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Fried Polenta question


Paul Fink

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I made fried polenta for the first time. It seem to turn out OK.

The problem is I've never had polenta before. So that's my question.

What should fried polenta be like? Mine had a nice buttery crust and mushy inside.

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Thanks all for the good advice.

I'll cut down on the water next time.

Frying the polenta reminded me of when I was helping a French chef with a cooking demonstration.

He had me frying a potato cake. I made a mess of it. Too hot. Not hot enough.... lots of yelling.

 

The first batch of the polenta was a mess. Then I got my legs under me and the rest was fine. 

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11 minutes ago, kayb said:

H'mm. A thought. Could one do balls of polenta like one does arancini -- surrounding a lump of mozzarella?

 

Corn dogs are polenta battered....

 

Maybe freeze the Mozz....batter-up ....and drop in the oil

Edited by gfweb (log)
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15 minutes ago, kayb said:

H'mm. A thought. Could one do balls of polenta like one does arancini -- surrounding a lump of mozzarella?

 

 

I did that over here with cheddar and blue cheese.  I preferred the ones without cheese, but with some olive tapenade stirred into the polenta.  But mine were baked, not fried.

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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Pretty much the same as fried grits.  A breakfast staple where I grew up.  The grits were cooked the afternoon before, packed into loaf pans and chilled overnight, turned out, sliced and fried on a griddle, usually in bacon drippings.

 

During the last couple of years of WWII there were 2 and then 3 Italian POWs who worked on my grandpa's farm.  One was a man who was a cook and tried to tell grandpa's cook about polenta.  She was not impressed.  Grits is grits - HOMINY GRITS - and none of that foreign po-lent-er.   

He did not speak a lot of English but was usually able to make himself understood and I think he understood a lot more.  He kept asking, what is "homerny"  and finally my grandpa, who spoke Italian, explained how it was made and later took him to the grist mill and showed him where the corn was soaked then dried before being ground.  He seemed to get a big kick out of it and made a little song about hominy "greets," which he delighted in singing to cook.  I think he was sweet on her - he was fascinated with black people and liked to listen to their songs. He even went to church with them.  

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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6 hours ago, kayb said:

H'mm. A thought. Could one do balls of polenta like one does arancini -- surrounding a lump of mozzarella?

 

Ever heard of hush puppies?

 

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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1 hour ago, MetsFan5 said:

An Italian POW in the US? I'm confused. 

Why would that be confusing? The US was at war with, among others, Italy. The US army captured Italian fighters and they were imprisoned in the US for the duration of the war.  One of my first toys was made by a German prisoner of war captured by British forces and imprisoned in Lincolnshire, U.K.  

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5 hours ago, Anna N said:

Why would that be confusing? The US was at war with, among others, Italy. The US army captured Italian fighters and they were imprisoned in the US for the duration of the war.  One of my first toys was made by a German prisoner of war captured by British forces and imprisoned in Lincolnshire, U.K.  

Because so many men from farms were in our military, POWs were sent to work on farms to help food production.  My grandfather had a very large farm and employed a lot of workers.  Three of my uncles who worked the farm and at least 10 of the other men who worked for my grandpa on the farm or at the sawmill or gristmill were in the service so when the Army offered the POWs, my grandpa, who had contracts with the Army to supply meat, milk and other foods - as well as lumber, accepted.  They were treated quite well - which was not always the case.  They stayed until the end of the war.  One was a pretty good mechanic and was able to fix an old tractor my uncle had been tinkering with for years - when he came home on furlough, I think he spent most of the time in the equipment barn with Lolo, fixing several things that had been waiting for him to come home.  

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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it sounds like you got it right.    Frying is my second favourite way, brustolada  (Trevisano dialect)  is the way I like best.  basically grilled under broiler, or you could do it  on a fine grate over a heat source. 

 

Lidia Bastianich is the only TV chef I have ever seen that does it the way my family does.  Pour out the hot polenta onto a cookie sheet in a thin layer , then let cool and set.  Cut squares or rectangles of the set thin polenta , and place on a preheated cookie sheet with the broiler on high.    Let that side toast and colour, top of the pieces will most likely bubble a bit as well,  flip and do the other side.  Depending on how loose or firm you make the polenta and how close your rack is the broiler element it can usually take anywhere from 5 - 10 mins on a side. 

 

sorry I don't have a picture of the process but you can sort of see what i mean about the bubbles on this picture. 

 

spezzatinogrilledpolenta1.jpg

 

 

 

 

Frying is similar in that you have to be sure the pan is preheated  properly so it doesn't stick on you. .  Brush with a high temp neutral oil or clarified butter, put the slices in and fry .   

 

 

TSuDDaz.jpg

 

 

5DatHD8.jpg

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15 hours ago, andiesenji said:

...none of that foreign po-lent-er.

 

xD

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2 minutes ago, Ashen said:

it sounds like you got it right.    Frying is my second favourite way, brustolada  (Trevisano dialect)  is the way I like best.  basically grilled under broiler, or you could do it  on a fine grate over a heat source. 

 

Lidia Bastianich is the only TV chef I have ever seen that does it the way my family does.  Pour out the hot polenta onto a cookie sheet in a thin layer , then let cool and set.  Cut squares or rectangles of the set thin polenta , and place on a preheated cookie sheet with the broiler on high.    Let that side toast and colour, top of the pieces will most likely bubble a bit as well,  flip and do the other side.  Depending on how loose or firm you make the polenta and how close your rack is the broiler element it can usually take anywhere from 5 - 10 mins on a side. 

 

sorry I don't have a picture of the process but you can sort of see what i mean about the bubbles on this picture. 

 

spezzatinogrilledpolenta1.jpg

 

 

 

 

Frying is similar in that you have to be sure the pan is preheated  properly so it doesn't stick on you. .  Brush with a high temp neutral oil or clarified butter, put the slices in and fry .   

 

 

TSuDDaz.jpg

 

 

5DatHD8.jpg

 

The way Lidia does polenta is extremely tasty.

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23 hours ago, kayb said:

H'mm. A thought. Could one do balls of polenta like one does arancini -- surrounding a lump of mozzarella?

 

Here's one recipe for stuffed hush puppies.

You can put the batter around anything that isn't too wet.  Mozz should work just fine.

When I was little, cook made hushpuppies stuffed with chunks of apple or peach, even dried fruits in the winter.

I have made them with "poppers"  jalapeno peppers stuffed with Mexican cheese inside the hushpuppy coating.

Edited by andiesenji (log)
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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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On January 15, 2017 at 9:51 AM, Paul Fink said:

I made fried polenta for the first time. It seem to turn out OK.

The problem is I've never had polenta before. So that's my question.

What should fried polenta be like? Mine had a nice buttery crust and mushy inside.

If was like grits you were on the right track

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4 minutes ago, Paul Fink said:

Isn't that a Texan thing?

Nope. Its a Northern thing. Esp Penna germans/dutch.

Texans eat grits

 

Basically grits= polenta= mush. Polenta may be ground more finely and grits may be from hominy, but its all pretty similar.

Edited by gfweb (log)
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1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Nope. Its a Northern thing. Esp Penna germans/dutch.

Texans eat grits

 

Basically grits= polenta= mush. Polenta may be ground more finely and grits may be from hominy, but its all pretty similar.

 

 

My favorite home ec memory growing up in Pennsylvania in the 1950's was corn meal mush with maple syrup.  Education in this millennium has gone down hill.

 

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