GIVE CORNMEAL A CHANCE!
More water and less stirring will help make you a true believer in the power of polenta
My grandmother was a fan of breakfast gruel. Red River cereal, cream of wheat, porridge and cornmeal mush.
The cornmeal mush was my least favourite with its stiff and gritty texture, but could be made edible with extra brown sugar and milk. Not knowing it at the time, I would relive the experience years later.
When Italian food became the sine qua non of the snooty mid-1980s food scene, I was right there, supporting the efforts.
There was a lot of romance and dogma surrounding Italian food, and polenta was no exception. A thin stream of cornmeal was to be added to boiling water while stirring constantly. It was stirred constantly for an hour and only a wooden spoon was to be used.
There was something amiss with those early polenta recipes: The water to cornmeal ratio was off, giving it a cement-like texture. After the sunk cost of stirring for an hour, it had to be eaten. I was captivated by the dogmatic approach and figured that I was the one doing something wrong instead of just adding more water.
Like milk and sugar improving the mush of my grandmother, the Bolognese sauce, braised oxtails, and sausages served with it made it bearable.
After avoiding it for years, I ignored the dogma and found the romance by simply adding more water and stirring it less often. A wooden spoon is still the perfect tool and a sturdy whisk will dispatch any lumps.
Italians are not the only supporters of cornmeal mush from ground flint corn. A similar dish called banosh is made in Ukraine. In Romania, it's known as mămăligă and almost every country that grows flint corn has its own version.
What it's served with changes and cheese, sour cream and saucy braised meat or vegetable preparations are the common threads.
And for a bowl of soothing comfort, nothing beats Parmesan cheese and butter.
Planning ahead can save you quite a bit of time. The water and cornmeal (the regular grocery store variety works well) can be combined and left to soak overnight, which will then shorten the cooking time by about 20 minutes.