Sunday, 22 March 2015

Polenta.

Polenta Versus Grits: What's the Difference? | The Kitchn:
Polenta Versus Grits: What's the Difference? How to Make Creamy Stovetop Polenta.
Anson Mills founder Glen Roberts is quoted in the piece describing the difference as he sees it: while both grits and polenta are made from stone-ground cornmeal, "Southern grits and Italian polenta are traditionally made from two vastly different types of corn.
How many times it's milled and the fineness of the grind also differ.
And then there's the taste and texture."

But in reality, the differences are relatively slim.
Buy coarse cornmeal at the store and call it a day.
And if you're out on the town and you like polenta, try ordering grits next time (and vice versa).
And yes, those morning grits with a poached egg at Cowgirl Creamery really are worth a trip.

Polenta, though, is not always made from corn, so the terminology does get a little confusing.
Sometimes it's made from semolina, and in some places it has ground buckwheat mixed with the cornmeal.
But in general, when you see "polenta" for sale, it's coarsely ground cornmeal.

How To Make Creamy Stovetop Polenta — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn | The Kitchn:
Polenta is like risotto: it has a reputation for needing lots and lots and lots of stirring.
Well, we are lazy and fortunately Marcella Hazan's recipe enables us in that. (- 4 cups water/1 cup polenta. Bring water and salt to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, then add polenta in a thin stream, whisking. Cook over moderate heat, whisking, 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover pan, then cook at a bare simmer, stirring with a long-handled spoon for 1 minute after every 10 minutes of cooking, 45 minutes total. Remove from heat and whisk in butter until incorporated.)
I find the cover-and-forget-it approach much easier to handle on a weeknight. This is a method most famously espoused by Marcella Hazan (and which we've talked about before), and I've adopted it wholeheartedly.
The idea is to get the polenta going by whisking coarse-ground polenta or yellow cornmeal into boiling water and stirring until it gets thick. Then you cover the pot and let the polenta cook while you go about making the rest of dinner. Every 10 minutes or so, uncover the pot and give it a good stir to make sure it's cooking evenly and the sides aren't drying out. Thirty to forty minutes later, your polenta is ready for the table.

A tense moment might come around the 15-minute mark. At this point, the polenta looks done. And indeed, if you taste it here and like it, by all means serve it! But if you let it cook for a little longer, you'll find that the polenta tastes sweeter and more deeply corn-like, and any last lingering grittiness from the ground corn smooths away. I love it at 30 minutes, but go a little longer if you have time or want a thicker polenta.

How to Make Creamy Stovetop Polenta
Makes about 4 cups
What You Need

Ingredients
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal
1 cup cheese (optional)
1-3 tablespoons butter (optional)

Equipment
3 Liters (8-12 cup) pot with lid
Whisk
Long handled spoon or sturdy spatula

Instructions
Bring the water to a boil.
Bring the water to a brisk boil over medium-high heat.
Add the salt.
Pour the polenta into the boiling water.
While whisking gently, pour the polenta into the boiling water in a steady stream.
Continue whisking until polenta is thickened.
Turn down the heat to low and continue whisking until the polenta has thickened enough that it doesn't settle back on the bottom of the pan when you stop stirring.

Cook the polenta 30-40 minutes.
Cover the polenta and continue cooking.
Stir vigorously every 10 minutes or so, making sure to scrape the sides, bottom, and corners of the pan.
Cook 30 minutes for softer porridge-like polenta or 40 minutes for thicker polenta.
Stir in cheese and butter, if using.
Serve immediately, or cover the pan and let it sit at the back of the stove for up to 15 minutes before serving.

Additional Notes:
Leftover Polenta: Polenta will solidify into the shape of the container in which you store it. Leftover polenta can be sliced or cubed before being roasted, grilled, or deep-fried. To make it creamy again, warm it with a little broth, milk, or water, and stir vigorously. It won't be quite as creamy as it was originally, but it should still be pourable.

More: Cornmeal and grits: the real nitty-gritty - Telegraph:
Spoonbread (see recipe below) uses cream instead of the more common buttermilk, and three eggs instead of one, which makes it a custardy soufflé. Like polenta and grits, spoonbread works wonderfully as a side dish with game such as venison or duck, and with stews – anything with a thick gravy. The cornmeal sold in most supermarkets is too hard, and makes very dry, gritty cornbread. If I have run out of cornmeal from the US I use a mixture of Sala Cereali’s white maize polenta flour (about 80 per cent) and the Cool Chile Company’s masa harina (20 per cent), a traditional flour used to make tortillas and tamales.
Sala Cereali products are available from many grocers and from guidetti.co.uk. The Cool Chile Company’s products are available from Sainsbury’s and coolchile.co.uk.
Anson Mills (ansonmills.com) ships products to Britain

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