A e book that I hope will get translated into English is Alberto Grandi and Daniele Soffiati’s La cucina Italiana non esiste – bugie e falsi miti sui prodotti e i piatti cosiddetti tipici (Italian delicacies doesn’t exist – lies and false myths about merchandise and dishes thought-about typical). The title is as provocative because the e book is fascinating in the best way it dismantles the legendary origins and advertising of “typical” merchandise and “conventional” dishes to disclose engrossing histories, usually more moderen and inextricably certain to alternate and migration (Grandi is a professor of meals historical past and economics on the College of Parma). In actual fact, removed from taking something away, the e book makes a rigorous and constructive contribution to an even bigger, extra attention-grabbing world dialog concerning the previous, current and way forward for meals. It is usually very humorous.
I point out this having picked up the e book to re-read the chapter on polenta. Grandi reminds us that it’s a class of meals (quite than a selected one), with polenta being a cooked combination (the ancients known as it puls, which is Latin for “a mush”) constructed from one thing floor into flour and water. Traditionally, polentas have been constructed from barley, oats, rye, millet and buckwheat, till the second a part of the 18th century, when cornmeal cooked into polenta grew to become a precept supply of diet for a lot of within the north and central areas of what’s now Italy.
Grandi’s pragmatic, unsentimental however empathetic writing is welcome on this chapter as he explains the function of polenta proper up till the Eighties. He additionally observes that, once we put our slice of polenta subsequent to the sausages and bacon on the barbecue, “we aren’t repeating an historic gesture, we’re simply demonstrating for the umpteenth time the large hole that exists between as we speak’s meals selection and the unrelenting monotony of our ancestors’”. I interpreted this as him saying that, by seeing issues as they actually have been, quite than indulging in a misty romanticism, it permits us to know higher and rejoice extra.
With this in thoughts, as we speak’s recipe is a polenta biscuit impressed by a mixture of three issues: the polenta biscuits of Molise in southern Italy; a biscuit from Piedmont known as krumiri, which is formed like a moustache (or curve, smile or boomerang), and what I had within the cabinet.
The biscuits can be delicate, and particularly so when heat, so depart them to chill considerably earlier than lifting them on to a rack to chill fully. Whereas they do agency up, the biscuits retain a melting crumble texture due to the granular polenta. I discover them irresistible with tea, espresso or alcohol. To serve, mud closely with icing sugar and, if there are any left over, hold in a decent tin or plastic field.
Cornmeal and butter biscuits impressed by krumiri
Makes about 30
100g caster sugar
140g room-temperature butter
2 egg yolks
160g cornmeal (on the spot polenta is okay)
100g plain flour, plus additional for dusting
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar, to complete
In a big bowl or a meals processor, beat the caster sugar and butter till mixed, then add the egg yolks and beat once more. Add the cornmeal, flour and a pinch of salt, and produce all the pieces collectively right into a gentle ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour.
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and warmth the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/fuel 4. Working with evenly floured palms, break off handfuls of the dough, roll each bit right into a 1cm-thick rope, then minimize into 8cm lengths. If the dough cracks as you roll it, merely squeeze it and the heat of your hand will mould it again into form. Put the lengths on a tray and, if you need, use a fork gently to imprint the floor. Gently bend every biscuit right into a curve.
If potential, and if the tray suits, chill within the fridge or put it within the freezer for half-hour, then bake for 12 minutes, till the biscuits are evenly golden. Flip off the oven, open the door, and depart the biscuits inside for 20 minutes to complete cooking. Depart to chill fully earlier than lifting on to a rack.
To serve, mud closely with icing sugar, and hold any leftovers in a decent tin or field.