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Italian · III The Pantry

Farina di Polenta — Veneto and Lombardia

Veneto and Lombardia

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I

Origin

Farina di polenta is the dried, milled maize of the Po plain, and its home is the northern band of Italy that runs from the Veneto through Lombardia. Maize (Zea mays) reached Italy from the Americas and took the place of older grains in the northern kitchen, and the cooked meal that results is the polenta that Marcella Hazan describes in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking as a staple of the north. It is carried by the mills and households of the Veneto and Lombardia, where it stands as the daily bread-like base of the table rather than a garnish.

II

Description

Farina di polenta is maize ground to a meal and sold dry, in yellow and white forms, the yellow from yellow maize and the white from white maize, the white being associated with the Veneto. It is milled to a coarse, medium or fine grind, and the coarser grind gives a more distinct grain in the finished polenta while the finer gives a smoother, closer texture. Stone-ground meal retains part of the germ and has a fuller scent than the degerminated, fast-cooking kinds, which are pre-cooked and take far less time at the stove.

III

The Thread

—Both are dried maize ground to a meal and stirred into boiling liquid until it swells into a soft porridge that carries richer foods. Grits are traditionally made from hominy or from corn treated differently, and are often finished with butter or served at breakfast, whereas polenta is cooked in water and served with meat, fish or cheese, or set and cut. American · South
—Both cook coarse maize meal in water, stirring constantly, until it holds together as a thick mass in the pot. Mămăligă is commonly turned out and cut with a string and eaten with sour cream and cheese, whereas the northern Italian polenta is more often served soft from the pot or left to set and then grilled. Romanian
—Both rest on the same principle of stirring maize meal into boiling water until it forms a stiff, cohesive paste that serves as the staple beside a more flavoured dish. Ugali is cooked stiff enough to be shaped and eaten by hand with stews and greens, whereas polenta is usually looser and is eaten with a fork or spoon. East · African
IV

Flavour Context

Polenta is eaten with braised meats, game, stewed salt cod (baccalà), sausages, mushrooms and melted or aged cheeses, and it is also cooled, cut and grilled or fried. Its plain, sweet maize flavour and soft body act as a neutral ground that absorbs rich sauces and tempers fat and salt. It is drunk with the red wines of its region, whose acidity and tannin cut through the richness of the sauces that sit on it, and with lighter whites when it accompanies fish.

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