[Sca-cooks] polenta
Edouard de Bruyerecourt
bruyere at jeffnet.org
Sun Aug 10 19:51:49 PDT 2003
Angie Malone wrote:
> I know that corn is a new world food, and know polenta used to be made
> with wheat, so is semolina what they used to use to make polenta?
> Anybody know where I can find a recipe for polenta?
Corn as a word really refers to grains (The 19th century Corn Laws of
England actually refered to imported wheat, while corn gunpowder is to
granuate it). What we call corn in the US (and other places) is more
accurately maize.
From what I remember, ancient Roman polenta was predominately millet
and food of the lower classes. I thought I got it from Apicius, or
commentary withing it, but it may be another source.
Modern polenta (from maize) is usually ground a little coarser than
cornmeal. I'm not sure if they treat it, but if treated with alkaline
lye, it become either masa harina or grits (it releases niacin and turns
it white).
At it's simplest, polenta is just a boiled porridge of polenta-ground
corn. You can do it a little thinner and serve as mush, or thicker and
let it set cold for slicing and frying (one local restuarant used slices
of polenta in a veggie lasagne instead of pasta). Adding herbs, spices
and hard grated cheese are personal variations (like basil, oregano, and
Parmesan), but not usually for fried breakfast polenta, which usually is
topped with maple syrup.
--
Edouard, Sire de Bruyerecourt
bruyere at mind.net
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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly,
while bad people will find a way around the laws."
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