The Product
Thanks to Bob’s Red Mill I have now made polenta with the real deal polenta corn grits!
Bob’s Red Mill were kind enough to send me a package of their Organic Corn Grits Polenta for me to product test and compare with polenta made with cornmeal.
The Comparison
On the left you have Organic Corn Grits Polenta and on the right you have regular corn meal. Clearly the corn grits as oppose to meal are definitely larger which suggested to me that more “official” polenta will be much coarser than the cornmeal batch I made.
Making The Polenta
The instructions of making polenta with corn grits was essentially the same as cornmeal.
Please go here for complete directions. I essentially cooked the grits for 30 minutes.
I ran out of moisture quite quickly with the grits so I ended up adding additional water.
I did make one change. I omitted the grated Parmesan because I was going to go more Mexican with the taste testing.
Foodie Results
Wow! Definitely coarser, more texture, more “grit” than the cornmeal version which was super smooth.
I topped the polenta with my Beef & Black Beans dish which I usually serve on top of rice. This was much more tasty and interesting! I loved it and the corn flavour really came through. It had that gritty texture Reg hates so I did not even bother sharing it with him. He loves rice and this dinner so I left his alone.
Leftovers
It is amazing how many just one cup of cornmeal and/or corn grits will feed! I did the same thing with the leftovers as the cornmeal—I spread it in a cake pan lined with parchment paper and let set overnight in the fridge.
This time instead of polenta fries I grilled up a “polenta steak” and served it slathered with the leftover chili.
Damn!!! If I were a vegetarian again I would say screw you tofu and cook up polenta steaks all the time and serve it with a vegetarian chili. Fantastic taste and texture… I love it and am so glad that I had the chance to try the two different versions of polenta. I love them both but very differently.
I personally love the gritty texture that corn can have so I think I prefer Bob’s Red Mill‘s Organic Corn Grits Polenta. It is more interesting and flavourful but if you like creamy, go for the cornmeal instead.
Thank you so much Bob’s Red Mill! As usual your product is top notch and you came through when no one else could.
So interesting! I guess grits serve the same traditional purpose as spuds, rice, bread, and Yorkshire Puddings — cheap carb sides that fill you up so you need less of the expensive part of the meal like meat.
Yes, I think that’s right and they’re yummy too, LOL.
Definitely a fan of Bob’s Red Mill products too. I recently gave their Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal a try when I found it on sale. It’s a blend of 4 grains. To my southern Louisiana palate it tasted very similar to southern corn grits but cooks in less than half the time. Now it’s one of their products I always keep on hand along with steel cut oats and vital wheat gluten (for bread).
I loved the way you used the polenta in different applications. Fantastic photos as always. 🙂
That is great you found a Bob’s Red Mill cereal that tastes authentic and is even faster to make! The company has helped so many people with special diets, I just love them.
Thank you! Yes, I always love to play with my food and am obsessed with photographing it. I am glad you like the polenta ideas and photographs, that means so much to me.