Here is what I gleaned. I made a double recipe using 8+ cups of liquid to 2 cups of cornmeal. I brought the polenta in my Dutch oven while it was just cooked. I covered the pot and traveled with it in my trunk. I left the cover on until the meal was served (pork ossobuco and sauce served over a nice big spoonful). The polenta looked wonderful - I scooped it out leaving the glossy layer on top in the pan.
- Use coarse-ground cornmeal, never fine or medium. Not all polentas are created equal. Polenta should mean coarse-ground. Well, I made the mistake of buying fine cornmeal and decided to go in search of polenta meal. I ended up with Bob's Red Mill Polenta, but I found out later that there is also a Bob's Red Mill Stone-Ground Polenta. I think the one I bought was good. The medium or fine ground create a mushy polenta, apparently. All grocery stores do not always carry the coarse-ground. Read labels carefully.
- Don't use milk to start and actually avoid using stock that causes the polenta to taste less like corn. While I did not use milk, the Gourmet hosts provided me with a recipe using all chicken stock. I used 3 cups chicken stock (not bone broth!) to 5 cups water. In actuality, I added a bit more stock and water as the polenta once it began to thicken. One comment was that the 4/1 ration of fluid to grain is just not enough and I agree.
- Never start with milk! Always water. I went with the mix - 5 cups water and 4 cups stock.
- Good polenta takes nearly an hour to cook to creamy. Many recipes do not call for that much time. Gerry and decided that we like our polenta, like our pasta, to have a little toothiness.
- Soak your cornmeal in the liquid for a few hours or overnight in the frig. This decreases cooking time so I did do this for a few hours. I then strained out the cornmeal (as much as I could) and boiled the liquid, adding the wet polenta and stirring it constantly until it thickened.
- Add whole milk or cream, butter and parmesan cheese (pecorino is sometimes preferable) towards the end when the polenta is nearly cooked. I grated my own parmesan (huge chunk from Costco) with a fine hand-held grater which is how I prefer my cheeses anyway. It melted in immediately. I used heavy cream just barely a half cup.
- Polenta should keep its form (not be runny) but should not be too thick to scoop or spoon.
- Use some salt and coarse-ground pepper to taste. Be careful - I used too much sea salt in my test recipe. If your butter is salted, delete the additional.
- Don't use too much cream, butter and cheese. One piece of good advice was that good food should be delicious during AND after the meal. Inotherwords, you should not feel yucky after the meal is over!
4 cups water and broth for a total of 4 cups
1cup coarse-ground cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt and some pepper
Good butter - 2 T
Cream - 1/2 cup
Finely grated parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup
Use any good recipe and follow it to find how much cooking time you like.
