Shredded beef over a Mushroom Risotto need ideas.

[morairtym]

So each Saturday I go over to some friends house, we play some board games and have dinner. When I cook its more in line with traditional bbq. Smoked Pulled pork, Ribs, shredded beef, Brisket, Chicken, Turkey, etc... I also bring sides.

I cook over night or first thing in the morning so I can get there by 2pm, and the food stays in a hot box until dinner time.

This week I wanted to do something different from the norm and expanded my cooking skills. I was thinking about making shredded beef over a Mushroom Risotto. Something like this http://flavorthemoments.com/beef-sho...hroom-risotto/

I'm not sure if the risotto can be made ahead of time or not. Also if anyone has other ideas for smoked meat I'm all ears.

[Potkettleblack]

Risotto is quite easy to make in a pressure cooker (and it's about 90% as good as the much more labor intensive traditional manner) and reheats rather nicely. Given the high starch of risotto rice, the P-cooker method can make a fairly stiff one, which makes it easy to shape for really elegant presentation.

Pulled chuckie would be really good like this. As would 72h sous vide short rib. Anything intensely beefy would crank the umami off the charts for a home run. I might finish with a bit of real balsamic (or at least the good stuff you can get that isn't DOC Modena stuff) to cut the richness.

Very elegant.

Also on point, Kenji has a way to make risotto work more in the way you want maybe:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2017/05/how-to-make-ahead-risotto.html

[EdF]

Great answer. I can attest to the PC method!

[JCGrill]

+1 here, the risotto cook time is like 10 minutes. If you have gotten into the Instapot craze you have what you need.

[dtassinari]

If you haven't got a pressure cooker on hand, you can definitely par-cook the risotto ahead of time; just make it the traditional way, leaving it 6-7 minutes short of your ideal cooking time, chill it quickly by spreading it on a sheet pan and store it in the fridge. Whenever you're ready, put it back on the stove, bring it back to a simmer and it'll be almost ready to finish.

That's the way risotto is made in the vast, vast majority of restaurants in Italy too, including many of the really fancy ones: the end result is virtually indistinguishable from the traditional way and it can be ready in 5 minutes on the pickup. Don't let anyone give you crap for doing it this way