Polenta, what the hell?

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So I bought some polenta the other day. I wanted to try a soft polenta mash, like a mashed potato replacement, like I've seen in recipes.

I followed the packet and cooked it in (possibly a bit too much) water for 15 mins, and was annoyed at how much I had to stir it (damn stuff sticks).

When cooked, it tasted... like wet flour. It only came vaguely good after I loaded it with salt, pepper and some cheese.

Is that what one has to do to make it edible, like lentils maybe? Am I doing something wrong?

Tell me how to make polenta delicious, I'm determined!

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 00:18 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure about soft polenta - I make it formed into a solid loaf, set overnight at least, then sliced and fried. Served under gorgonzola and marinara. But, I do cook it for longer, like 45 minutes, and so probably in more water (or stock, depending, but generally water). 3 cups of liquid (sometimes a bit more) to 1/2 cup of corn grits.

btw, midwesterners - those B0b Evans chain restaurants serve polenta at breakfast, only they call it fried mush. We experienced this phenomenon just last week. It is especially nice with maple syrup, but I wonder how many Italians know this?

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm cookinh with stock sounds like an idea. Maybe I need to add cheese and salt and things too.

I was aware of the cooked then set and grilled polenta, I might try that sometime as well. Also, maybe polenta gnocci.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

polenta is all in the seasoning, really, so make sure to salt and pepper and definitely pile on the cheese. gorgonzola and marinara are great accompaniments, as are balsamic roasted peppers and onions. at the other end of the flavor spectrum, i've had polenta poundcake in several restaurants and it's delicious.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

Pasta also tastes like wet flour without sauce.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

Here's a thread we made earlier...

Polenta

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Eek, I duplicated a thread on ILC? How gauche of me, sorry :D

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 00:36 (nineteen years ago)

I'd forgotten that polenta/potato insanity.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 01:25 (nineteen years ago)

We've only had fourteen threads, people! ;-)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 01:28 (nineteen years ago)

That makes me duplicating one even more embarrasing, ha :D

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 03:38 (nineteen years ago)

tray- what brand polenta did you get? i read some article about grits and apparently there is quite a divergence in quality of what is packaged like rice a roni and the good shit. it's basicly corn meal and truth be told i have made polenta from quaker corn meal, but the particle quality is not uniform so it is hard to get great polenta from that. one important thing is cooking long and slow. another really important thing is when you stir it into the liquid do it slow and use a whip stirring vigorously so you don't get lumps.

― jdchurchill (jdchurchill), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

Well, it was some italian brand of polenta I guess, I am not sure to be honest. I mean it is proper polenta cornmeal and it isnt the instant stuff, it says to cook it for 15-20 mins.

Having looked at various recipes I guess I do need stock and cheese and whatnot :)

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 23 March 2006 00:11 (nineteen years ago)

Cooks Illustrated has some wacky way of doing polenta, but I forget how exactly now.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 23 March 2006 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

Do you mean polenta in the micorwave?

― righteousmaelstrom (righteousmaelstrom), Thursday, 23 March 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

"microwave" obv. Gah. The coffee has not sunk in yet.

― righteousmaelstrom (righteousmaelstrom), Thursday, 23 March 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

Fine Cooking had a recipe for polenta a few years back that was actually taken from the back of a box of polenta. It's all done in the oven. It turns out a pretty good polenta too!

― righteousmaelstrom (righteousmaelstrom), Thursday, 23 March 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

tray- i think 15-20 min is kinda fast. i was taught to use 3-4:1 boiling water or stock to cornmeal. whip it in and then when it absorbs all that you add a bit more liquid and go like that for maybe 2-3 loops. the last time around it's usually milk or creme instead of stock and with that the cheese(s) and whatever other embellishments. this would make you a creamy thick porridge like side dish. if you want a loaf, once the first batch of liquid is mostly absorbed transfer from pot to cooling/shaping dish pref lined with parchment or something. this you could cut into pieces and fry and mentioned above (jaq). tasting is hella important (salt n pepa) and difficult with polenta cuz it's like hot lava when it's cookin.

― jdchurchill (jdchurchill), Thursday, 23 March 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

So, almost like you make risotto then - start with x liquid, cook til absorbed, then add more liquid, repeat?

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 23 March 2006 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

exactly, jaqster. i almost wrote that but didn't. but in this way you can adjust the consistency from just less firm than a loaf of polenta to soupy saucy type. oh the places you'll go!

― jdchurchill (jdchurchill), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I was thinking that sounds risotto-like. I will have another crack at it, I like experimenting with foodstuffs and the cooking thereof that I am not familiar with!

This weekend also: teh bakening of teh hot X buns.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 24 March 2006 01:01 (nineteen years ago)

When the waitress asks, I always say grits instead of hash browns. Gimme that corn mush.

It's interesting... I've never made polenta as such, but plenty of times I've made grits savory with a little stock and some cheese, usually for a shrimp & grits meal, so I guess I have had plenty of faux polenta. I may look for some polenta next time I'm at a larger store.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Friday, 24 March 2006 02:58 (nineteen years ago)

My domestic partner and I enjoy a bastardized Peruvian polenta casserole we make. It is made by cutting the polenta roll into slices, lining a glass pan with those slices, adding a can of hominy, black beans, cilantro, a salsa verde (with tomatillos), queso crema, and cheese (jack works). Then you do it like lasagna and repeat a second layer. Cheese goes on the top so it can crust a little bit. It's good.

― ath (ath), Friday, 24 March 2006 03:08 (nineteen years ago)

look for some polenta

It's just coarse-ground cornmeal, like you'd use to make mush. For grits, the corn is treated with lye; for polenta, it's not.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 24 March 2006 04:12 (nineteen years ago)

did I read somewhere that the "proper Italian" way to make polenta is w/water only and cheese/milk etc are Americanizations? whateves.

I like the grilled/fried slabs of polenta more than the soft stuff.

growing up in Kentucky my dad didn't really eat grits as such, but he spoke ill of a breakfast treat called "cornmeal mush" that grandma used to make when times were tough. Guess it was grits.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 25 March 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

I had polenta in Italy that was the fried slices, probably made with just water, salt, pepper, but served with cheese and sauce. It's like the pasta of northern Italy. Of course, maize and tomatoes (and their subsequent sauce) are an Americanization, but I think the cheese idea was native.

― Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 25 March 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

One of the side items at Texas de Brazil, a churrascaria we ate at last year, was deep fried polenta. They had the look and texture of Burger King's french toast sticks, but they had an interesting ginger flavor. That whole restaurant experience was a big expensive disappointment.

I had some leftover grits after breakfast one morning so I pressed it (them?) into a mold and tried frying slices of it, a la polenta. They popped and spattered so bad my hands were covered in little burns. I guess they needed a dip into egg and then flour, mainly for insulation. Does frying polenta pop as bad as grits?

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 25 March 2006 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

Is that one of those "hunks of meat on sticks" places? I've wanted to try one, but don't know if I'm up to appreciating the full meat orgy aspect.

Polenta is maybe more cohesive than grits, esp. if you let it solidify overnight. I don't remember it popping that badly.

― Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 25 March 2006 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

Yep -- the food was good, but it was an exercise in gluttony that just left me miserable, esp. the way Texas de Brazil does it. They push you to the huge cold bar first, which is so full of tasty dishes that one tends to get full before the first slice of meat comes out. And the gauchos with the grilled chicken and pork tenderloin are a lot easier to find and signal than the ones with the beef filets. It's all delicious, but that night I had nightmares that I was being ground up between two giant Rolaids tablets.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 25 March 2006 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

those rodizio (sic) places have become very popular in New York City, must be a dozen or more around the 5 boroughs. I suppose it's a by-product of our recent flux of central and south american immigrants. I've never had the nerve to try one, though, perhaps due to memories of gross all you can eat buffet places in the midwest. these days, unfortunately, a little meat goes a looong way...the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. or something like that.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 26 March 2006 12:46 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

Depending on the region of Italy, polenta is finished differently. In Tuscany, where dairy is more widely available, polenta is often finished with copious amounts of butter, and a sprinkling of parm or pecorino. I've hear differing opinions on the addition of cream to polenta. Personally, I like it with so much olive oil whipped in at the end that there is an oily slick on the top. I also always cook polenta in water, not stock. No sense in hiding the flavor of the corn.

― Dan Floss (Dan Floss), Sunday, 9 April 2006 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

oh hey my dad made some on the side with enchiladas the other night and the combo was quite good!

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 9 April 2006 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm, that makes me think of a possible polenta variation on my mother's chile relleno casserole.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Monday, 10 April 2006 02:17 (nineteen years ago)

hi there. i can see your quite frustrated. this is one way that my family of italy has made polenta. we like to eat it hot and it is yummy and soft. we make a basic polenta according to packet instructions. get a round large serving tray and place a clean cloth over it, then pour a piping hot soft polenta over the tray, wait till it cools or is edible. we use a varitiety of ways to eat it mostly with hot foods. Wild rabbit cut into peices and stewed with mint, rosemary and parsly in a red tomatoe paste sauce. or maybe boiled cabbage, chicken (you could add chicken stock instead od water) onion and some herbs. Or if you want to eat it cold cut a slab with you favourite chees and salami( a good alternative to cheese kabana , for guest etc)

These styles came from a poor country town in North Italy. hope this helps.

― Tess, Wednesday, 12 April 2006 04:17 (nineteen years ago)

ive had polenta fries as Johnny D's in somerville, ma. they were good, if a little bland. the sauce provided certainly helped them.

there's a local rodizio place as well, and i thought the quality was very good, both the meat and buffet dishes. but especially the meat.

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Everyone, thanks on all these suggestions by the way, they're really fantastic.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 13 April 2006 01:10 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

heres a nice polenta recipe that i sort of followed once: http://www.avocado.org/recipes/view.php/Grilled/Avocado/and/Scallop/Salad/with/Honey-Lemon/Garlic/Dressing?recipe_id=859 (but i didn't include the scallops)

I've also topped deep fried polenta with homemade chili. Deep fried polenta is really cool because when you first bite into it, its like a corn tortilla chip, and then the center is warm and soft

Polenta is also popular in Romania, where its known as mamaliga, and often served with a sheep/goat cheese(?). I'm not a big fan of it, but you can probably find more recipes if you search for that.

― sheri, Thursday, 27 April 2006 09:45 (nineteen years ago)

four months pass...

That broccoli thread has been the only thing on the new answers page for too long. Random revive!

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 06:16 (nineteen years ago)

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