flipPolenta concia with Como cheese
Polenta concia with Como cheese
Why this dish? Polenta was the daily bread of Lombard families in Volta's time; in Como, it was paired with melted local cheese. It is the humblest and most constant dish at his family table, the one that gathered his loved ones for lively evening discussions.
A cornmeal porridge cooked long in a copper cauldron, enriched with melted Como cheese and butter, until it forms a stringy, comforting mass. The everyday dish of the Po plain.
You see, there is no need for gold to dine well: a fine copper cauldron, some maize flour, and the patience to stir without ceasing — that is all my secret. At my table in Como, we melted the cheese from our mountains until the spoon drew long threads; my dear Teresa made sure there was always plenty of it. I assure you that no electrical experiment warms the mind as much as a steaming polenta on a winter evening, when conversation grows lively.
- •Maize flour (polenta) — two full bowls (base of the porridge)
- •Spring water — according to the cauldron (cooking)
- •Como cheese (semi-aged mountain type) — a good piece (melting binder)
- •Churned butter — a generous knob (richness)
- •Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Polenta concia with Como cheese
A cornmeal porridge cooked long in a copper cauldron, enriched with melted Como cheese and butter, until it forms a stringy, comforting mass. The everyday dish of the Po plain.
Why this dish? Polenta was the daily bread of Lombard families in Volta's time; in Como, it was paired with melted local cheese. It is the humblest and most constant dish at his family table, the one that gathered his loved ones for lively evening discussions.
You see, there is no need for gold to dine well: a fine copper cauldron, some maize flour, and the patience to stir without ceasing — that is all my secret. At my table in Como, we melted the cheese from our mountains until the spoon drew long threads; my dear Teresa made sure there was always plenty of it. I assure you that no electrical experiment warms the mind as much as a steaming polenta on a winter evening, when conversation grows lively.
Ingredients (period version)
- Maize flour (polenta) — two full bowls (base of the porridge)
- Spring water — according to the cauldron (cooking)
- Como cheese (semi-aged mountain type) — a good piece (melting binder)
- Churned butter — a generous knob (richness)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Polenta cornmeal — 250 g (base)
- Water — 1 L (cooking)
- Como cheese or fontina/mountain toma — 180 g, diced (melting binder)
- Butter — 50 g (richness)
- Salt — 1 tsp (seasoning)
Method
- Bring salted water to a simmer in a large heavy-bottomed pot.
- Pour in the cornmeal in a steady stream while whisking to avoid lumps.
- Cook over low heat for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the polenta pulls away from the sides.
- Off the heat, stir in the diced cheese and butter until you get a stringy mass.
- Serve immediately, very hot, in deep bowls.
How it was made : In the 18th century, polenta was cooked in the paiolo, a copper cauldron hung from the chimney hook, and stirred with a long stick (tarèl) for up to an hour. Maize, arriving from the Americas after 1492, had become the dominant cereal of the Po plain, supplanting millet and buckwheat of the poor.
The contemporary twist : Pour the polenta concia into a ring mold and scorch the top with a blowtorch: a golden disk that winks at the copper plates of Volta's electrostatic machines.
Alessandro Volta · Charactorium
