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1
Bring the salted water to a rolling boil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Pour the fine-ground polenta flour in a slow, steady stream, whisking continuously to prevent lumps from forming. Reduce the heat to a low simmer. The polenta is ready to cook when it pulls cleanly from the sides of the pot and holds its own weight on the spoon — this takes approximately 40 minutes of continuous stirring.
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2
Remove the pot from the heat entirely. Add the cubed Fontina DOP and the cold butter pieces together in a single addition. This is where the dish lives or dies: the polenta must be fully cooked and off the heat before the cheese meets it — on residual heat the starch matrix holds the cheese's fat in suspension; over direct heat the fat separates and pools irreversibly. Work immediately and vigorously, folding rather than stirring, driving the cheese cubes through the mass until they dissolve into long, elastic strands. The finished concia pulls apart in continuous threads when lifted with a spoon.
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3
Warm individual serving bowls. Spoon the concia directly into the bowls and finish each portion with a drizzle of mountain butter. Serve without delay — the stretch is audible and visible only in the first minutes after plating; the dish is done when the strands resist the fork.