Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A thick mush made of cornmeal boiled in water or stock.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Italy: A porridge made of Indian meal (maize-meal), the principal food of the poorer people throughout large sections of the country. The meal is yellow and not very fine, with a sharp granulated character. The porridge is made very stiff, and usually poured out while hot into a flat pan about half an inch deep. It is cut with a string when partly cool.
- n. A porridge made of chestnut-meal, much used in autumn.
- n. In France, a porridge made of barley-meal, not common except in the south.
Wiktionary
- n. any of various types and consistencies of a starchy accompaniment to a meal made from coarse maize-meal porridge, sometimes fried or grilled
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Italy Pudding made of Indian meal; also, porridge made of chestnut meal.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a thick mush made of cornmeal boiled in stock or water
Etymologies
- Italian (Wiktionary)
- Italian, from Latin, crushed grain, barley meal. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd edition notes the word polenta as being of Italian origin and defines it as “a thick mush made of cornmeal and boiled in water or stock.””
Simon & Schuster: The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time
“Bring the water to a boil, add the salt and polenta and cook, stirring, until the polenta is creamy.”
Polenta with Fresh Cheese and Chard: Polenta con Requeson y Acelgas
“This same Lethlean article also refers to another kind of porridge, one made from ground corn - polenta - which was also the Italian word to describe gruels made in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance from things like spelt, chestnut flour and the aforementioned millet and acorns.”
“When the polenta is finished cooking, take it off the heat, and pour out onto a large piece of parchment spread on your kitchen counter.”
Is My Blog Burning #11 – sun-dried tomato and bean dip on polenta « Dyepot, Teapot
“A few years ago I made Savory Twinkies from goat cheese wrapped in polenta, based on a suggestion by Joe Bay," he says.”
“I have, in a former letter, observed that the meal of this grain goes by the name polenta, and makes excellent hasty-pudding, being very nourishing, and counted an admirable pectoral.”
“(ok, call it polenta, if the idea of "mush" doesn't appeal ...)”
“These people don’t even know how to cook grits; but if you call it polenta and charge extra, they’ll eat it up.”
“Finally, some people suggest using polenta, which is corn, rice bran or whizzed-up oat flakes.”
The Guardian: Food for Fort: Homemade Tabasco-style sauce, gluten-free breadcrumbs and unusual pasta
“Mr. Le Calvez makes his own savory version by whipping up creamy polenta, which is chilled first, then dipped in a tempura-like batter, and fried so that the center remains soft.”
The Wall Street Journal: Roasted pigeon au sang, polenta churros, spiced wine sauce
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘polenta’.
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Open List: The World of Corn
Corn-related words and phrases. This versatile crop is so important to cultures and economies - from most basic indigenous foodstuff and animal feed to source of biopolymer and biofuel.
seed corn, field corn, flint corn, sweet corn, biofuel, biopolymer, corn starch, modified corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour, polylactic acid, citric acid and 390 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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Pease Porridge Hot
List of terms for porridge dishes made from seeds, grains, legumes, etc. from around the world.
See mollusque's list More gruel?.
mush, oatmeal, frumenty, pinhead oatmeal, porridge, grits, atole, gruel, shuco, polenta, gofio, kachamak and 69 more...
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food words
weetabix, blancmange, shandy, meringue, allspice, pavlova, quiche, caster sugar, suet, moonshine, turnip, swede and 93 more...
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Interesting Foods
smelt, sprat, caviar, sushi, papadum, garlic naan, injera, doro wat, miso, pho, edamame, tataki and 170 more...
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pikkiomania's list
picchio, eufonia, satrapo, cacio, merletto, latrato, gommo, zampetta, cianciche, ganglo, polenta, puzzolerìe and 118 more...
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Exotic Tastes
Interesting words related to food, ingredients, dishes, cookery, cuisines and so on. Exotic in this case is entirely subjective, with funkelberries on top.
tatty, neep, flummery, babaganoush, tahini, samphire, loblolly, scrumpy, fressen, luwak, duxelle, edamame and 213 more...
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The Motorcycle Diaries
Che Guevara
vicissitude, pampas, precursor, solemnity, trajectory, Quixotic, roguish, solder, efficacy, rapport, acrid, circumscribe and 88 more...
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Food & co
hollandaise, crostini, couscous, semolina, polenta, soufflé, quiche, béarnaise, aioli, tiramisu, biryani, chinois and 29 more...
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More gruel?
gruel, porridge, oatmeal, grits, hominy, samp, mush, brose, burgoo, maypo, frumenty, stirabout and 29 more...
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zander's Words
persiflage, skunk, gravel, pusillanimous, glum, swafern, flapjack, coinage, onyx, floozie, poeminous, bucolic and 47 more...
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Food
Some of my favourite cooking and eating terms, some obscure, some so common as to be misunderstood.
sommelier, gustatory, oenophile, macedoine, bouquet garni, mince, braise, olio, cassoulet, render, larding, barding and 57 more...
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ejahn's Words
lambaste, guage, fricassee, idempotent, squamous, backsass, polenta, thergothon, margarinalization
Tweets
Looking for tweets for polenta.
reesetee C_b, you hated it?? Does...not...compute.... Sep 19, 2008
chained_bear Oh sure, there are many varieties where it's eaten frequently. We only had the one, growing up. :) (And now I count myself fortunate for that experience.)
p.s. finally went to see what polenta taragna is. It looks really good. Thanks Pro! Sep 18, 2008
Prolagus There are many varieties of polenta, very different from one another... and I love most of them! Polenta taragna, from Valtellina, is one of my favorites. Sep 18, 2008
chained_bear I hated when mom made this, growing up. Hated it. I used to put so much sauce and grated Romano cheese on it that you probably couldn't taste the polenta at all. Now I have to be in the mood for it, which comes 1 or 2 times a year, and I still dump loads of cheese on it, but it's good. :) And easy to make, and cheap, and filling... Sep 18, 2008
frindley I always find myself preferring semolina. Sep 8, 2008
john Oh, polenta can be wonderful. In its most basic form it's more or less just mush--delicious, but not much to it. Liven it up a little and it can be sublime. Sep 8, 2008
bilby Sure, can be lovely. Northern Italians are sometimes referred to by southerners as polentone because they eat so much of it. I'm not sure if the term is derogatory. Sep 8, 2008
vaguelyremincent My mother buys a package of polenta every year, though I've never eaten it. She doesn't even make it; she just buys it out of duty to her mother, who loves it.
I wonder if it is good... Sep 8, 2008