’s central Marche region, and the rest from Spain’s La Mancha area, which has a wider production.
One of the world’s most premium types of saffron grows on the Italian island of Sardinia. In past centuries, rich Milanese who could afford it added saffron to all food sauces and to tea, even using it to treat depression, thanks to its reinvigorating properties.
On the other hand, rice is available to the masses. Its origins are traced back to Asia, but Italy’s northern lands, covered in marshes, have always been one of Europe’s most ideal spots for rice plantations. A premium rice variety called Carnaroli is cultivated near Milan.
“True, we may have imported many ingredients from abroad, but somehow we are among the best when it comes to growing saffron and making rice dishes,” says Battisti.
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Across time risotto allo zafferano recipes have become more elaborate. As common families became increasingly able to afford meat, bone marrow sauce was used, making the dish extremely nutritious – but also very greasy.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Milanese ditched the meaty sauce and substituted it with extra virgin oil and various kinds of cheeses, mainly Grana Padano. However the bone marrow taste stuck to the palates of nostalgic chefs, who were struck with the idea of placing veal on top of the steaming yellow rice – inventing another variant of risotto allo zafferano.
At Ratanà, Battisti serves the traditional recipes, but also makes modern twists – such as risotto with orange juice added to the bone marrow, along with broccoli, zucchini, bacon and crunchy chilli peppers. He even makes the hybrid dish risotto alla puttanesca.
Meanwhile Negrini has come up with a metamorphosis: small pasta dumplings called tortelli stuffed with the risotto’s classic ingredients, as well as a white risotto with purple shrimps, oregano and extra virgin oil.
“The great thing about risotto is that every town around Milan has its own way of preparing it and there are at least 10 variants – con’t think it’s an easy dish,” says Negrini. “When you do it right, you’re almost a chef.”
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