I've made polenta with Albers corn meal many times before without issue, but today, the attempt failed, twice.
Normally when you make it (according to the directions on the back of the box), the corn meal becomes thicker and thicker as it cooks, so thick that it kind of "explodes" in the pan. What happened today was the opposite: it became thinner as it cooked, boiling away like pasta rather than becoming so thick it's difficult to stir. Even after I let it cool for a while, it remained thin and soupy, not at all like polenta. I have used this recipe before without issue. I am baffled as to what has changed.
Could it be that the corn meal was too thinly ground? Should I use a coarser corn meal for polenta?
What corn meal brands do you use to make polenta? Any specific advice for making it?
I'm not sure what happened, but I'm going to venture a guess that thinly ground cornmeal isn't the problem if this product is marketed for polenta. Besides, I use masa harina to successfully make polenta frequently.
What process do you use for making polenta?
I was following the recipe on the back of the box, which says to boil 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 tsp salt, then to mix 1 1/4 cups of corn meal with 1 cup of cold water, then to add this mixture to the boiling water, stir frequently and cook for 5 minutes or longer until it is thick. The problem was, it was not thickening. In fact, it was thicker when I first added the corn meal to the boiling water and it got thinner as it cooked.
I was making this as part of a tamale pie recipe. That recipe gives similar instructions but says to cook for 30 minutes stirring regularly. In the past I've made it this way and it gets very thick and starts to stick to the pan after 30 minutes. In this case, it was very thin no matter how long I cooked it. (I tried it twice, once according to the directions in the tamale pie recipe and once according to the directions on the back of the box. In either case, the mixture was very thin and soupy, when in the past it's been so thick that it sticks to the pan).
The tamale pie recipe says to then pour the corn meal mixture over the tamale pie filling and bake at 375 for an hour (normally, the mixture is so thick by this point I have to use a spatula to spoon it over the pie filling. In this case, it was so soupy I could easily pour it over). Under normal circumstances, after baking, you will have a thick solid polenta "crust" over the pie filling. In this case, when I removed it from the oven, the polenta had completely dissolved and mixed with the pie filling so I ended up with a soup.
I've never encountered such a thing. My only guess is that something is wrong with the corn meal. I am going to try another brand today.
That's an unusual recipe. I normally do 4 cups salted boiling liquid to 1 cup cornmeal. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal, and continue whisking until smooth and thick. Reduce heat, and continue stirring often for about 30 minutes (less time with fine ground cornmeal).
Yeah, those are the ratios for the tamale pie recipe, only difference is it says to add cold water to corn meal first (3 cups boiling, 1 cup cold water with 1 cup cornmeal, slowly add, stir often for 30 minutes).
No idea why it didn't work. Interestingly, the second time I tried it, I let it sit and cool for a while and it did eventually solidify and thicken after I put it in the refrigerator, but even then, not properly. It has the consistency of pudding, not polenta.
I use Quaker cornmeal and a 2:1 ratio of water to cornmeal for polenta. I got results similar to you - watery, never thickened - when I followed a recipe's 4:1 ratio like yours for polenta (plus corn and cheddar and herbs) stuffed-peppers.
My tamale pie recipe (from ATK cookbook) uses a cornbread topping, not simply polenta, so topping is equal parts (3/4 C) flour & cornmeal & buttermilk, plus egg, 1/4 t baking soda, 3/4 t baking powder, 3/4 t salt, 3 T sugar, 2 T melted butter.
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