Cooks Agree There's No Simple, Standard Way To Make Polenta

Cookbook authors are downright persnickety about polenta. It's such a comfortable food. Basically cornmeal and water, cooked to a mush. But can the writers agree about how best to prepare this Italian favorite? Absolutely not.

How long does it cook? Times vary from 5 minutes for an instant polenta version to 90 minutes for a modified double-boiler technique. In other recipes, I was told to cook it 16 minutes, 20 to 25 minutes, 25 minutes, about 40 minutes, and 40 to 45 minutes.

Some cookbooks recommend cooking in a covered pan with occasional stirring. Others recommend constant stirring. Still others say to stir often. Some use water. Some use milk. Some use chicken broth. Some advise cooking it in a microwave oven.

Peter Dow, owner of Cafe Juanita in Kirkland, sympathizes. "I think what it illustrates is a classic Italian tendency to decide that there's one and only one way to prepare a food," he says. "And chances are it's the way their mother taught them to do it. If you have nine different techniques, you'd think there were only nine mothers in all of Italy."

Basic food, recipe

Dow describes polenta as a simple, basic food that probably should be accompanied with this recipe: "Combine cornmeal and water over heat. Stir with a spoon until done."

But that's way too easy. Totally devoid of mystique. Even the practical Dow has his favorite method: "I put some milk in the hot water and slowly add the grain, whisking to avoid lumps, then switching to a wooden spoon, continuing to stir until the polenta pulls away from the side of the pan. The main thing is you don't want lumps."

Dow has enjoyed microwaved polentas and says the amount of cooking depends on how you want to use it. If you're going to spread it in a pan, refrigerate it, then cut later into pieces to grill, bake or fry, you don't need to cook it so long. If you're going to eat it hot from the pan with a meat or vegetable sauce or mixed with cheeses, you want to cook it long enough to fully develop the flavor and texture.

Erin Rosella, owner/chef of Sostanza, another Italian restaurant, says instant polenta is a timesaver, but not a high-quality product. To her, the most important advice is to cook polenta at least 45 minutes. She adds cornmeal, a handful at a time, to boiling water, then turns down the heat and stirs it about every 2 to 3 minutes. She used to stir it constantly but found that wasn't necessary.

Rosella likes her polenta to have the character that develops during slow cooking. "It should be dense enough to pull away from the sides of the pan and form one huge lump," she says. "Too often it tastes like Cream of Wheat."

Rosella tried one method that failed - cooking cornmeal and water over high heat. It was designed to cut the cooking time in half, but she wasn't satisfied with the results.

Multiple techiques

My advice is to review the diverse techniques below, then cook this specialty the way you find most pleasing.

-- From "Trattoria Cooking" by Biba Gaggiano: To make polenta the old-fashioned way, you need only one thing - elbow grease. Bring 9 cups cold water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons salt and reduce heat to medium-low. As soon as the water develops a gentle simmer, start pouring in a mixture of 2 cups coarsely ground cornmeal and 1 cup finely ground cornmeal by the handful, in a thin stream, very slowly, and stir constantly with a long wooden spoon to avoid lumps.

When all the cornmeal has been added, you can relax a bit. Keep the water at a steady low simmer and stir frequently. Cook the polenta 20 to 25 minutes. As it cooks, the polenta will thicken considerably, and it will bubble and spit back to you. Keep stirring, and crush any lumps that might form against the side of the pan. The polenta is done when it comes away effortlessly from the sides of the pan.

-- From "What's For Dinner" by Michael Roberts: Combine 2 1/4 cups water, 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon butter in a 2-quart saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

-- From "Great Food Without Fuss" by Frances McCullough and Barbara Witt. Bring 1 quart milk to a simmer in a heavy saucepan. Pour 1 cup instant polenta in a heavy stream into the simmering milk and whisk constantly over medium heat for 5 minutes.

-- From "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan. Bring 7 cups water to a boil in a large, heavy pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt, keep the water boiling at medium-high heat, and add 1 2/3 cup coarse-grained imported Italian yellow cornmeal in a very thin stream, letting a fistful of it run through nearly closed fingers. You should be able to see the individual grains spilling into the pot. The entire time you are adding the cornmeal, stir it with a whisk, and make sure the water is always boiling.

When you have put in all the meal, begin to stir with a long-handled wooden spoon, stirring continuously and with thoroughness, bringing the mixture up from the bottom, and loosening it from the sides of the pot. Continue to stir for 40 to 45 minutes.

-- From the test kitchen of The Seattle Times: Combine 1 cup cornmeal and 4 cups water in a medium-size microwavable bowl. Microwave on 100 percent power, covered, 5 minutes. Stir well and repeat 4 minutes. Stir and repeat 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and let sit, covered, 5 minutes.

Or bring 6 cups water, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil to boil. Slowly whisk in 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 25 minutes. Stir often. It should be thickened but still soft.

-- From "The de' Medici Kitchen" by Lorenza de' Medici. In a large saucepan over high heat, bring 3 cups water to a boil. Add a little salt and then pour in 1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal in a steady stream, while whisking continuously with a wire whisk. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally with a long wooden spoon, until the cornmeal is thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 40 minutes.

-- From "From An Italian Garden" by Judith Barrett: You get perfect - smooth and lump-free - results if you combine the cornmeal with the cold water and heat the two together. Pour 2 cups cornmeal into a heavy-bottomed 4-quart saucepan, preferably one with a nonstick surface, add 1 tablespoon salt, and gradually add 6 cups cold water, stirring well with a wooden spoon to be sure all the cornmeal is dissolved and there are no lumps.

Place the pan over medium-high heat and stir constantly until the cornmeal begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover the pan and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until the polenta pulls away from the sides of the pan.