Squid ink risotto

Squid ink risotto — Arborio rice cooked with squid ink, white wine, stock, and finished with butter and Parmesan, sometimes with squid or cuttlefish stirred through. The ink gives the risotto its dramatic black colour and a deep, briny, mineral-iodine character that is unlike any other risotto. The Parmesan and butter add fat, the squid ink itself is intensely saline and umami-rich, and the overall register is one of the most assertively marine preparations in the calculator. Oak is eliminated by the ink.

Pairs Perfectly

Etna Bianco, Sicily, Italy — Carricante-led, volcanic mineral, citrus and white stone fruit, high acid, unoaked. The volcanic mineral character engages the marine-mineral intensity of the squid ink at the same register, the acidity cuts the butter and Parmesan fat, and the Sicilian origin is the correct geography for a preparation so tied to the Mediterranean cephalopod kitchen.

Pairs Well

Assyrtiko, Santorini, Greece — volcanic mineral, citrus-grapefruit, searing acid. The volcanic-mineral logic mirrors the Etna Bianco from a Greek direction — two volcanic island whites for a marine-mineral preparation.

Dry Furmint, Tokaj, Hungary — high acid, waxy texture, mineral and beeswax. The waxy texture carries the butter and Parmesan and the mineral character engages the squid ink salinity without adding aromatic weight.

Worth Seeking Out

Greco di Tufo, Campania, Italy, where the floral-mineral character and searing acid bring a southern Italian precision for marine-mineral preparations that sits alongside Etna Bianco from a different volcanic terroir.

Avoid

Any oaked wine — squid ink and oak produce an unpleasant metallic note. Tannic reds overpower the marine character of the ink entirely.

Failing That

A Vermentino di Gallura DOCG, Sardinia, Italy.

If All Else Fails

A Soave Classico, Veneto, Italy.

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