Stirred, not Shaken

Saucyman, My polenta never turns out as well as when I order it in a restaurant. My husband suggests this is because I don’t stir properly. What do you think. Stir Crazy

There are people who swear you need a proper mescolare, a wood, many times olive wood, stirring stick used to make polenta. Old school Italians will say it is all about the Paiolo, a cooper pan specifically for cooking polenta. Others aren’t as attached to the stirring medium as much as the method is the message, claiming you have to stand at the stove for 45 minutes and stir, stir, stir. While I have never heard of someone stirring improperly, I suppose it is possibility, but I don't think that is the issue, so, I’m going to make some guesses to what is going on:

1. You are using the wrong kind of polenta.
2. Your stirring is fine.
3. You aren’t employing all the options professional kitchens use to make polenta rich.
4. Your husband has a wry sense of humor.

Polenta comes in different sizes - instant, fine and coarse. The old school Italian cookbooks will tell you that fine polenta is good to use with delicate sauces and the coarse polenta is good with heartier applications. Most of my cookbooks, including my 3 favorite Italian cookbooks give recipes for preparing instant polenta. There is no shame in using a quick-cook polenta, a friend makes instant polenta that I adore. The Saucypantry stores the traditional course polenta – but I am not adamant about it, the way some people get about Irish or Scotch oatmeal. I like the way the course polenta holds up when it gets heated or when cut it into small cakes and then fried/grilled – great with asparagus and butter.

Even with the coarse polenta, it isn’t about the stirring, either the technique or frequency. Once the polenta started is incorporated into the liquid; I set the temp on med-low cover the pan and give the contents a stir once every 10 minutes for the next 40 to 60 minutes – clockwise, counterclockwise, stainless, wooden, mescola, how you stir or what you stir with isn’t all that important. But here, the pan is- it needs to be really thick and you have to be prepared to let it soak overnight rather than clean it immediately.

Rest assured restaurants aren’t cooking polenta from scratch each time it is ordered – it isn’t like the fryolator station at a drive through window – there isn’t a full-time employee cooking polenta to order. Polenta is pre-cooked and held at a low temperature in a warming oven or steam table until it is ordered. In restaurants, it really isn’t about the stirring either or the cut of polenta, as much as it is about what goes into the polenta – stock, cream, butter, fontina, mascarpone, mild Bel Paese cheese, gorgonzola, or blue cheese, even something like extra salt, rosemary or pureed corn kernels add extra flavor to polenta. What is sacrilege to traditional Italian cookbooks is fairly standard practice in restaurants. Try experimenting a little and find out what works for you – start with a little Bel Paese or butter and see what happens.

As for your husband, I suspect he is being funny but he probably not as funny as he thinks he is – since I suffer from the same malady, there is absolutely no advice I can give for that behavior.