How to Make Perfect Polenta | Serious Eats
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- There are a lot of rules people say you need to follow to make polenta, like using a wooden spoon, stirring in only one direction, adding the polenta to boiling water, and stirring constantly. Forget those. What's really important is using the right ratio of liquid to cornmeal and cooking the polenta long enough for the cornmeal to properly hydrate. This recipe allows you to choose water, stock, or milk as your liquid (though I'm partial to the light, clean flavor of a water-based polenta). It can be served right away, with braised meats or cheese like gorgonzola dolce, or chilled, cut into pieces, and seared, grilled, or fried. Daniel Gritzer shows you how to make polenta the right way.
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My Great Grandmother from South Tyrol (Trento, Italy) always started her polenta off in cold water and it never had lumps. I still use that method today. She also gave me her wooden polenta stick which I use and cherish.
My grandmother is from the same region in Italy, and her polenta was firm; not runny like this.
Sorry, but what does it taste like? I'm intrigue
@@charlieandreese4046 it tastes like yellow corn, cause that's what it is
@@charlieandreese4046 tastes like soap
Brava Brava, ma non il Sudtirol è proprio Trento. viva Trentini sempre
I'm Italian and I find incredible that in Italy people don't know that you can presoak it to save cooking time. Thank you so much!
They know ..... there is a reason why you don’t do it that way. Find out!
@@maragrace820 that reason would be?
I chuck it in the microwave, half an hour of absolutely zero effort later it's done
Non mi prenderete mai 🥷🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
@@maragrace820 probably some obscure Italian bs myth
In Haïti it is a staple, we call it mayi moulin. I will try soaking it overnight next time. I will sometimes trade my mash potatoes for polenta in my shepherd's pie recipe. Delicious!
How long does it take normally, if you don’t soak it overnight
I am from Puerto Rico, we eat something like that creama de arina de maiz. Its kind of oatmeal but with corn meal. We use milk, sugar and butter. One of my favorite breakfast items.
I tried overnight presoaking with one in two water ratio. Yes, it cooks in under 5 minutes by adding the rest with boiling water.
I cook polenta using much the same method as I do for steel cut oats: I briefly toast the grits in a bit of oil or butter in the saucepan, before adding the water. I find this step makes the grits less likely to stick together and they cook faster.
In my country we eat this for breakfast but we make it sweet. We use milk, salt, sugar and butter sometimes a drizzle of vanilla. Now the sugar is just about a teaspoon per cup of finished polenta, it's not supposed to taste like candy. Just a mild sweet corn taste. We call it "cream of corn" in translation.
That sounds gooood
My science teacher from when I was in fourth grade to when I was in seventh grade loved polenta. Everyday, when he's not teaching, he would always have a container full of polenta and he would be eating at his desk. He said he would eat those everyday when he was a boy growing up in Brazil. I always thought it is hard to cook polenta and takes many ingredients. Now I realize how little ingredients it actually takes.
In the friuli region of italy, my dad was from(ripxx) he made it plain with unsalted water and had to mix it constantly for 30 -45 min...😳 we took turns when arms get tired. He said when it starts to pull away from the bottom of the pot its ready. We waited til it cooled a bit so we can eat it firm. Smothered a lovely meat sauce on it. Today my kids love it ! Mushy and smooth is new to me. I always like my dad's polenta better as it tastes authentic. Sadly very rarely do I find the gourse grind(polenta grossa) The more fine ground does not have that great corn polenta I grew up with :(
we do this in Angola but don’t add olive oil or butter
we call it “funge de milho”
its like fufu but with corn flour or cornmeal or both
Thank you so much for this video. I have been binge watching polenta videos today to improve mine. Most of the videos focus on frying or a sauce to make for the polenta. This video is what's really needed. It's the lesson for making good polenta. Without a good polenta frying and saucing means nothing. I'm home with the flu but when I'm better this will be the first thing I make. Thanks again! 😀
? k
Gracias hermanos por tanta saviduria , los amo
Thank you!! excellent video. Serious eats is the BOMB!!
Thanks for sharing!! I have learnt alot
Thank you Daniel GRITZer!
Thank you. Just made a batch, and your video really helped. My corn was a new pack from a few weeks ago, and pretty fine ground. I think that also helped. Didn't feel like I had any hydration issues like I have with other types of corn in the past.
I'm from Eastern Kentucky and we call it corn meal mush. Put it in a load pan,chill. Can be sliced like bread an sauteed in butter. Add syrup or jam. Delicious
I'm late to the game, but I'll add something to this great advice from Serious Eats. My wife made some veal osobucco ahead of time, and as we were reheating that and I started on the polenta to serve the veal on, she decided to call her mother. Well, I knew that would be a long chat, so I just turned off the burner under the half done polenta and covered it. About 20 minutes later, we started cooking again, and the polenta was ready to finish with seasoning, parm, butter and olive oil. The best I have ever made.
I come from România 🇷🇴 and I grew up with this,my grandma made this every day but without the fancy butter. we call it #Mămăligă.
We olso make it with cheese or mushrooms.
yes! My Romanian mom makes Mămăligă every week. It is so comforting and delicious and she adds to it egg and cheese :)
I would love to try this! Hope I can find a recipe. Maggie
I'm israeli of romanian origins and grew up eating it too.
And I sometimes eat polenta, my grandma also used to make it every day, in pregnancy I craved polenta with sour cream and cheese, and sometimes I eat it with sweetened milk and it tastes similar to corn flakes
I always thought this was a Jamaican dish my nan calls it cornmeal porridge we have it with nutmeg cinnamon salt and sugar !
Mămăligă!
Daniel Gritzer is the coolest!
Brings back great childhood memories
It shocks me to see the trouble ppl go through to add it to boiling water, it's good (but kinda weird lol) to see I'm not the only one who makes it the cold water way
Very nice. Few videos talk about the basic. Liquid to dry ration. Why-I don’t know. This was a perfect explanation
I’m Italian
Ratio is three parts liquid -one of those to be milk, to one part polenta
So
Two cups water
One cup milk
One cup polenta
Salt
My mom added potato.
Typical in her region of Piemonte
great video, in Monferrato in Italy we serve it with a fondue of toma, fontina, robiola(a super tangy goat cheese with a very distinctive hay taste) and white truffles when season so good! Or with lengthy braised stews: brisket/chuck and red wine, beef cheeks and white whine", sausage and tomato, dear and mountain spices, boar! or dried mushrooms ragout ......
My friends from Casale introduced me to Polenta and I'm so grateful!
In New Orleans, where I was born, my mother often served grits (not polenta) with various different stews as well as one of our regional favorites, grillades. I bet polenta would be even better! Have to try it. Thanks for the idea. Maggie
Its Italian grits for all my southern and blackfolk. Great for making dinner when you want grits.
I grew up with my great grandmother and grandmother making polenta - the key for my grandmother and great grandmother was the more corse the better - they did stir for a long time but I love it old school with it cooked and then baked layered in a bowl with butter and cheese. Yum. So comforting. I don't like mine too mushy.
In Hungary, we call it “puliszka”. My granny used to make it with milk, butter and sugar. All time favourite ❤
This recipe was the easiest ever! I grew up on Polenta. I never saw it cooked this way , super easy, Cheers,!
So a cold start is the key to making polenta without lumps!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE VID!!
Wooden spoon, stirring, water to polenta ratio and heat control
@@thapelo351 Thanks for the tip!
In Cameroon, we call it fufu...very tasty and a perfect side dish for everything that needs a side, easy to digest, etc
Just literally cooked my first ever polenta today. I added the powder to a boiling water and my polenta ended up with so many lumps. Next time I'll soak it or mix it with water before boiling it. Thanks for the tips! ❤
The 6 cups of water to 1 cup of polenta (course ground cornmeal), is a better ratio; unlike most 4 to 1 ratios. Thanks for posting. I soaked the dry cornmeal before cooking for an hour, however overnight is better.
Cornmeal is a magic ingredient
spot on
I lived in Bergamo for 4 years and had Polenta many times but the best I’ve ever had was in Vung Tau - Vietnam at a place called David’s Pizza and Italian. Superb. The owner is from Toscana. If you’re in Vietnam check him out. This video has given the confidence to try to make this. The only tune I saw it made was a friends Grandmas house and she was beating this big copper pot for what seemed like hours. I recall the ‘You have to do it this way ...’.
You’re spot on.
Thankyou.
Too far from me but if I ever travel there which takes me several hours. I be sure to check it out now.
Pota
@@aimeecortez5899 Ha !! That’s funny. Most readers won’t get that.
Nice way to cook polenta.
I've never had polenta this easy before and have always been curious about it, this video made it look delicious and now I want a bowl of it with some parmesan sprinkled on top.
I've used this ratio, as someone who has never made polenta, and it was really successful!
My mouth is watering 😍🤤Omg!
Vincenzo's Plate - your polenta is delicious 🧡
That's what she said 😛
@@unacceptableviews4404😂😂😂 what are you 9?😂
Awesome recipe! To the point
Mmm yummy
I finally get to beat the hell out of something.
1:20 omg so delicious. Add the pepper, cheese and fry me up a piece of salmon... Grill up some broccoli heads (first boil them in a little water) get the grilled Brussels sprouts!
Never in my life have I had Polenta, I had no idea that’s all it is is cornmeal water & butter. Going to give it a whirl tho, thank you so much. 😊
Did you try it?
@@TheAndersDanilet I did, that stuff is really good.
*just cornmeal and water (and salt)
@@aimeecortez5899 I think you are the only person to mention salt! It's not in the video
@@helenswan705 try polenta without salt once and trust me, you'll easily remember it lmao
Does it has a lot of calories? I heard its good for diet
Adding parmeggiano takes Polenta to another level
I am from Venice and yes it is true that you stir it for 2 hrs UNLESS you buy precooked polenta. You first need to eat a polenta cooked from an Italian grandmother from the north ..... and then compare with the quick one! No comparison.
This is s more credible polenta maker .... not traditional but better than polenta soup
I loveeeeee polenta
Always keep a pot of boiling water so if you need to add more water it Mae's it eaiser to mix and will be the same temp. Ish. Better than adding cold water to a boiling mix. No lumps.
No. My parents immigrated from Piemonte in 1958. My mother was a wonderful cook. I cooked with her starting at 12 years old.
My mother used 3 parts liquid (1of those to be milk) to one part polenta.
So
two cups water, one cup milk, one cup polenta, salt.
My mother used potato in her polenta. That was typical in her region of Piemonte. The Tanaro valley. The polenta was soft and creamy.
Ragu with rabbit - red wine added, was typical to serve over polenta.
Wild Boar meat ragu also.
My mother made a good amount. While it was still warm, she spread the extra polenta into a baking dish and smoothed it out. Put in fridge. Next night she cut it in slices, topped with teleme cheese then Parmesan and baked till heated and brown and bubbly.
I liked it that way just as much as with the ragu.
It got firm.
There is no one right way to cook polenta. But there is one wrong way and that is to dump the corn meal all at once into boiling water and then compound the problem by not whisking it enough.
Yum
I make mine with parmesan cheese and butter, scrape it into an oven dish, bake for an hour let it cool, slice it and fry it until golden.
add some soft boiled eggs at the end
Great tips but you did not say what type of coarseness of polenta you use
That is an important factor for ratio of water and corn meal
If I use fine corn meal what should be the ratio
1 cup corn meal and 4 cups water??
Please help me
when you soak overnight, does it still require the same ratio of water to corn meal?
Here on Adriatic coast we learn that as kids, watching mom doing it nervously waiting with cream cheese or yoghurt, also waiting for butter and garlic to be fried on a side and mom adding joghurt to it and then we spread it over polenta
Growing up we called this cornmeal mush.
Impossible dont hear the word polenta and don't remember my mom cooking!, she use to fry,some squares polenta and sometimes she use to put ground beef mix with tomato sauce, boy it was so good.
It would be nice to know the coarseness of the grain before we add the water or broth
I just made some Turkey neck stew and I’m sick of rice so I’m definitely trying it with polenta
Yum! That sounds sooo good! I'm going to try that. Do you use smoked necks or the raw ones?
@@pbrandonj I used raw Turkey neck ( if your somewhere in the south or at any foreign market [whether it’s up north or in the south] you’ll find it).
I have been eating polenta for 60 years and making it for 40. I agree with your 2 main points: Use lots of water and start with cold water. I have never had a lump in my polenta in my entire life. Needs salt at the beginning and butter and cheese at the end.
My Italian Parents used a wooden stick fir hours while mom sifted fistful at a time my dad stirred
So darn good w sausage n our homemade Italian sauce that no one to this day can beat
r Luc what is your Italian homemade sauce? Your comment made my mouth water hahaha 😂
How long do you boil it ?
5:1 by weight or by volume?
KalifUmestoKalifa volume, I assume.
My dad was Italian and loved his polenta and chili beans but he liked it more firm so would pour it out on a cooling tray and then cut it into slabs and put the chili beans on top
Any leftover slabs would be fried in butter the following morning and topped off with a Fried egg
Haven't had polenta in years so off to the shops to pick some up
Just tried to cook it by adding corn into the cold water and did not like the results. Yes, the grains dissolved nicely in cold water but the substance never sufficiently thickened (boiled for 30 min). I cooked polenta before by adding corn to the boiling water and did not have this issue.
Olive oil!
I will definitely try adding olive oil next time!
By 1 to 6 ratio, do you mean by volume or weight?
He measured the polenta and water in cups. It says 5c water to 1c cornmeal . So probably added about another cup of water there at the end. I've never measured liquids by weight.
... I just clicked the link and read the article. It specifies volume.
Andrew Felix Ferdaus 5 cups water to 1 cup polenta. Cups are volume measurements.
either will work
Is there no salt in the recipe?
Salt to taste... polenta can actually take a surprising amount of salt.
Use salt
Am I the only one that finds the irony in this guy being named Gritzer?
He was born for this moment.
Had the same thought.
The simulation strikes again.
I made my first polenta today, it didnt have much flavour at all, i bought the package and havnt noticed that its instant polenta, it looks much like the regular one but it was done in like 5min.
4 cup water to one cup polenta tea spoon salt
Cook 40 minute stir constantly on low heat serve with homemade sauce and grated cheese on top 😋😋
great method, 'cook it until it's done' got it
That's true for most things....there's no recipe that can tell you how long something is going to take. It depends on the polenta you're using the water you're using, the pan you're using, how much heat you're using, the weather, the temperature, your whisking, etc.
lol.....
I don't know you, but in my country is so common that polenta comes makes itself in one minute, the ratio is 1:3 and the usual ways of making it is in water, milk or bouillon, or mixing those, then you can top it with tomato sauce and cheese and sausage or meat (bolognesa is so common), etc. But nice to see someone making it with no precooked corn... i never eat that way even I ate polenta hundred times
In the U.S. south, we call them grits. Remember My Cousin Vinny? In the Virgin Islands they call it Fungi, fry it and we call it hot water cornbread. The old south
they called it Mush. Whatever it was or is called, it's delicious!
Seasoning??
I was thinking the same thing! Polenta needs a hefty dose of salt to bring out the flavour, otherwise it's bland as hell.
Polenta Is generally eaten in winter. It's a flour and, of course, must be seasoned as you like. Howeven if the polenta flour comes from a serious/good mill It already (has) a good taste. If you come on holiday in Northern Italy you will eat a lot of Polenta. 😃😋😋😋 Greetings from Milano.
@@snifferdogxsnifferdogx5977 Yeah, I agree. Using stock instead of water also makes it a bit more interesting
Yes, the stirring...
My mother would make polenta (salted water and cornmeal) that she'll dump on a big tray and we'll eat it with a side of yoghurt.
It's one of my comfort foods and reminds me of a time where we had less.
Not sure if it's a regional thing as other Turks I've spoken to dont really do it this way. There's a fancier version where you add cheese that makes it stretch like aligot that people are more familiar with.
So I'm looking around and it seems like mamaliga is the closest variation I could find. Interestingly, when Romanians were under Ottoman rule, they weren't taxed on the maize which replaced the primarily wheat based dishes. My grandma also said her grandmother was Circassian so something similar must've travelled with them as well.
Does it taste better with cheese? If so, what type of cheese?
Yes it does taste better if you add fresh grated Parmesan cheese and butter at the end.
feta cheese and sour cream
you can thank me later
@@veneps7862 yes, but add them in the plate over mushy polenta, do not stir together in the pan
My mom put ragu on it the first night when it was creamy.
While still warm, she Smoothed leftover in a baking dish. Put in fridge.
Next night she cut it in slices, topped it with Teleme cheese and topped that with Parmesan cheese. She baked it until heated and brown and bubbly on top.
Delish
cmon your last name is gritzer thats amazing
4 to 1 , then add milk or cream, butter, parmesan./romano cheese blend.
Yellow grits in the south! 😎😎
I would suggest that the real secret to polenta is to 1.) Soak it overnight. 2.) Heat it in a pan and cook it for about 5 minutes. 3.) Finish cooking it in a sous vide at 180 for 3 hours (no need to stir).
the perfect polenta is creamy without any white grain.. The white grain means that need more cooking time.
Mine turns out too runny. Will try a bit less water
Two cups water
One cup milk
One cup polenta
Salt
Perfect
No parmesan or salt?
Use
Two cups water
One cup milk
One cup polenta
Salt
Put ragu and Parmesan cheese on top after polenta is cooked.
Spread leftover in a baking dish while still warm
Put in fridge
Next night, slice and too with teleme cheese and too with Parmesan
Bake till heated and brown and bubbly
Delish
I tried the recipe following the ratio 1 to 5 as mentioned... but it ended up like soup!
Use three parts liquid, one of those to be milk
One part polenta
So
Two cups water
One cup milk
One cup polenta
Salt
Perfect
1:43 You got to 'corporate it!
Cheese?
No
Two cups water
One cup milk
One cup polenta
Salt
Perfect
Put ragu and cheese after it’s cooked
I just stumbled up on this video while searching if someone is doing it the same way I do 😁😁🤣🤣
so. litterly. this is just a fancy name for corn meal...
Do i want to eat boiled cornmeal?
No
Do I want to eat some polenta?
Sure! let me try it. 🤦♂️
Beautiful Shit Man!
I make with beans and coconut milk well spiced and pair with protein of choice.
This looks hard.
Magyarok?
You eat it with what ??
You can make it sweet or savoury I make it for my grandkids for breakfast I use milk and water then at the end add sultanas ,brown sugar and milk when I serve it or fried onion ,salt pepper and Parmesan in it then shape it in cling wrap pit in fridge to cool then can fry it it's yummy and has endless possibilities
Tico Maradona fried fish, eggs, any good sausage
No cheese?
No
Two cups water
One cup milk
One cup polenta
Salt
Perfect
Ragu and Parmesan after
Okay so when are y'all gonna do grits?
I’m confused. You say nonstop stirring is not necessary but the video shows that being done.
Lol with a name like Gritzer you better be able to make grits