[Sca-cooks] Polenta was Pre-1600 recipes for "anchient grains"

[Terry Decker]

Polenta is a reference to pearl barley which was the primary grain of the 
Roman Republic and to the porridge made from barley (IIRC, the Florilegium 
has a recipe for barley polenta from Cato).  The wheat polenta comes from 
Apicius.  Maize polenta pops up in the 16th Century after maize was 
introduced into Northern Italy.  In its general usage, polenta is meal or 
flour cooked in liquid until thickened.  As near as I can tell, the 
consistency can be from porridge to solid, molded loaf.

The use of chestnut meal to make polenta is believed to date to Antiquity. 
If so, it would also be a medieval dish.

I know of no period recipes for millet polenta, but the grain was available 
and the method of preparation is so simple and common that it was almost 
certainly done.

BTW, lightly toasting grain meals in the oven before making polenta improves 
the flavor.

Bear


> --- On Mon, 4/5/10, Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> (much snippage)
> Is your info on millet polenta medieval? I think I only have info on wheat 
> and maize polenta, so I'd like to see your info on millet polenta.
>
> Stefan
>
> I encountered, years ago, a book in which much was made of the cutting 
> down of chestnut trees in Italy, and the consequent complaints of the poor 
> that they could no longer make polenta. That led to my finding these 
> recipes:
>
> http://bendaniel.org/?p=45#more-45
>
> http://www.academiabarilla.com/recipes/toscana/pattona-chestnut-cake.aspx
>
> As you can see, the techniques are very different. But the common factor 
> is the use of chestnuts before the introduction of maize. The latter 
> produced so much more salable product, with so much less labor, that the 
> vast chestnut groves were not long for this world once Italy had maize.
> There are several other recipes using chestnuts from Italy, but I don't 
> know how old they are.
>
> Yours in service to both the Societies of which I am a member-
>
> (Friend) Honour Horne-Jaruk, R.S.F.
>
> Alizaundre de Brebeuf, C.O.L. S.C.A.- AKA Una the wisewoman, or That Pict