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POLENTA (a I'Italienne)
When made with Indian meal, put a quart of milk into a saucepan with a tea-spoonful of salt. Let it boil quickly, then drop into it very gradually as much Indian meal as will make it quite thick, stirring briskly all the time. Let it boil until quite smooth, then turn the polenta into a buttered mould, and mix with it an ounce of grated Parmesan. Stir briskly, and bake for a quarter of an hour. The polenta may be turned out or not. When made with semolina, boil a quart of milk with half a tea-spoonful of salt. Drop into it about a quarter of a pound of semolina, stirring briskly all the time, and let it boil gently for ten minutes. Be very careful to prevent it burning. When quite thick, pour into a plain mould, and set it in a cool place to stiffen. Cut it into slices three-quarters of an inch thick. Butter a fresh plain mould. Pour into it a small quantity of clarified butter, and then a layer of grated Parmesan. Place on this a layer of slices of paste, and another layer of cheese. Moisten the mixture with a few drops of butter, and repeat until the paste is used, and the dish is almost full. Place a thick layer of the cheese at the top, and a little more clarified butter, then bake the preparation in a moderate oven until it is brightly browned. Turn it out on a hot dish, and serve. A little grated cheese is sometimes sent to table on a dish with the polenta, or a little brown gravy is poured round it, but it requires neither. Time to bake, half an hour. Probable cost, 10d. Sufficient for six or eight persons.
Two versions of the same idea: a stiff milk porridge, set, layered with Parmesan and baked. The instructions assume you know how thick "quite thick" is, which is the whole trick.
- Indian mealCornmeal. A medium-grind yellow meal will behave much as this recipe expects; fine polenta flour will thicken faster and coarse stone-ground will need longer and more liquid.
- How much mealThe first version gives no quantity beyond "as much as will make it quite thick." For a quart (about 1 litre) of milk, expect roughly 6 to 7 oz of cornmeal. Add it in a thin stream, and stop when a spoon stands up in the pan.
- Oven temperatureA moderate oven is 350F/180C. The semolina version bakes there for the stated half hour, until the top cheese layer browns.
- Order of operations in the first versionAs printed, the Parmesan is mixed in after the polenta is already in the mould, which is awkward. Beat the cheese into the hot mush in the pan, then pour it into the buttered dish.
- Cook the grain outCornmeal that has only just thickened still tastes raw and chalky. Keep it over low heat, stirring, for 20 to 30 minutes for medium grind; the semolina genuinely is done in ten.
- BurningMilk porridge scorches the instant it catches, and the burnt taste goes right through the dish. Use a heavy pan, keep the heat low once it thickens, and scrape the bottom with each stir.
- Setting and slicing"A cool place to stiffen" means several hours; the refrigerator does it in two. Chill it fully firm or the three-quarter-inch slices will slump when you layer them.
- Clarified butterUsed here because whole butter's milk solids would brown and speck between the layers. Melted butter with the foam skimmed off is close enough.
- YieldSix to eight as a side or a light supper course, as stated. A quart of milk makes a substantial amount.
Polenta in Italy long meant a boiled meal porridge of whatever grain was to hand, and had for centuries before maize arrived from the Americas and largely took the name over; chestnut, buckwheat and spelt versions all preceded it. What Cassell's presents is not the peasant dish in its plainest form but the pasticciata: set, sliced, layered with Parmesan and butter, and browned. The alternative semolina version is telling. Late Victorian English kitchens knew semolina intimately from nursery puddings, so the book offers a substitution that an English cook could actually shop for. The costing of tenpence for six to eight people marks it as one of the cheap made dishes such a dictionary was expected to supply, and the recipe closes with a note that it needs neither extra cheese nor gravy.