Risotto cremoso al pesto di rucola e stracchino

What does “mantecare” mean in Italian cooking?

Mantecare is the last thirty seconds of a risotto: off the heat, in go cold butter and grated cheese, and you beat and swirl until the rice turns glossy and creamy. English has to borrow a whole sentence for it. The verb comes from Spanish manteca, “butter, lard” — so the fat is literally sitting inside the word.

The result gets its own name: risotto all’onda, “wave risotto,” loose enough to ripple across the pan when you shake it. Ice-cream makers use mantecare too, for churning air into the mix. In the clip the cook narrates the finish — a knob of butter, the rocket pesto, then “adesso andiamo a mantecare” — before the payoff line, “guarda che crema.”