Does polenta substitute for cornmeal?

Gregory Toomey said:

I'm planning a "Louisiana Night" & I cant find cornmeal at
the local supermarket, but they have polenta. Is it a
reasonable substitute for making cornbread?

Yes.

nb

Quoted message said:

notbob said:

Gregory Toomey wrote:

I'm planning a "Louisiana Night" & I cant find cornmeal
at the local supermarket, but they have polenta. Is it a
reasonable substitute for making cornbread?

Yes.

Yes what?!?!? Polenta is a *cooked* dish, *made from*
cornmeal.

---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =--- ---= Move
UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without
tribulation." Sheldon ````````````

PENMART01 said:

Yes what?!?!? Polenta is a *cooked* dish, *made from*
cornmeal.

Your brain is cooked.

stxmilling.comdisplay.aspOpen ↗
nta&submit=Search

nb

PENMART01 said:

Quoted message said:

notbob said:

Gregory Toomey wrote:

I'm planning a "Louisiana Night" & I cant find cornmeal
at the local supermarket, but they have polenta. Is it a
reasonable substitute for making cornbread?

Yes.

Yes what?!?!? Polenta is a *cooked* dish, *made from*
cornmeal.

"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without
tribulation." Sheldon ````````````

You are correct in the terminology for real polenta; however
some other countries (and even some of our States) *do* sell
cornmeal labeled as "polenta" which equates to a form of dry
meal. I can buy and make cornbread from masa, which is a
very finely ground cornmeal used for tortillas and tamales,
commonly sold to hispanic populations. It's still ground
corn. The recipe might need adjusting depending upon the
fineness of the grain.

Here in TN I've never actually *seen* "polenta" sold as a
dried cornmeal product. I have seen it in the refrigerator
section at the grocery store. What you and I think of as
Polenta; basically cold cornmeal mush, chilled and packed
like bulk sausage. I tried it once, sliced and pan fried
then topped with a marinara and grated cheese. The mixture
was far too moist and had no taste.

Jill

PENMART01 said:

Yes what?!?!? Polenta is a *cooked* dish, *made from*
cornmeal.

I have a bag of polenta in my pantry that you are welcome to
to try to eat. My experience is that it is much tastier and
easier to digest if you add it to boiling water and cook it
first. It looks just like cornmeal, and the cooked polenta
looks just like corn meal gruel that my sister in law has
for breakfast.

jmcquown said:

You are correct in the terminology for real polenta;
however some other countries (and even some of our States)
*do* sell cornmeal labeled as "polenta" which equates to a
form of dry meal. I can buy and make cornbread from masa,
which is a very finely ground cornmeal used for tortillas
and tamales, commonly sold to hispanic populations. It's
still ground corn. The recipe might need adjusting
depending upon the fineness of the grain.

Masa flour is *not* just finely ground cornmeal. It's been
treated and is a totally different product.

More expert advice from Jill <sigh>.

-sw

Steve Wertz <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

jmcquown said:

I can buy and make cornbread from masa, which is a very
finely ground cornmeal used for tortillas and tamales,
commonly sold to hispanic populations.

Masa flour is *not* just finely ground cornmeal. It's been
treated and is a totally different product.

More expert advice from Jill <sigh>.

I must concur. Masa is not ground corn.

"MASA HARINA: This powdery-looking meal, sold in many chain
supermarkets and all Mexican groceries, is fresh corn masa
that has been force-dried and then powdered. It is not at
all the same as fine-ground corn meal, in either taste or
application."

Excerpted from "Authentic Mexican" by Rick Bayless

fronterakitchens.comrickspantryOpen ↗
_masa.html

--

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we
waiting for?

Gimli, son of Gloín

Michel Boucher <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I must concur. Masa is not ground corn.

CORRECTION: not ground corn meal.

--

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we
waiting for?

Gimli, son of Gloín

On 2 Jul 2004 20:52:55 GMT, Michel Boucher <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Steve Wertz <[email hidden]> wrote in news:kbGdnfzHo9PRLXjdRVn-
[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Masa flour is *not* just finely ground cornmeal. It's
been treated and is a totally different product.

More expert advice from Jill <sigh>.

I must concur. Masa is not ground corn.

"MASA HARINA: This powdery-looking meal, sold in many chain
supermarkets and all Mexican groceries, is fresh corn masa
that has been force-dried and then powdered...

The corn for the masa has been treated with an alkaline
(sodium hydroxide, usually) to make the corn swell and shed
it's husk. This totally changes it's taste and texture.

To add further confusion, some of the commercially prepared
polenta (like in those sausage casings) is actually made
from hominy grits, which has been subjected to the same
procedure as masa dough (or the dried masa harina).

-sw

Steve Wertz said:

To add further confusion, some of the commercially
prepared polenta (like in those sausage casings) is
actually made from hominy grits, which has been subjected
to the same procedure as masa dough (or the dried masa
harina).

Which would explain the bag of "Bob's Red Mill" yellow
"Hominy Grits, also known as Polenta", in Safeway in the dry
goods baking section.

nb

Steve Wertz said:

On 2 Jul 2004 20:52:55 GMT, Michel Boucher
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

The corn for the masa has been treated with an alkaline
(sodium hydroxide, usually)...

In the case of nixtamal (half cooked hominy) or masa used in
Mexican cooking, the corn has more likely been treated with
calcium hydroxide.

home.pacbell.netnixtamal.htmlOpen ↗

In the case of canned hominy or hominy grits, the corn could
have been treated with either, but was probably treated with
sodium hydroxide.

On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 03:02:51 GMT, notbob <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Steve Wertz said:

To add further confusion, some of the commercially
prepared polenta (like in those sausage casings) is
actually made from hominy grits, which has been subjected
to the same procedure as masa dough (or the dried masa
harina).

Which would explain the bag of "Bob's Red Mill" yellow
"Hominy Grits, also known as Polenta", in Safeway in the
dry goods baking section.

Yep. Grits, like polenta, can be made from either. Grits
usually from hominy, polenta from cornmeal, but not always.
You can't assume one or the other.

-sw

PENMART01 said:

polenta [poh-LEHN-tah]

The Village Pendant. Duh.

I can still go into any supermarket in this town and find
course ground corn meal labelled polenta, be it bulk, bag,
or box, just as I'm sure the OP probably did. It may be
incorrect, but the fact remains.

nb

notbob said:

The Village Pendant. Duh.

...oops! Pedant

notbob said:

PENMART01 said:

polenta [poh-LEHN-tah]

The Village Pendant. Duh.

I can still go into any supermarket in this town and find
course ground corn meal labelled polenta, be it bulk, bag,
or box, just as I'm sure the OP probably did. It may be
incorrect, but the fact remains.

nb

Sorry to cause a flame war!

In the local supermarket here in Australia I can buy an
ingredient labelled "Polenta" which is made from corn, but
I cant find anything labelled "cornmeal".

I'll try making corn bread with the "Polenta ingredient" &
see how it works.

G. Toomey

Gregory Toomey said:

Sorry to cause a flame war!

In the local supermarket here in Australia I can buy an
ingredient labelled "Polenta" which is made from corn,
but I cant find anything labelled "cornmeal".

Not to worry. It's just our resident child molester waving
his winkie.

nb

Gregory Toomey said:

notbob said:

PENMART01 said:

polenta [poh-LEHN-tah]

The Village Pendant. Duh.

I can still go into any supermarket in this town and
find course ground corn meal labelled polenta, be it
bulk, bag, or box, just as I'm sure the OP probably did.
It may be incorrect, but the fact remains.

nb

Sorry to cause a flame war!

You didn't.

Quoted message said:

In the local supermarket here in Australia I can buy an
ingredient labelled "Polenta" which is made from corn,
but I cant find anything labelled "cornmeal".

I'll try making corn bread with the "Polenta ingredient" &
see how it works.

G. Toomey

The polenta may be a little more coarsely-ground than some
American cornmeal is. So if you don't like the texture of
the recipe, try to get a finer polenta.

Arri London said:

The polenta may be a little more coarsely-ground than some
American cornmeal is. So if you don't like the texture of
the recipe, try to get a finer polenta.

Actually, it works very well. Whole Foods (the chain) uses
polenta-grind corn meal for their deli corn bread. I prefer
a grind a little larger than the most common corn meal
grind, but a tad smaller than the polenta grind.

The real trick to corn meal is getting it fresh. Corn
meal has a high oil content making it prone to rancidity.
The best I found was from a health food store (which I
usually avoid like the plague) which had 4 grinds and
kept it in a refrigerator. It made very moist cornbread
that never crumbled (which can also be acheived by adding
an extra egg).

nb

Quoted message said:

Arri London said:

The polenta may be a little more coarsely-ground than
some American cornmeal is. So if you don't like the
texture of the recipe, try to get a finer polenta.

One can whirr the really coarse polenta in a food processer
for a bit, and shake out the dust by putting it in a fine
tamais, in a pinch. I've done it several times because the
cornmeal I had was rancid...uck. blacksalt Obit: Lonesome B.
Goodpussy, adopted as an adult in 1990 (and named by a five
year old), died 1 July 2004 of probable lymphoma and lethal
injection. A mouser supreme, she thankfully left birds
alone, and was in death as she was in life: dignified, self-
contained, and easy-going. I'm indebted that the cat that
climbed a tree whenever a child was about, allowed Baby to
explore her body without a scratch. "Cat" was Baby's first
word. The head stone will read: Feles Amica.