I bought some high grade polenta because the grits were not available here. It was less exciting than salted porridge. I can’t see what all the fuss is about this stuff.
Unfathomable that in Italy they have parties where they eat nothing else. What a sad life if Polenta is regarded as something special.

We don’t have such a tradition of eating Corn in the UK as much as in America where Popcorn and corn based foods are more popular. We have corn on the cob and sweetcorn but Polenta seems to be something that can’t make up its mind if it’s a pudding or a savoury main course.
As for using it warmed up next day fried with a breakfast, I can think of better things to have with a breakfast fry-up such as Bacon and Egg with tomatoes and a “Savoury Duck” a North of England speciality.
Sorry but this Polenta leaves me cold, and I’m going to throw the rest of the packet away as I can’t think of any other way to make clotted water tasting strongly of nothing be more appealing!

- you can cook many grains like cracked corn or cornmeal and if you use only a small amount of water it will harden a bit when cooled into a thick mush that can solidify. But we typically use corn products for the mush as it tends to taste better when used in other recipes like being fried.

- if corn is steeped in lye, it changes to what is called hominy… a soft, white glutenous material that can be used in many stews and so forth. If it is dried and ground, it also can be used for grits and for polenta.

- another good source for making grits is to use masa harina – a corn based flour. Using this for the basis of the grits can remove some of the gritiness – if that is a word – that cornmeal can have if it is not cooked long enough.

I tend to prefer the hominy-based grits over the plain cracked cornmeal grits.

But please, try all the different ways of making grits and choose what you like for yourself.

Good luck and enjoy,

Bill

So I was at a grocery store in northern Virginia and saw 6-minute polenta mix in a box for $3.50. Right next to it was a bag of Indian Head Stone Ground Corn Meal with a polenta recipe on it for $1.39.

But their recipe called for me to boil the cornmeal and water, 1 part to 3 parts, for 18 minutes, then pour it into a pan and chill it before cutting it into slices and frying it. That worked fine, although I think that when I changed the recipe to add more salt, it didn’t get as solid. But it was not what I had at that restaurant.

Your baked polenta dish above is probably what the restaurant made. My question to you is:

Can I just use cornmeal? That’s gritty enough for me. Will it hold up as well?

Thanks. Michele