How to Cook POLENTA Like an Italian
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
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Polenta can be confusing, at least to me! Just figuring out what to buy can be a minefield of potential pitfalls. Will instant polenta work? Is cornmeal the same thing as polenta? Fine or coarse? What about grits? Don't even get me started on the best way to cook it...
In this video, Eva explains what polenta is (it's not what I thought), which kinds to buy (and which to avoid), how to properly cook it, and give some "advanced" recipes from all over Italy. Welcome to Polenta 101!
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00:00 - Polenta 101: The Basics of Italian Polenta
00:50 - What is Polenta?
01:23 - Types of "Polenta": Corn Meal, Instant Polenta or Grits?
04:44 - How to Cook Polenta Like a (Northern) Italian
07:39 - How to Serve & Eat Polenta
08:38 - Intermediate & Advanced Polenta Recipes
10:32 - A Northern Italian Polenta Recipe
12:43 - Polenta Taragna
13:56 - A Central Italian Polenta Recipe
16:40 - Polenta with Meat Ragù | Sausage & Ribs
17:44 - A Southern Italian Polenta Recipe
19:32 - Calabrian Frascatula Polenta
21:11 - Pasta Grammarian In Action!
#polenta #italianfood #recipe
We hope you guys learned something new about polenta with us today! What ingredient should we cover the basics of next?
a. The aperitivo table: a little something to eat while you enjoy with a drink.
b. After meal amari.
c. Olives snacks and dishes.
Funghi porcini!
With Fall in the air, I'd love to see Mushrooms 🍄❤️
Hi Eva, You’re a treasure! This polenta video was long overdue.
For many years my polenta always turned out clumpy. My mistake was I had the water at a full boil when pouring in the ground corn; the trick that solved the clumpiness was to have simmering water instead.
Thanks for another exceptional video!
Hi guys could you make tripe in its many versions, accommodata genovese,Tuscany, Roman, Sicilian and certainly Calabrian style😉
Actually, the difference between grits and corn meal is much greater than just the color. True, grits are traditionally white, but they're made from hominy which is corn treated with lime water or lye. The process is called nixtamalization and was known by the Myans. It does several things, including freeing niacin, thus preventing pellagra. Along with ordinary beans, a human can survive on these two foods. And it allows the processed corn to be made into a dough for further processing into things like masa used for making tortillias. Regular cornmeal will not form a dough with the addition of water. Nixtamalization also helps prevent the formation of mold.
so cool
Yes. I've read that the explorers who brought maize/corn over did not also bring over the knowledge of nixtamalization. The northerners, who ate polenta much more than the southerners, developed a niacin deficiency that limited their mental abilities. The southerners called the northerners "polentoni," which was a derogatory appellation, as a result. Nowadays, people avoid the deficiency problem by eating it with cheese, or milk, meat sauce, lentils, chickpeas, etc., which provides the necessary amino acids, complementing the polenta.
@roberto bravo sir… bravo! Excellent and efficient explanation!
Grits can be made with either white or yellow corn. Southern states prefer white corn meal. Other parts of the country prefer yellow corn
@@sharonstrickland6421 in the south we eat both but I’d say we use yellow for supper and white for breakfast. You can also find red grits, purple grits, and mixed grits that contains more than one variety, usually white and yellow together.
In my family you had the three stages of polenta: first the freshly made and soft polenta.
Then the leftovers were cut into slices and toasted on a plate or on the grill (like bruschetta). The parts that were not toasted were sautéed in a pan with butter and covered with sugar.
Also in my town (Mantova) leftover polenta is used to make a "pancake" called "Fiapon".
My grandparentes used to told me me how polenta was the food of the poor in the toughest times. For dinner they ate slices which they gave a little flavor by rubbing them on a smoked herring (Cospeton) and they also usually eat polenta for breakfast in the milk.
In Milan there's polenta pasticciata for leftovers. Basically imagine a lasagna or a timballo, but with polenta slices instead of pasta.
And the smoked herring was hanging from the ceiling!
You can also dip your leftover butter fried polenta in the milk for breakfast. Mantova has a lot of tricks for eating polenta.
Cuspitun FTW! (Mantovani nel mondo.)
@@mimnbo86 that is also done in Milano.
Damian, good information, thank you. Do they prepared it from corn kernels? Do they know or knew the process to ground the corn, would they use lime to boil and let it cure the grain?
Romanians have had polenta (we call it mămăligă) as a staple food for centuries, using a different type of grain (buckwheat or millet) prior to corn. I have visited northern Italy recently and discovered that Italian polenta uses a less processed type of corn flour/ground corn, has a more rustic and grain-y taste than ours ; we use a very ”pure” processed maize, few impurities.
Cool story bro
We can say that the Roman Empire really made europe the continet it is today even in the food
@@brobin2518 😆
No need to be rude guys...
Yes, especially in Transilvania, its very common. My fav breakfast was mamaliga filled with cheese, topped with sour cream . The other is polenta balls, filled with cheese then baked. Its in the cookbook of Alexandra Georgescu.
Fried Mush is a Southern US analog, where leftover corn grits (or boiled cornmeal) are often left to cool and congeal. It is then sliced, dredged in flour, drenched in beaten egg, pan-fried, and served with maple syrup, honey, molasses, or sorghum syrup.
SO DELICIOUS!!!!
Yes, one of my favorites, my parents were from West Virginia. Always makes me sentimental. ❤
Love fried mush!!!!
I had mush for breakfast and to me it was a treat. My family is German and English of Germanic origin. So I'm not sure where my grandma learned how to make it but we had it . So sad things like this are way sided in modern America.
Man this brought back memories. I wish my granny were alive today. What a sweet woman.
Never had it but we also never had leftover grits from a breakfast either.
I'm Italian (from Napoli) and never cooked polenta because, you know, it's rare here to eat polenta. With this I can do it properly and start discovering this dish.
Io anche Campania (provincia di Salerno, ma residente qui in Germania) ricordo che mia nonna faceva ogni tanto la polenta. La cosa che ricordo con più piacere e che mi mandava letteralmente in estasi, era grattare dentro la padella quella parte che rimaneva un po’ attaccata al fondo della padella. Non lo dimenticherò mai !
In Naples (i came from napoli too) you can find polenta in Friggitoria, a traditional Fryed dish is "scagliozzi" or "tittoli" , fryed triangle of polenta.....
Ehm in Irpinia fanno la pizza di granturco, una sorta di polenta fritta. Mia nonna che è di un paese dell'area nolana ai piedi del Partenio lo fa, anche se molto raramente.
that's odd. my late father and nonni were from provincia di salerno ( a couple of hours more south) in the mountains of Monte San Giacomo and 'pocchia' (polenta) was a staple esp. in cucina povera
That’s odd, my family in Abruzzo does eat polenta, though not that frequently. I dunno if maybe Abruzzo is where Polentaland starts lmao, or maybe my folks are just weird
Any time you ask a question that starts with “Would you guys like a video of Eva..” and ends with really anything she learned to do in Italy, the answer is YES.
I love that Eva was so keen to eat the polenta taragna that she forgot the obligatory 'buon appetito!' 🤣
Abruzzo heritage here, and I LOVE polenta with sausage sauce and pecorino romano!! 🤩
I never understood polenta until now, can't wait to try some of these!
Corn products are naturally gluten free but the package label lets the buyer know that it is processed separately from wheat and tested so that there's no cross contamination.
My dad was from Abruzzo and you brought tears to my eyes serving polenta on the wood board. Great memories eating it with tripe! Molto grazie!!
Eating it with tripe so delicious.Thank you
Polenta was a staple growing up. My family is from Lammari, just outside of Lucca. When my wife and I went to Italy and spent a whole week in Toscana the food just felt so much like home, only better!
I grew up in Charleston, S.C. And of course growing up on the south I'm quite familiar with grits and corn meal. The difference between corn meal and grits is corn meal is just ground corn, but grits is turned first into hominy before its ground. Also, in S.C. you can buy yellow grits because some folks just like the yellow better which was common years ago. However, when groceries began to be created enmass by conglomerates they pretty much stopped making the yellow for a time. However, there's now a mill in Charleston that makes the yellow grits.
Glad someone contributed this. Grits from hominy taste quite different from yellow corn meal. Thank you, Edward. I am Canadian but learned to love hominy grits and polenta in turn.
Edward could you explain the process of then corn kernels in both the corn meal, and de grits. In my country, mexico to be able to grind the dry corn, we have to boil or cook the corn in water and lime , and let it stand all night in order to separate the skins and get softer, then we mild it. Is the same with you corn meal, polenta grits? And what you mean with you have to turned into homeny before ? Thanks in advance, hope you coul answe my question. . Stay well, and happy,
Edward, uhhh... this doesn’t make sense. You say the difference between corn meal and grits is corn meal is just ground corn, and grits is first turned into “hominy” before it is ground... but when I look up “hominy “ for grits, it straight up says “coarsely ground corn used to make grits.” So you basically said “grits is first coarsely ground up corn before it gets ground.” You agree that is nonsensical, yes? 🙃
Did you mean to say that corn meal is simply ground down more to be a finer size than grits?
@@marloweirvine6740
He really didn’t explain it though - it came off confusing. See what I just wrote to him. Can you clear it up maybe?
My understanding is similar to what Griselda said. Dried corn is soaked in a lye solution and the outer coating comes away. The result is hominy. This is what is used in dishes like posole. The hominy is dried and then ground, giving hominy grits.
If the corn were to be cooked before being dried and ground it would be arepa flour which is used in Colombian or Bolivian style tortillas while uncooked finely ground cornmeal, harina, is used in Mexican-style torillas.
PASTA GRAMMARIAN IN ACTION; My daughter had a dozen ears of 2-year-old decorative corn, a mix deep red, some yellow, black,and white that she asked if I wanted to put in the compost heap. It was clean, dry, and still wholesome (dried corn lasts for years) I rubbed the kernels off of the cobs and got about 1 1/2 pounds of corn. I ran it through my Country Living grain mill on a coarse setting and used it to make polenta with butter, Swiss (no smoked mozzarella on hand) and parmigiana regiano (from Costco) I spread it in a 9 x 13 pan chilled for 4 hours (it was PINK!) pan fried it until golden brown, topped it with my own marinara sauce, an olive tapenade with plenty of chopped Kalamata olives and fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Thanks for the inspiration to try something new!
In Austria polenta was very common among (poor) farmers. They needed a heavy but cheap dish because of their hard work. So polenta was mostly the first choice with loads of lard and some crispy speckcubes (speck on sundays only of course!).
In my humble opinion not very tasty but it worked.
Grits. With butter and milk. Allowed to crust the bottom of the pan. Served with melted butter cinnamon and sugar. I miss my Oma
My Mom a great Italian cook would never use polenta because she lived on it during the depression years and will not cook it to this day ! I do want to try it and will try your recipes.
Similarly, my Mom grew up in a German town in Romania, and she said they had polenta with cheese almost daily. Once they left Europe, she didn’t want to eat it again, and she never made it for us growing up, so I had to discover it on my own. But I really like it! Thanks for this interesting video!
@@fasullodavvero Mia madre ha 94 anni e viveva nella parte povera della città, ma aveva una buona famiglia e mi ha dato una vita fantastica. Ma lei non cucinava la polenta e mi raccontava di mangiarla da piccola essendo povera. Grazie.
My family is from the Ticinese region of Switzerland. The small village of Mierra in the hills above Lugano. We always put our polenta in a bowl before cooking and top it with a small handful of salt which represents the snow covered mountains. We never, ever make it with water. We used milk, carefully scalding the milk without burning it. We only added water if it gets too thick too fast. It is cooked continually stirring for about 45 minutes. Never stop stirring. At the end of cooking, off of the fire, we would add a small amount of butter to be stirred in. Once it was set fairly well we turn the copper pot out onto a round woven polenta basket that can be soaked in water to prevent the polenta from sticking to it. It was very rustic and not the creamy polenta you see here in America. These days I often dump it out onto a wet towel so that I can pull the corners up a bit while it sets. The smoke from cooking in a hanging pot over a fire give’s it a unique flavor. Paired with Italian sweet sausages it is so dreamy. I always get a laugh when i see it here in the US on menus as a luxury item…it is cucina povera! My dad fed it to the pigs.
I've always loved eating polenta it's hardy and a satisfing comfort food that sticks to your ribs
Have found a really good polenta meal at the farmers market..." Wild hive farm" from upstate N.Y. cooked slow in the oven...yummmmchefs kiss!!
My father-in-law was from northern Italy; old, crusty but so lovable. I on the other hand am a USA southern gal. I surprised him by making polenta and chicken cattiatore for dinner. When he saw what I had made he broke down crying and said he had not had polenta since his mother passed away many years ago. The following morning, he wanted leftovers for breakfast.
Thank you for this recipe! My great grandmother was from Reggio Amelia and she never wrote down recipes and her version was like the first recipe. My grandma always wanted polenta that thick, but I didn’t figure it out to make it for her with the right texture. She loved the leftover slices fried crisp in butter with eggs for breakfast. Now I can make it in her honor the correct way. ❤
Bergamasco fan reporting: Fontina as a change is approved for the polenta taragna :)
Otherwise use an older Taleggio. Firm and strong, it still melts very well in it :)
Noi in Friuli la tagliamo a fette e l'arrostiamo per accompagnare pesce o carne(poi la facciamo anche"pasticciata" con formaggio di malga,funghi ed erba cipollina),provare per godere!😁😋
Polenta is also used in Mexican cooking. Its cool to see so many cultures using the same types of ingredients in so many ways.
There's also a polenta dish called toc, traditional of the mountain area above Bellagio, on Como lake. They cook polenta for hours adding kilos of butter and cheese regularly. The result is a very smooth and elastic polenta people eat with a spoon out of the pot, you take a spoonfull and make a small ball with your hands before eating it. Usually people eat it with meat and sottaceti.
That sounds amazing!
I'm Slovenian- American and we make polenta, but it's made from corn flour (not cornmeal, which is too coarse) or buckwheat and it's not a porridge. It's moldable (you can make disks with a cleaned tuna can) and served with things like goulash. 🤷🏻♀️ I eat it plain with some butter, too.
And now, it's 3am and I want some!!!
So, even this time you taught me something new, Eva! I'm from Rome but in my family we always (when the supermarket has it) choose the taragna, as we like it better than the finer kinds. To keep it light and because I'm vegetarian, we (sadly) skip the cheese or the meat and usually cook it with a tomato sauce seasoned only with onion, rosemary and parmesan, or we make a earthier mushroom tomato sauce, preferably with porcini. My mum has part of her family from Borgomanero, in Piedmont, and remembering her times there as a kid when I was younger she also used to prepare polenta with 'tapulone', which is a traditional extremely finely chopped white stew with cabbage from that area. But today thanks to you and Harper I discover polenta with broccoli 😋!!! I'm going to make it asap and I'm sure it's going to become a favourite in my family! Thanks 😘!
My Nonni always made rabbit with polenta. I still do to this day! I love it!
I don’t know if it’s just in Rome or it is just the “quartiere”, but when we put the meat sauce and the parmigiano on top, we also sprinkle a bit of olive oil!
Here in Brazil we make all kinds of polenta - we also have many types of grounded corn, so you can make polentas with many different textures. We also have angu. Angu is similar to polenta, but made with a very finely textured cornflour called fubá. Some people add the fubá to the water still cold, mix well and only then take it to the fire to cook, mixing all the time to avoid clumps.
I haven't had polenta with sauce in years...you brought me back to my grandmothers table (yes from Calabria too), thank you. Ok off to the store to get what I need to have this tonight. Hugs and hugs! ❤🧡❤
I love polenta, being part native American my people have corn porridge also made from many types of corn.
Try some blue corn polenta it should be available where you live.
In my town in Tuscany we have one called "polenta ficca" made mixing polenta with the leftover of another typical dish we have: cabbage and borlotti bean soup... it's a must during winter time 😋😋😋
Another amazing and in my opinion the yummiest way to cook polenta (I hoped you included in today's video!) is to make slices with the lefrovers and fry them... we called them "polentine" and in Tuscany we eat them with fegatini di pollo, oh my gosh 🥴🥴🥴
I must know more about that first dish. Cabbage and polenta sounds heavenly and adding beans just makes for a proper meal.
I’m from the North of Italy and my grandma used to make polenta for the whole family almost every weekend in the winter, at 85 she would stir it for 45-50 minutes non stop (and it gets hard pretty much as soon as it starts absorbing some of the water!) and when it was ready she would always have some in a cup with warm milk as a treat for her hard work. My brother and I loved eating it with granulated sugar or Nutella as a dessert. I feel like my childhood would not have been the same without this dish, it is so comforting to me. Sorry Eva I will never try it with ragù because it feels like betrayal to me lol
Absolutely wonderful!!! I learned a lot about polenta (which I love eating)...Eva - you really should be awarded a doctorate in Italian food and cooking. I am so envious of your knowledge.
The substitution with fontina in the taragna, if you can’t find Casera or Bitto, is perfectly fine. Any really fat cheese will do. Also, try making it with vegetable broth instead of water! Milk will also work very nicely. Smashing video, thanks for covering one of my favorite foods!
now the taragna polenta with cheese and porcini mushrooms is my dream polenta
In the deep South, in southwest Georgia for instance. We use yellow corn to make grits, primarily coarse ground for grits. I can validate this as I've lived here all my life, still on our 150 year old family farm. Love ya'lls content!
It’s not just the Deep South. Many people in the south made grits with yellow corn that they took to a mill.
Mass manufactured grits use white corn or hominy.
I love Italian polenta. In Peru, a form of polenta called "pepián" is made with ground fresh corn (not dried corn) and is usually served along stews.
It reminds me of the Dutch Griesmeelpap. Semolina Durum wheat cooked with milk, sugar, and ground almonds (or almond extract). My wife loves it when I make it.
La polenta Taragnarock
Orgoglio dei paioli della Valhaltellina! 🌟
ua-cam.com/video/Mq0IqiFXIZQ/v-deo.html
Appena ho visto il titolo ho avuto la stessa tua reazione, ho giusto controllato se qualcuno aveva già fatto questo commento prima di me :D
@Diana Pohe 🤣🤣😂😂 'fettivamente qualche parente scandinavo lo abbiamo...
@@cpav9062 io sono tarda, ci sono arrivata solo quando effettivamente hanno aperto il capitolo sulla Taragna😂
In all their videos, I admire how Eva just gets on with it. She doesn’t gild the lily like so many gushing UA-cam presenters who end up hiding behind their ‘twist’ on everything. Brava Eva, brava.
We make polenta in Romania as well. And the cold one we cut the next day and fry for a little bit (traditionally on some cast iron plaque). It's amazing that way!
Edit: My grandma used to do it very thick but I like it better when it's more runny. The really thick one is the one you cut and fry the next day.
Thank you guys for showing us the polenta dishes from the different regions of Italy! I am used to the meat sauce version but can't wait to try the other dishes!!
I'm from Campania (from a small town near Aversa, in the province of Caserta) and my great grandma and my grandma used to make polenta in the early morning, to feed the men of the family that were going to work in the fields.
They thought it would give them the energy they needed in order to endure many hours of work.
When I was a kid, sometimes we had some special "polenta evenings" with the whole family, especially in the winter. That polenta was creamy and loose, it had a very fine texture and my grandma put in it the same stuff everytime: some fried "cicoli" (small pieces of solid pork fat), small pieces of aged pecorino cheese, small pieces of dry aged sausages and black pepper.
The perfect comfort food.
Thank you for this! It made me feel so connected to my family that passed! My nonna used to have "polenta parties" with the other Italian immigrants in the neighborhood, and my mom has never taught me because of how much work it is to make. This was so wonderful! I'll be able to make my nonna proud ❤️
I love learning new things about my Italian culture. My family, from Puglia , never made polenta but as a young adult in New York City I was exposed to it and have come to love it! Thank you for showing us these wonderful variations and yes please more recipes for polenta! Looking forward to the dessert one especially. Thank you again.
I'm ordering the polenta taragna. It looks amazing. Love you guys.
My family immigrated from Northern Italy (Veneto). Polenta was always cooked like your first version. Also, the wooden spoon and the string/thread to cut it were important! We always, and still do, have it with a chicken cacciatore type dish. Although, I'm told small birds were common to have with polenta.
Polenta con gli Osei
@@Penthotal71 oppure con gli "uccelletti scappati" 😀
@@Penthotal71 ah, Grazie Stefano.
Polenta e osei..mitica!ciao dall' Italia😁👋
Grandpa always made the super thick polenta, formed it into a brick, there was a lot of butter involved, mozzarella stirred in and generally some kind of red sauce over it. Unless it was for breakfast, then it was no cheese, sliced, pan fried on both sides, and syrup.
Great video, as usual! Thanks for doing it!
I make grits with yellow corn all the time. Lots of people do.
All of the versions or Polenta that Eva made look fantastic!
Thank you for the shout out! That was unexpected and fun. :) I'm looking forward to trying your polenta recipes - they look delicious! Thanks for another great video.
Always a great learning experience! Eva and Harper, you greatly add to the Italian world of cooking. My grandmother was from Verbicaro in Cosensa and many of her recipes were very similar to yours. Thanks for bringing her culinary experience back to me with your 'seminars '.
Thank you for helping me re-live my childhood with your magical polenta video. It is shameful that i have never made it for my children but I will now. Love and blessings to you both ❤❤
I discovered your channel nearly three weeks ago and have been binge watching ever since. My partner and I adore you two, Eva is our newfound culinary hero. The dishes we have tried are amazing. Thanks so much for educating all of us on how to cook like proper Italians! ♥
In southern Brazil polenta is a very common dish, because of the many italian immigrants we had over the years. The consistency is usually like the central italian polenta, but we also cook smoked pork ribs and sausages in the polenta, like the calabria one does with vegetables. It tastes amazing. Something else that is very common here, is once the polenta is cold and firm, we cut it into strips and deep fry them. Best. Dish. Ever.
Great video, Harper and Eva! thanks!
This brings back fond memories hiking through the Alps in Valle D'Aosta and stopping at refuges where they routinely served camoscio e polenta. And nice warm-me-up on cold days. Especially when coupled with some vin brulé.
Everything is always so beautifully presented - love your serve ware and pots.
I know the real old fashioned way takes more time but when it comes to taste and texture, the extra time is well worth it when it comes to polenta and grits both. Another great one, you two. I look forward to your posts more than anything else in you tube!
I appreciate this post! Polenta is so underused and misunderstood, and so useful. I make "bars" of it i cover like bruschetta, and they freeze beautifully and are so easy to refresh warm when you need a small bit before dinner.
Love to see Eva's take on polenta dishes. Classic American shrimp and grits is fantastic. I once made it with gorgonzola instead of cheddar. Fabulous
As always great!! We are from Calabria as well and my mom would make polenta lasagna with ragu. Out of this world.ciao franco grazie mille.
I love polenta, it’s one of my most favourite childhood foods to eat. My mother used to make it for us all the time as children,I love polenta baked in the oven and also with pasta sauce 😍 it’s delicious
I'm new this channel for last week or so, but have been going to others (Babish, Not Another Cooking Show, Sip and Feast, Chef John, etc.) for years. You guys are a blast watch! Great recipes, great information, and I loved the Oaxaca video. Really entertaining. I'll be back.
An Italian friend made polenta like yours and put it in a shallow pan. When it was cooled, she cut it into slices and grilled them and served them with mushroom ragu. Delicious.
Love it!!! Every couple months we'd all get together and the aunts would make the polenta. Half served with the ragu and the other half would have the cured sausages cut up and fried in extra virgin olive oil and the polenta would get sprinkled with Pecorino on top, amazing! Between this video and all the pictures of the family harvesting the olives right now, I'm getting so hungry hahaha.
Thank you, Ava. Polenta brings comfort to my soul. My ancestors are from the north of Italy. ❤
Oh yay. Been waiting for this!
Best Polenta Video on UA-cam ! ! ! Thank you Both
This looks like a ton of fun!!! I’m glad the kids had a good time!!’n
This year we had some "brustolà" (grilled) polenta with "soppressa" salami, mushrooms and Monte Veronese cheese in Italy. It was amazingly good !!
Thank you for this video!!!
Semolina is one of my favs...
Thank you for another great video!
Just made the polenta/broccoli recipe for dinner tonight and it was OUTSTANDING!!! Even my broccoli hating husband scooped up a second serving. Thank you so much for this episode. You really cleared up a lot of confusion I had about polenta. Thanks for the links to get the polenta. Can't wait to try the one with buckwheat. You two are just the best. LOve you !!! Carry on. You are educating us and we need it!!!!!!😂
It was interesting seeing Eva's Calabrese broccoli polenta and I might try it. But corn polenta is definitely more traditional and popular in the northern regions of Italy than in the southern regions.
In the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th centuries polenta was very much a *staple* for a large proportion of northern Italians, especially rural peasants, like bread or potatoes would be in other parts of Europe. It seems like something of a novelty, once-in-a-while, food for southern Italy, but in the north it was a staple, eaten most days in some form. At some point, it was decided that Pasta, Polenta and Pizza were the 3 national food's of Italy. North-eastern Italy even had continuous outbreaks of a vitamin-deficiency disease called pallegra in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, due to the circulation of improperly processed polenta and its heavy levels of consumption.
As I understand it; Polenta's consumption in northern Italy only declined somewhat in the second half of the 20th century, and mostly because it takes 30-50 minutes to cook, many children of peasants moved into the urban middle class and were able to afford the sort of rice's to make risotto with, and as Italy more heavily urbanised (and southerners migrated to jobs in northern cities), ready-to-eat bread/pastries and quicker-to-cook pasta became more available & popular in Northern Italy. Oh and then there was also southern Italians migrating to the north bringing Pizza with them.
Yep, that's it basically. Polenta was such a staple in the North that many elderly people from the northernmost regions (such as Piedmont, Lombardy, Trentino, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) eill tell you that pasta was the rare carb in their household.
In the South (and Centre) instead pasta and all types of pizzas/focaccias (focacce? idk) and bread were common and polenta in fact was eaten only in the mountainous regions. But since they're not very populated and not very important (people live on the coasts and the bigger cities are on the seashore and/or plains) and polenta was virtually unknown in the cities, in common thinking polenta was a thing of the North, while "we don't even know what that is" in the Centre-South.
I hope a finer knowledge of Italian cuisine will bring awareness and shed a light not only to foreigners, but to too many Italians that act like mr. worldwide but then won't know what they cook on the other coast or in the valley next to them
@@Hastdupech8509 Thankfully, while Polenta’s consumption has declined in northern Italy; it has never disappeared, and is still somewhat popular, especially in rural and village communities to this day.
What did as good as disappear from northern Italy (thanks to Mussolini) is cider (cedro). Northern Italy used to be famous for some of the best cider & cider sausages & cider-based casserole in the world. And now it’s as good as vanished!
@@danieleyre8913 Do you mean cedar (the tree and fruit) or cider (the drink, sidro in Italian)? Anyway, in both cases, now that's something long forgotten lol
@@Hastdupech8509 I thought it was Sidro. But stupid google translate put me wrong.
I just watched your polenta show. I was born in Pescara, Italy (Abruzzo). We did the polenta with the meat sauce. My girl friend was from Calabrian and also prepared it with meat sauce. My favorite. Thanks for the great memories. I am making it soon.
There is a great landrace corn from Italy that is available in the States called "Floriani". Its a red corn that is yellow inside and milled for use as polenta. Definitely worth seeking out!
Thank you for this video, Eva. My nonna was from Calabria, and it's been a long time since l have had polenta. Will be using your recipe very soon! ❤❤
Thanks so much for all your efforts. Ciao franco
Eva, he's right on this one... why not?! I enjoyed learning more about polenta. When I was a kid my mom would make the first polenta you made, cut it into blocks and then sauteed with olive oil and little bit of garlic. It was so crispy and tasty. I love polenta all ways and I can't wait to make a Calabrian version.
Tunisians (their lifestyle resembles very much the Calabrian one, even though Italians wouldn't love to hear that) do the same but with wheat semolina, they cook it smooth and eat it with tomatoe sauce prepared with onions, garlic and sweet peppers.
My family is from north east Italy.We make it like a cake consistency.Sometimes we have it with a ragu, or sometimes plain with jam.I love d all the different ways you made it.They all looked good
Polenta with sausage, caramelized onions and bell peppers is one of my favorite fall comfort food 👍🏻
The beauty of all - is how BRILLIANTLY- EVA - ties all into Italian history --
Love from South Africa. Just bought my first packet of Polenta. Love your Video. Thanks guy Will try making it..❤
WOW they all looked YUMMY! May need to try the one with ragu!
No no no no no! Signora Eva! Il filo per tagliare la polenta dov'è? Si racconta ancora, almeno si ricorda, tra i sopravvissuti della mia generazione, della famiglia intera morta di fame per mancanza del filo per tagliare la polenta seppur pronta, calda calda, sul tagliere. Filo doppio, teso tra i due indici e passato al di sotto e tirato su a raggiera. Un accessorio semplice ma indispensabile.
Thank you Eva and Harper! This is amazing. ¡Viva la conección de México e Italia!
Viva mexico!..e viva Italia!😁👍
Polentona here (Bresciana)! Thank you for this video. I commented some time ago under one of your videos if you'd mention the different types of corn meal that can be found in ordinary American supermarkets and how Eva thinks they compare to polenta (some were saying grits and polenta are the same thing). I used to live in Colorado (many years ago) and only could find corn meal suitable for Mexican dishes. I was wondering whether these days there was more available in your average grocery store.
I liked this video just for her priceless accent 😂 just gold, absolute gold! ✨
You guys are adorbs. Your food is amazing.
In my early 20’s I invented a very tasty dish: Eggs in Purgatory served over Crispy Polenta Cakes. I swear, it worked out very well. The eggs were a little over, but I was young. The sauce was rich and spicy, and the polenta was full of parmigiano reggiano, herbs, and salt/pepper, fried in pork fat. After frying, it was still so soft, it almost failed to hold its shape. I was so proud of myself, and I am still proud, of that young woman. 🤗🤗💐💋 I did all of that, without even one recipe. I was guessing, from watching food shows, and foods I had eaten.🤘🏻 Yes, it was Valentines’ Day, and I was trying to impress an atctual cook/chef person.💋
70 or so years ago, my mom from Sabio Chiese, then living in Buenos Aires, couldn't fin the corn flour thin enough so she used a little of semola. I never could make it to be as soft and to keep the great shape as she did. Yes, used cooper and a long stick. Used a thread attached on the handle of the round wood paleta. She cooked it all the time, with rabbit or chicken, toasted slices, or in the oven or fry pan with butter and cheeses of any kind. And she even mixed with milk and sugar and eggs to make little sweet frying things. I ove polenta terania with the cheese that stretched a mile....delicios. I like the ball filled with the soft cheese that I carried in my hands. My father this thing that bothered him, we would eat polenta and baggette and he said, no bred with polenta.
Absolutely... bramata! I live 1 year in Mantova, Stracotto d'asino and fried or grilled polenta... fantastic dish!
My daughter her hubby own restaurant. Italian. Bless you for sharing such a rich beautiful food. Like heaven
My grandma was from soveria mannelli so that Calabrian polenta brought me back to her kitchen. Thank you.
I had wild boar with polenta in a mountain village in Piemonte. It was wonderful! The boar was seasoned with rosemary and juniper berries, and since that time I started making my pot roast that way.
That center of Italy version, the more liquid one with the ragú is basically a traditional recipe in my family (no idea how it came to be, but it would have been many generations before me). Here in Brazil it's also pretty common to have fried polenta as a snack or side dish.
OMG you made it just like my Italian grandma made it when you did it with the pork ribs and sauce. She made everything from scratch. Oh I miss her food! You are so lucky to have Ava make you this good food for you! My grandma's family was from central Italy so this method with the ragu is correct! It warms my heart when I watch Ava cook the way my grandma did. ❤️
Very informative! Thanks!
Sono friulana, da noi la polenta si mangia in diversi modi, appena fatta quindi ancora morbida con carne (costa, spezzatino...) fatti in padella con salsa, spezie... Prendendo la polenta morbida e nel piatto versare sopra il sugo della carne e mangiare tutto assieme. O una volta fredda tagliata a fette, arrostita sulla piastra e accompagnata dalla classica grigliata, o ancora la polenta pasticciata con vari tipi di formaggio saporito che si fonde. Una bontà da provare
I am from the center of Italy. We served our polenta as we celebrate usbeing together. What joy it was to see your are correct. Thank you so much.