Toc' in Braide — Polenta with Milk and Butter (Friuli)

Ingredients

• 1 litre whole milk, full-fat; not skimmed or semi-skimmed
• 160 g white Friulian polenta flour, white maize flour (bramata); yellow bramata is an acceptable substitute
• 160 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces — 80 g per 500 ml milk
• 1 tsp fine salt

Method

1. 1
   Pour the whole milk into a wide, heavy-based saucepan and place over a medium flame. Bring to a bare simmer — small bubbles at the edges, no rolling boil. Season with salt. The milk is ready when it steams freely and trembles at the surface; if a skin begins to form, the heat is already too high.
2. 2
   Reduce the heat to low. Add the polenta flour in a thin, continuous stream, whisking steadily as it falls so no lumps form. Once all the flour is incorporated, switch to a wooden spoon. This is where the dish lives or dies: stir constantly for 30 to 35 minutes at the lowest possible heat, never allowing the milk to boil beneath the polenta. The polenta is done when it pulls cleanly from the sides of the pan, no longer feels grainy against the spoon, and has the consistency of a thick but pourable porridge.
3. 3
   Remove the pan from the heat. Add the cold butter in small pieces, beating each addition in vigorously with the wooden spoon or a whisk until fully incorporated before adding the next. The finished toc' in braide should pour slowly from a ladle — it must not hold its shape. Taste and adjust salt.