Your Favorite Way to Cook Polenta: Tips and Tricks

[dlc]

Do any of you do a cheese grits souffle? In my family we cook the grits in chicken stock and half & half, add rosted garlic puree, lots of cheddar cheese, then fold in beaten egg whites to lighten. This is great as a leftover but you cannot saute them. When we do this we do regular cheese grits or polenta. Another great source for cornmeal is the Clemson Univ. Dept of Ag. also good cheeses.

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

I make grits/polenta/corn mush soft and thick. Fried and baked. It's an interesting thickener in some stews.

I recently used grits (along with some manchego cheese) to stuff jalapenos which I then dipped in flour, then egg, and fried. It was a fun experiment.

Grits are fun.

This sounds damn good. You had me with the Manchego, corn and jalapeno combo. Totally ballsy trio for kicked up bar food. Nice.

[Craig Camp]

If you havn't eaten polenta in Friuli you have not eaten polenta. They make a polenta with a delicate, creamy texture that can't be matched. It is not at all the texture of the courser texture of grits. Blave di Mortean, from Friuli, is the best polenta I have found, it is very finely ground with almost a powdery texture.

[dlc]

If you havn't eaten polenta in Friuli you  have not eaten polenta. They make a polenta with a delicate, creamy texture that can't be matched. It is not at all the texture of the courser texture of grits. Blave di Mortean, from Friuli, is the best polenta I have found, it is very finely ground with almost  a powdery texture.

Do you know if this is the imported polenta that they sell at "zingermans" (sp) in Michigan?

[Suzanne F]

Grits are fun.

But didn't Craig Claiborne say: "Grits is good. I eat it every day"?

I once went to a cooking demo by Anne Rosenzweig, who cooked grits in half-and-half. Mmmmmmmm. And yes, dlc, I've done the cheese-grits souffle thing. Might have gotten it off the Quaker package?

Just made polenta last night (Bob's Red Mill brand, coarse grind). The directions they give say to cook it for 30 minutes -- that's pretty normal. But the odd thing to me was that in the directions for serving it as cereal, you're only supposed to cook it 5 minutes. Wouldn't it be too watery still, and too chewy?

[Craig Camp]

If you havn't eaten polenta in Friuli you  have not eaten polenta. They make a polenta with a delicate, creamy texture that can't be matched. It is not at all the texture of the courser texture of grits. Blave di Mortean, from Friuli, is the best polenta I have found, it is very finely ground with almost  a powdery texture.

Do you know if this is the imported polenta that they sell at "zingermans" (sp) in Michigan?

sorry no - do you know the producer. I am not familiar with Zingermans.

[fimbul]

I make grits/polenta/corn mush soft and thick. Fried and baked. It's an interesting thickener in some stews.

I recently used grits (along with some manchego cheese) to stuff jalapenos which I then dipped in flour, then egg, and fried. It was a fun experiment.

Grits are fun.

This sounds damn good. You had me with the Manchego, corn and jalapeno combo. Totally ballsy trio for kicked up bar food. Nice.

Thank you! I'm flattered.

I need to try it again with more manchego. The one flaw in my scheme was that I underestimated the amount of cheese I'd want.

[Bond Girl]

Has anyone tried the Helene Darroze polenta recipe in the NY Times a few weeks ago? It's quite good. Wild mushroom sauteed in pancetta topped with a creamy mascarpone polenta mixture. I'm trying to modify it right now as preliminery trials yielded a rather bland polenta but great mushroom topping.

[fifi]

I just remembered a great grits/polenta thing that my great aunt used to make when I was a kid. Actually, she called it corn meal mush but it was cooked the same way. She made it rather thick. After it cooled, she would form it into these round, flattened "cakes" about 3 inches across and about 3/4 an inch thick. These were then fried until golden brown. For some reason we called them "bump-bides". I have no idea where that came from. They were served as a side dish with ham and greens maybe, or for breakfast with cane syrup.

If we had a big fresh ham or some other hunk of pork to roast, she would trim the fat (it didn't come pretrimmed in those days), make cracklin's, mix the cracklin's in, and then fry them in the rendered lard. That was our favorite.

[pogophiles]

This looks like an appropriate place for one of my favorite food-oriented poems:

SONG TO GRITS

When my mind's unsettled,

When I don't feel spruce,

When my nerves get frazzled,

When my flesh gets loose --

What knits

Me back together's grits.

Grits with gravy

Grits with cheese.

Grits with bacon,

Grits with peas.

Grits with a minimum

Of two over-medium eggs

mixed in 'em: um!

Grits, grits, it's

Grits I sing --

Grits fits

In with anything.

Rich and poor, black and white,

Lutheran and Campbellite,

Jews and Southern Jesuits,

All acknowledge buttered grits.

Give me two hands, give me my wits,

Give me forty pounds of grits.

Grits at taps, grits at reveille.

I am into grits real heavily.

True grits,

More grits,

Fish, grits and collards.

Life is good where grits are swallered.

Grits

Sits

Right.

-- Roy Blount, Jr.

[joiei]

[Alex]

Whenever I brown polenta (usually by cooling first, then sautéing in olive oil for 8 min. or so per side), I usually can get a nice crust. However, the crust tends to separate from the inside when eaten. I remember reading someone somewhere recently (How's that for being helpful?) discussing a better browning method, but wonderfully organized me didn't write it down. So, I'd appreciate any feedback about this just-short-of-burning issue. Thanks.

[Suzanne F]

Try broiling it.

[Wolfert]

Broiling is a good way to go.

If you still want to grill, this is how I do it:I find that the more slowly a slice is grilled the better the crust and the creamier the interior with no separation. By slow grilling I mean grill for at least 10 minutes per side, the exact time depending on your grill, the type of corn, and the firmness of the polenta. I slowly heat up an oiled ridged grill, then add the polenta slices. I don't turn them until they unstick themselves---their way of telling me they're ready to be turned.

[Jinmyo]

Alex, perhaps the polenta is just too thick?

Recently I've had one of those brilliant ideas/recognizing the obvious about frying polenta.

I put some EVOO into the bottom of non-stick skillets and pour the polenta into them. When they cool they seperate from the sides. Then I store the polenta. When it's time, I just put the skillets on the burners. Flip out onto cutting boards and either slide back in or just serve as is, sliced into wedges.

Sometimes the skillets will have some grated cheese and herbs or some roasted tomato or panchetta or whatever.

Easy, simple, a great magic truc.

[Alex]

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions.

Jinmyo, I discovered that truc, too -- it certainly makes things much easier. My polenta does tend to be on the thick side, though. I'll increase my water:cornmeal ratio and see what happens.

Suzanne, I'll give broiling a try.

Wolfert, I'll slow down the process, as I've been grilling/sautéing over fairly high heat. I like that notion of the polenta letting you know when it's ready to be turned.

[Alex]

Slowing down the process helped immensely. Thanks, Paula.

I haven't tried broiling yet.

I played around with the water/cornmeal ratio and found that somewhere between 4:1 and 4½:1 worked the best for cooling then pan-browining. (I'm using Italian cornmeal from Zingerman's.)

[cjsadler]

Had quite a time trying to make some 'crispy' polenta rounds. I prepared the polenta as I usually would for 'soft' polenta, as this is what the recipe I was working from instructed (roughly half milk/half water, about four cups liquid to 1 cup polenta), then let the polenta cook a bit longer in order to dry it out a little, then poured it into a pan and chilled it overnight. Next day, I cut it into discs and tried sauteeing it. The remaining water in the polenta coming in contact with hot oil was *not* good, to say the least, so I tried putting the polenta under the broiler, which browned it a bit, but also melted the discs into a puddle. So I then tried pan frying it, but the discs didn't stay together. Getting a bit panicked (this was a for a dinner party), I tried grilling the discs. This had about the same outcome as the broiler.

I'm assuming the solution is to dry the polenta out further (but won't this make the discs unappetizingly dry?) and/or to dredge them in flour or breadcrumbs or something. Anyone have some advice on making 'hard' polenta?

The grilled polenta 'puddles' with mushrooms were pretty good anyway, though.

[Alex]

I posted this last year (Lynn Rosetto Casper's recipe):

Use 1 cup cornmeal, 4 cups boiling water, and ½ teaspoon salt. Get a double boiler situation set up. Put the salt and water in the top part of the boiler. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Cook, covered, for about 1½ hours, stirring a few times. (She recommends a rubber spatula; I use a whisk.)

I recommend using all water instead of water + milk. I'd also reduce the amount of water rather than do the extra cooking if you want a thicker product. After cooling, blot up the exuded water with a paper towel.

Here's a thread I started about browning polenta. The slow cooking method worked really well for me.

[chezcherie]

i have some beautiful mascarpon-i-ful polenta chilling in the fridge.

what i want to do is panfry disks of it (in butter..or is that my problem?) so that it is golden-crisp on the outside. but i have tried this in the past, with poor results, and a test batch just now proved disappointing, as well. (delicious, don't get me wrong...just not crisp-golden.)

i have been using a non-non-stick pan*, and a knob of butter. would oil be better? a dry pan? would a non-stick be better? how long should it take? (i realize that there are many variables in that question...pan size, heat level, temp of polenta...should i withdraw the question?)

please help me get the yummy crispness!

*is there a more elegant term for indicating a pan that is "plain", that is not treated with a nonstick lining?

[eunny jang]

hrmm. When I griddle polenta, I do the following:

- make polenta as usual, with less water (you want it to pull away from the sides of the pan as you're stirring), plenty of hard cheese, and only a little butter

- spread it in a greased pan to chill and firm up: this is what I cut into triangles and fry. You might want to spread to the thickness you want, chill and cut cookie-cutter disks.

- cut and toss the chilled pieces in oil and butter, preheated in a cast iron griddle.

Chilling the polenta really helps with firmness and shaping; preheating the oil and butter to medium-this-side-of-hot gets a crust on there fast (I've never used just butter; I'd think it would burn before you got a proper crust on there); the cast iron griddle is well-seasoned and pretty slick.

I'd try a cast iron or non-stick pan and use a mix of olive oil and butter. Put your chilled disks in and let them sit undisturbed until they have a firm crust and pull away from the pan easily. I think the creaminess of the marscapone might be hurting you here too - adds a lot of extra water to the mix.

Good luck! Stew-y things spooned on top of and soaking into sage-y. crisp polenta squares is one of the best things in the world to eat during the winter.

[Dave the Cook]

I find that I need to change the liquid/solid ratio to do the panfry thing. Most recipes are 3 to 4 parts liquid to 1 part cormeal. This makes a soft polenta that's perfect for immediate serving. But if I'm going to fry it up, I cut the ratio in half, spread it on a sheet pan in the desired thickness and let it chill thoroughly. It's easy to cut in portions once it's chilled.

Of course, if what you've got is too loose, you can always do grits grillee a la maggiethecat: spread them on a sheet pan, brush with duck fat, and run them under the broiler until brown and crisp on top.

edit: cross-posted with e.j. I really don't think the fat makes a big difference. I've done them in EVOO, peanut oil, butter and bacon fat. You have to adjust the temperature a bit to avoid burning, but they all work.

[chezcherie]

Good luck!  Stew-y things spooned on top of and soaking into sage-y. crisp polenta squares is one of the best things in the world to eat during the winter.

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i think my polenta is ontrack as far as your description--pulled away from pan, firm consistency, and chilled well. when i cut the disks, they were clean, with no cracking or mooosh, so i think i'm good there. hadn't thought of tossing them in an oil/butter combo, but will do so. thanks for the suggestions--will take them to the "test kitchen".

have short ribs, braised in port with wild mushrooms....that's what i want to pair the polenta with...so i am in total agreement on the above sentiment!

[eunny jang]

Ooops, I didn't mean "toss" so much like you'd toss potatoes in fat before roasting - just my flippant way of saying "put them in some preheated butter/oil".

Dave's reply reminded me that another way to do this is to brush the tops of the pieces very well with butter or oil and run under the broiler.

Maybe you could do this in greased ramekins if the stuff is too gooey? Hmmm....

[SMW]

I find that the key is not to stir the polenta disks at all for the first 5 mintues of cooking (or so). I do it over medium-high heat in a cast iron skillet with good results using butter and olive oil (this is how my mother cooked cornmeal much growing up, and polenta is of course just the fancy name for that.)

This has worked for me with polenta that I've eaten in the morning as grits, so it was originally not that thick. After thickening in the fridge, it seems to fry up just fine.

The grill is also a good place to get a nice crust on polenta.