Polenta with sopressa and mushrooms. This polenta was made with yellow flour of Storo.

Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. Although the word is borrowed into English from Italian, the dish (under various names) is popular in Italian, Savoyard, Swiss, Austrian, Croatian, Cuban, Hungarian (where it is called puliszka), Slovenian, Serbian, Romanian (where it is called mămăligă), Bulgarian, Georgian, Corsican, Argentine, Uruguayan, Brazilian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, and Mexican cuisines, and it is a traditional staple food throughout much of northern Italy. Storo is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Trento in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 50 km southwest of Trento. ... Cornmeal products include tortillas and taco shells. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Flag of Savoy This article is about the historical region of Savoy. ... The Cuisine of Austria, which is often incorrectly equated with Viennese cuisine, is derived from the cuisine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ... Also Magyar cuisine. ... Serbian cuisine is influenced by Mediterranean (especially Greek, Bulgarian), Turkish and Hungarian cuisines, which makes it a heterogeneous one. ... Standard mămăligă. It is softer than the traditional, peasant-style mămăligă Cooking a pot of mămăligă Mămăligă (, cornmeal mush) is a Romanian dish made out of (yellow) maize. ... Bulgarian cuisine (Bulgarian: българска кухня) is representative of the cuisine of the Balkans, showing Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern influences and to a lesser extent Italian, Mediterranean and Hungarian ones. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Corsica (disambiguation). ... Argentine cuisine, the food of Argentina, is heavily influenced by European cuisine and in particular Italian and Spanish cuisine. ... Brazils population is a racial mix of native Amerindians, Africans, Germans, Syrians, Lebanese and Asians. ... Sample of an arepa. ...

Description

Polenta is made with either coarsely, or finely ground dried yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize), 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. 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. When boiled, polenta has smooth creamy textures, caused by the presence of starch molecules dissolved into the water. Cornmeal products include tortillas and taco shells. ... This article is about the maize plant. ... Gruel is a type of preparation consisting of some type of cereal boiled in water or milk. ... ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ... Binomial name Triticum dicoccon Schrank Emmer wheat, also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. ... Species Castanea alnifolia - Bush Chinkapin* Castanea crenata - Japanese Chestnut Castanea dentata - American Chestnut Castanea henryi - Henrys Chestnut Castanea mollissima - Chinese Chestnut Castanea ozarkensis - Ozark Chinkapin Castanea pumila - Allegheny Chinkapin Castanea sativa - Sweet Chestnut Castanea seguinii - Seguins Chestnut * treated as a synonym of by many authors Chestnut is a...

Preparation

Polenta, by Pietro Longhi

Formerly a peasant food, polenta has, since the late 20th century, become a premium product, with polenta dishes in restaurants and prepared polenta found in supermarkets commanding high prices. Many new recipes have given new life to an item which is, in essence, a fairly bland and common food, invigorating it with various cheeses or tomato sauces. Pietro Longhi (1702-1785) was a Venetian genre painter. ... Peasant Foods (or poor peoples food, sometimes including traditional foods) are those dishes specific to a particular culture made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients and usually prepared and spiced to make them more palatable. ...

Polenta is often cooked in a huge copper pot known in Italian as paiolo. In northern Italy there are many different ways to cook polenta. 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. It can also be cooked with porcini mushrooms, rapini, or other vegetables or meats, as in the Venetian poenta e osei, with little birds. Northern Italy comprises of two areas belonging to NUTS level 1: North-West (Nord-Ovest): Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria North-East (Nord-Est): Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Aosta Valley are regions with a... For the village of the same name in Ontario, Canada, see Lombardy, Ontario. ... Gorgonzola is a blue-headed Italian cheese, made from unskimmed cows milk. ... Lake Como (Lago di Como in Italian, also known as Lario; Latin: Larius Lacus) is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. ... Binomial name Boletus edulis Bull. ... Rapini is a common vegetable in Chinese and Italian cuisine. ... Veneto or Venetia, is one of the 20 regions of Italy. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ...

The 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. Binomial name Fagopyrum esculentum Moench Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes merged into genus Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. ...

Polenta is traditionally a slowly cooked dish, sometimes taking an hour or longer to cook, with constant stirring being necessary. The time- and labor-intensity of traditional preparation methods has led to a profusion of shortcuts such as the instant and precooked polenta which have become popular in Italy and elsewhere. In his book Heat, about his experiences as a line cook in Mario Batali's Italian restaurant Babbo, Bill 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] Christopher Kimball describes 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.^[2] Kyle Phillips^[3]suggests making it in a polenta maker or in a slow cooker. Mario Batali (b. ... Bill Buford is an American author and journalist. ... Christopher Kimball is founder, editor, and publisher of Cooks Illustrated magazine (formerly Cooks Magazine). ... Microwave oven A microwave oven, or microwave, is a kitchen appliance employing microwave radiation primarily to cook or heat food. ... A slow cooker. ...

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. Similarly, once formed into a shape it can also be grilled using, for example, a brustolina grill. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 601 KB) Descrição do ficheiro Polenta e Frango fritos, exemplos de comida extremamente gordurosa, porém muito saborosa. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 601 KB) Descrição do ficheiro Polenta e Frango fritos, exemplos de comida extremamente gordurosa, porém muito saborosa. ... Fast food is food prepared and served quickly at a fast-food restaurant or shop at low cost. ... A brustolina is a grill which fits over a gas burner on a hob. ...

Regional variations

• In Croatia, polenta is common on the Adriatic coast, where it is known as palenta or pura; in Slovenia and the northwestern part of Croatia, in and around Zagreb, it is known as žganci. In the Adriatic Croatian coast, polenta goes together with fish or frog stew (brujet, brudet)
• The Corsican variety is called pulenta, and it is made with sweet chestnut flour rather than cornmeal.
• In Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia the dish is called kachamak (качамак).
• The Serbian variety is called palenta or kačamak.
• The Romanian variety is called mămăligă; this word is also borrowed into the Russian (Мамалыга). The most notable feature of this Romanian variety is the feta cheese cooked in the Polenta.^{[citation needed]}
• In southern Austria Polenta is also eaten for breakfast (sweet Polenta); the Polenta pieces are either dipped in café au lait or served in a bowl with the café au lait poured on top of it (this is a favourite of children).

A satellite image of the Adriatic Sea. ... Location of Zagreb within Croatia Coordinates: , Country RC diocese 1094 Free royal city 1242 Unified 1850 Government  - Mayor Milan Bandić Area [1]  - Total 641. ... Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of regions, since every region has its own distinct culinary traditions. ... For other uses, see Corsica (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Mill. ... For other uses, see Flour (disambiguation). ... For an explanation of terms related to Macedonia, see Macedonia (terminology). ... Kačamak or kachamak (Cyrillic: качамак) is a traditional Bulgarian, Serbian, Montenegrin and Bosnian dish made of corn flour, potato and, sometimes, feta cheese or skorup. ... Not to be confused with Republika Srpska. ... Standard mămăligă. It is softer than the traditional, peasant-style mămăligă Cooking a pot of mămăligă Mămăligă (, cornmeal mush) is a Romanian dish made out of (yellow) maize. ... Feta (Greek φέτα, feminine gender) is a classic curd cheese in brine whose tradition dates back to Greece thousands of years ago. ... Café au lait, literally coffee with milk, is a French coffee drink prepared by mixing coffee and scalded (not steamed) milk. ...

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). When properly cooked, grits and polenta have similarly smooth textures, "grit" referring to the texture of the dried corn before cooking. This article is about the corn-based Southern U.S. food. ... The cuisine of the Southern United States is defined as the regional culinary form of states generally south of the Mason-Dixon Line westerly to the state of Texas. ... Hominy or nixtamal is dried, treated maize (corn) kernels. ... Nixtamalization is the process whereby ripe maize grains are soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually lime based, to cause the transparent outer hull, the pericarp, to separate from the grain. ...

Polenta is similar to boiled maize dishes of Mexico, where both maize and hominy originate. This article is about the maize plant. ... Hominy or nixtamal is dried, treated maize (corn) kernels. ...

The Brazilian variety is also known as angu. 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). Nickname: The Automobile Capital Coordinates:  - Mayor William Dib (PSB) Area    - City 407. ...

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. In East Africa a similar dish is called ugali, named from the Swahili language. Fufu, a starch-based food from West and Central Africa, may also be made from maize meal. In the Caribbean, similar dishes are cou-cou (Barbados), funchi (Curaçao) and funjie (Virgin Islands). It is known as funche in Puerto Rican cuisine and mayi moulin in Haitian cuisine. In South Africa and other parts of Africa, a staple food made from either stamped or ground maize (mielies or mealies). ... Pap a traditional porridge made from mielie-meal (ground maize or other grain), is a staple food of the Bantu inhabitants of South Africa(the Dutch word pap simply means porridge or gruel). Many traditional South African dishes include pap, such as smooth maize meal porridge (also called slap pap... Sadza is the Shona language name for a cooked pulverized grain meal that is the staple food in Zimbabwe. ... nshima Nshima is a cornmeal product and a staple food in Zambia. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... Ugali is a staple starch component of many African meals, especially in East Africa. ... This article is about the language. ... Young women in preparing Fufu in Democratic Republic of Congo Fufu, also spelled foofoo, foufou, or fu fu, is a staple food of West and Central Africa. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... For other uses, see Curaçao (disambiguation). ...

Bibliography

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

Interesting facts

• "Polentone" ("pulentun" or "pulintù" in dialect) meaning "polenta eater" (literally "big polenta") is a derogatory term sometimes used by Southern Italians to refer to Northern Italians.
• The overreliance on polenta as a staple food caused outbreaks of pellagra throughout much of Europe until the 20th century and in the American South during the early 1900s. Maize lacks readily accessible niacin unless cooked with alkali.

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... The Mezzogiorno is generally viewed as encompassing Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Apulia, and Sicily, which lie in Italys south, as well as Molise and Abruzzo, which are geographically in central or south-central Italy. ... Northern Italy comprises of two areas belonging to NUTS level 1: North-West (Nord-Ovest): Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria North-East (Nord-Est): Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Aosta Valley are regions with a... Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease caused by dietary lack of niacin (vitamin B3) and protein, especially proteins containing the essential amino acid tryptophan. ... This article is about the decade starting in 1900 and ending in 1909. ... Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid or vitamin B3, is a water-soluble vitamin whose derivatives such as NADH, NAD, NAD+, and NADP play essential roles in energy metabolism in the living cell and DNA repair. ... This article is about the maize plant. ...

See also

Cornmeal products include tortillas and taco shells. ... Farina cereal with shelf price at Shaws Supermarket in Watertown, MA, October 2004. ... Young women in preparing Fufu in Democratic Republic of Congo Fufu, also spelled foofoo, foufou, or fu fu, is a staple food of West and Central Africa. ... This article is about the corn-based Southern U.S. food. ... Standard mămăligă. It is softer than the traditional, peasant-style mămăligă Cooking a pot of mămăligă Mămăligă (, cornmeal mush) is a Romanian dish made out of (yellow) maize. ... Pap a traditional porridge made from mielie-meal (ground maize or other grain), is a staple food of the Bantu inhabitants of South Africa(the Dutch word pap simply means porridge or gruel). Many traditional South African dishes include pap, such as smooth maize meal porridge (also called slap pap... A thick cornmeal pudding (or porridge) usually boiled in water or milk; often then fried in butter after being cut up into flat squares or rectangles. ... nshima Nshima is a cornmeal product and a staple food in Zambia. ... Sadza is the Shona language name for a cooked pulverized grain meal that is the staple food in Zimbabwe. ... Ugali is a staple starch component of many African meals, especially in East Africa. ...

Notes

Colophon of the publisher Alfred A. Knopf. ... Christopher Kimball is founder, editor, and publisher of Cooks Illustrated magazine (formerly Cooks Magazine). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Polenta Recipes
• Italian Polenta Recipes