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Polenta with sopressa and mushrooms. This polenta was made with yellow flour of Storo.
Polenta with sopressa and mushrooms. This polenta was made with yellow flour of Storo. Storo is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Trento in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about

Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. Cornmeal is Flour ground from dried corn, and is a common Staple food. Although the word is borrowed into English from Italian, the dish (under various names) is popular in Italian, Savoyard, Swiss, Austrian, Bosnian, Croatian, Cuban, American (where it is called grits) Hungarian (where it is called puliszka), Slovenian, Serbian, Romanian (where it is called mămăligă), Bulgarian, Georgian, Corsican, Argentine, Uruguayan, Brazilian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Haitian,Mexican and Turkish (typically from the Black Sea region, known as Mamalika), and it is a traditional staple food throughout much of Northern Italy. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Italian cuisine as a national Cuisine known today has evolved through centuries of social and political changes with its roots traced back to 4th century BC For the two French départements of the region of Savoy see Savoie and Haute-Savoie Savoy ( French The Swiss cuisine is unique in its many regional influences from its neighbors' cuisine including Italian, French, and German cuisine. The Cuisine of Austria, which is often incorrectly equated with Viennese cuisine, is derived from the cuisine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bosnian cuisine uses many Spices but usually in very small quantities Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of regions, since every region has its own distinct culinary traditions The cuisine of the United States is a style of food preparation derived from the United States. GRITS is a Christian hip hop group from Nashville, Tennessee. Hungarian or Magyar cuisine is the Cuisine characteristic to the nation of Hungary and its primary ethnic group the Magyars. Slovenian National Dishes Belokranjska povitica Bujta repa Funšterc The Serbian cuisine is a heterogeneous one influenced by Mediterranean ( Byzantine Empire / Greece) Oriental (Turkish and Austro-Hungarian Romanian cuisine is diverse It blends different dishes from several traditions with which it has come into contact but it also maintains its own character Mămăligă (/məmə'ligə/ Mămăligă Мамалыга Mamałyga Cornmeal mush is a dish made out of yellow Maize traditional for Romania and Bulgarian cuisine (българска кухня bulgarska kuhnya) is a representative of the cuisine of Southeastern Europe. Georgian cuisine is considered one of the main attractions for tourists in Georgia and it is particularly popular throughout the former Soviet Union Corsica (Corse Corsican and Italian: Corsica) is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily This article was a former Spanish Translation of the Week. The cuisine of Argentina is distinctive in South America because of its Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America The cuisine of Brazil, like Brazil itself varies greatly by region Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the most diverse in the world and is on par with French Chinese and Indian cuisine Due to its position in the world its diversity of industrial resources and the cultural multiplicity of the Venezuelan people Venezuelan cuisine often varies greatly The cuisine of Haiti originates from several culinary styles from the various historical ethnic groups that populated the western portion of the island of Hispaniola Mexican food is a style of food that originated in Mexico. Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors colorful decoration and variety of spices Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Related categories Central Italy Southern Italy Insular Italy Northeast Italy

Contents

Description

Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal, (ground maize). Cornmeal is Flour ground from dried corn, and is a common Staple food. Maize (ˈmeɪz ( Zea mays L. ssp mays) known as corn in some countries is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica It can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired. As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier forms of grain mush (known as puls or pulmentum in Latin or more commonly as gruel or porridge) commonly eaten in Roman times and after. Gruel is a type of preparation consisting of some type of cereal wheat or rye flour and also rice boiled in water or milk Porridge, or porage, is a simple dish made by boiling Oats (normally crushed oats occasionally Oatmeal) or another cereal in Water Early forms of polenta were made with such starches as the grain farro and chestnut flour, both of which are still used in small quantity today. Emmer wheat ( Triticum dicoccon) also known as farro especially in Italy is a low yielding awned Wheat. Chestnut ( Castanea) (including some chinkapin or Chinquapin) is a Genus of eight or nine Species of Deciduous When boiled, polenta has a smooth creamy texture due to the presence of starch molecules

Preparation

Polenta, by Pietro Longhi
Polenta, by Pietro Longhi

Polenta was originally a peasant food. Pietro Longhi ( November 5, 1701 – May 8, 1785) was a Venetian painter of contemporary scenes of life Peasant foods (or poor people's food) are those dishes specific to a particular Culture made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients and usually prepared and However, since the late 20th century, polenta has become a premium product. Polenta dishes are on the menu in many high-end restaurants, and prepared polenta can be found in supermarkets at high prices. Many current polenta recipes have given new life to an essentially bland and common food, invigorating it with various cheeses or tomato sauces.

Polenta is often cooked in a huge copper pot known in Italian as paiolo. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. In northern Italy there are many different ways to cook polenta. Related categories Central Italy Southern Italy Insular Italy Northeast Italy The most famous Lombard polenta dishes are polenta uncia, polenta concia, polenta e gorgonzola, and missultin e polenta; all are cooked with various cheeses and butter, except the last one, which is cooked with fish from Lake Como. Lombardy (Lombardia Latin: Langobardia, Western Lombard: Lumbardìa, Eastern Lombard: Lombardia) is one of the Gorgonzola is a veined Italian Blue cheese, made from unskimmed cow's Milk. Lake Como ( Lago di Como in Italian, also known as Lario; Lach de Comm in Insubric; Latin: Larius Lacus) is a It can also be cooked with porcini mushrooms, rapini, or other vegetables or meats, as in the Venetian polenta e osei, with little birds. Boletus edulis is an edible Basidiomycete Mushroom. Most commonly known as porcini (from the plural of its Italian name porcino Rapini (also known as Broccoli Rabe (or Raab Broccoletti, Broccoli di Rape, Cime di Rapa, Veneto or Venetia ( Vèneto) is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs.

Western polenta is denser, while the eastern one is softer. The variety of cereal used is usually yellow maize, but buckwheat, white maize or mixtures thereof are also used. Buckwheat refers to plants in two genera of the Dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, and the North American genus

Polenta is traditionally a slowly cooked dish. It sometimes takes an hour or longer, and constant stirring is necessary. The time and labor intensity of traditional preparation methods has led to a profusion of shortcuts. These include alternative cooking techniques that are meant to speed up the process. There are also new products such as instant polenta, popular in Italy, that allow for fast, easy preparation at home. Convenience food, or tertiary processed food, is commercially prepared food designed for ease of consumption

In his book Heat, Bill Buford talks about his experiences as a line cook in Mario Batali's Italian restaurant Babbo. Bill Buford (born 1954 is an American Author and Journalist. Buford is the author of the books Among the Thugs and Heat An Mario Batali (b September 9, 1960) is an Italian American Chef, restaurateur, TV host and Writer. Buford details the differences in taste between instant polenta and slowly cooked polenta, and describes a method of preparation that takes up to three hours, but does not require constant stirring: "polenta, for most of its cooking, is left unattended. . . . If you don't have to stir it all the time, you can cook it for hours—what does it matter, as long as you're nearby?"[1] Cook's Illustrated magazine has described a method using a microwave oven that reduces cooking time to 12 minutes and requires only a single stirring to prepare 3 1/2 cups of cooked polenta. Cook’s Illustrated is a bimonthly American cooking Magazine published by Boston Common Press in Brookline Massachusetts. A microwave oven, or a microwave, is a Kitchen appliance that cooks or heats Food by Dielectric heating. [2] Kyle Phillips[3]suggests making it in a polenta maker or in a slow cooker. A slow cooker or Crock-Pot (a trademark often used generically is a Countertop electrical cooking appliance that maintains a relatively low temperature (compared

Fast food polenta
Fast food polenta

Cooked polenta can also be shaped into balls, patties, or sticks and fried in oil until it is golden brown and crispy; this variety of polenta is called crostini di polenta or polenta fritta. Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly Similarly, once formed into a shape it can also be grilled using, for example, a brustolina grill. A brustolina is a grill which fits over a Gas burner on a hob

Regional variations

Similarity with other foods

Similarity with North and South American foods

Polenta is very similar to corn grits, a common dish in the cuisine of the Southern United States, with the difference that grits are usually made from coarsely ground hominy (see nixtamalization, which is the process of removing the hull from the kernel of the corn before grinding). GRITS is a Christian hip hop group from Nashville, Tennessee. See also List of foods of the Southern United States The Cuisine of the Southern United States is defined as the regional culinary form of states Hominy or nixtamal is dried maize (corn kernels which have been treated with an Alkali of some kind Nixtamalization typically refers to a process for the preparation of maize (corn in which the Grain is soaked and cooked in an Alkaline solution When properly cooked, grits and polenta have similarly smooth textures, "grit" referring to the texture of the dried corn before cooking.

Polenta is similar to boiled maize dishes of Mexico, where both maize and hominy originate. Mexican food is a style of food that originated in Mexico. Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors colorful decoration and variety of spices Maize (ˈmeɪz ( Zea mays L. ssp mays) known as corn in some countries is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica Hominy or nixtamal is dried maize (corn kernels which have been treated with an Alkali of some kind

The Brazilian variety is also known as angu. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Originally made by native Indians, it is a kind of polenta without salt nor any kind of oil. However, nowadays "Italian" polenta is much more common at Brazilian tables, especially in the southern and southeastern regions (which have high numbers of Italian immigrants), although some people still call it "angu". The city of São Bernardo do Campo is famous for its restaurants specialized in frango com polenta (fried chicken with fried polenta). São Bernardo do Campo ( Portuguese for Saint Bernard of the field is a municipality located in the Greater São Paulo, in the state of São Paulo in

Similarity with African and Afro-Caribbean foods

In South Africa, cornmeal mush is a staple food called mealie pap; elsewhere in Southern Africa it is called sadza, in Zimbabwe, and nshima, in Zambia, and "Oshifima" or Pap in Namibia. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa In South Africa, Zimbabwe Malawi and many other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, a Staple food made from either stamped or ground Maize ( mielies Pap ( a traditional Porridge made from Mielie-meal (ground Maize or other grain is a Staple food of the Bantu inhabitants of Sadza is the Shona language name for a cooked pulverized grain meal that is the Staple food in Zimbabwe. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Nshima or nsima is a Cornmeal product and a Staple food in Zambia and Malawi. The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa. Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast In East Africa a similar dish is called ugali, named from the Swahili language. East Africa is the Easternmost Region of the African Continent. Ugali (also sometimes called sima or posho) is a Cornmeal product and a staple Starch component of many African meals especially Swahili (called Kiswahili in the language itself is the First language of the Swahili people (Waswahili who inhabit several large stretches Fufu, a starch-based food from West and Central Africa, may also be made from maize meal. Fufu, variants include foofoo, foufou, foutou or fu fu, is a Staple food of West and Central Africa. West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. Central Africa is a core Region of the African Continent often considered to include Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad In the Caribbean, similar dishes are cou-cou (Barbados), funchi (Curaçao) and funjie (Virgin Islands). Barbados ( Portuguese word for bearded-ones, bɑrˈbeɪdoʊz -dɒs situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent Island nation Curaçao (ˈkjuːrəsaʊ in English Dutch: Curaçao, Papiamento: Kòrsou) is an Island in the southern Caribbean Sea, See also Culture of the Virgin Islands Music of the Virgin Islands Virgin Islands Creole It is known as funche in Puerto Rican cuisine and mayi moulin in Haitian cuisine.

Bibliography

Giorgio V. Brandolini 2007. Storia e gastronomia della polenta nella Bergamasca. Orizzonte Terra. Bergamo. 32 pages.

Interesting facts

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Buford, Bill (2006). Cornmeal is Flour ground from dried corn, and is a common Staple food. Farina is a cereal food frequently described as bland-tasting usually served warm made from cereal grains Fufu, variants include foofoo, foufou, foutou or fu fu, is a Staple food of West and Central Africa. GRITS is a Christian hip hop group from Nashville, Tennessee. Mămăligă (/məmə'ligə/ Mămăligă Мамалыга Mamałyga Cornmeal mush is a dish made out of yellow Maize traditional for Romania and Pap ( a traditional Porridge made from Mielie-meal (ground Maize or other grain is a Staple food of the Bantu inhabitants of Mush is a thick Cornmeal Pudding (or Porridge) usually boiled in Water or Milk. Nshima or nsima is a Cornmeal product and a Staple food in Zambia and Malawi. Sadza is the Shona language name for a cooked pulverized grain meal that is the Staple food in Zimbabwe. Ugali (also sometimes called sima or posho) is a Cornmeal product and a staple Starch component of many African meals especially Heat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, p. Alfred A Knopf Inc is a New York publishing house founded by Alfred A 150. ISBN 1-4000-4120-1.  
  2. ^ Kimball, Christopher; Yanagihara, Dawn (January 1998). Christopher Kimball is Founder, editor, and Publisher of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines "The Microwave Chronicles". Cook's Illustrated: 11.  
  3. ^ Kyle Phillips. Polenta: Making it at Home. Retrieved on 2007-01-28. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted

External links

Dictionary

polenta

-noun

  1. any of various types and consistencies of a starchy accompaniment to a meal made from coarse maize-meal porridge, sometimes fried or grilled
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