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Fine cornmeal ideas

post #1 of 16
10/28/07 at 1:26pm
Thread Starter 
Cleaning out the cupboards today i came across a 2kg bag of fine corn meal. I remember buying by mistake, didnt check the label, just thought it was gram flour til i got it home. Only 2 months left on the best by date so i want to use it and dont know how. Tried corn bread last time in the US.and i'm not keen. Think that uses the coarser stuff anyway??
Be helpful if you can help out with some uses.

It's gonna be snowing soon, maybe i can grit the drive with it.
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post #2 of 16
10/28/07 at 1:38pm
lolol.....use it for frying oysters, shrimp or fish.
Cold buttermilk, season your protein then run through the cornflour....fry.
It's a southern US thing.

cornbread didn't do it for you hmmmm?
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post #3 of 16
10/28/07 at 9:03pm
Empenadas. Don't have a recipe handy, but you make a filling of beef or shredded chicken like for a taco or chimi. Then you make a soft dough with the fine meal you have. Roll dough in walnut size ball and flatten inside a cut-open ziplock bag. Put filling in center and fold over and seal. Fry empanada until crisp. I'm sure there's several recipes on the net for these. The lady I knew who made them was from Columbia. If you have room in your freezer, you could freeze the cornmeal until you use it up.
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post #4 of 16
10/29/07 at 2:19am
Thread Starter 
I like the sound of all your ideas... Thank you. I'll check out Empanadas online
Cheers
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post #5 of 16
10/29/07 at 6:17am
Have you opened it? It could have bugs in it by now. I always store my cornmeal in the freezer to prevent that problem.

I use it to fry fish, in cornbread, in salmon croquettes, and in chili pies where you make a cornbread type crust to cover the top of the pie. I don't have any recipes but I'm sure a Google search for cornmeal recipes would yield some.
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post #6 of 16
10/29/07 at 7:28am
Try using it for all the for all the things you can use matzo meal e.g. making great pancakes, dusting fish with this and egg for a batter, making a great stuffing with fried onions flour and seasoning. mix with egg and milk or water as a batter

good luck
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post #7 of 16
10/29/07 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Cheere Allie, never thought of that. It is still sealed, but i'll sift it first before sticking it in a tub in the freezer.
Thank to you all. Now i know how to use it, i'll be trying all sorts out on the family.
Thought it might work with muffins instead of plain (all purpose flour) especially with savoury recipes
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post #8 of 16
10/29/07 at 2:54pm
mix 1 to 1 with All purpose flour for muffins.
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post #9 of 16
10/30/07 at 12:23am
First taste it (yeah, you can tell even when it's raw if it's gone bad - whole grain cornmeal gets bitter quickly) - it should be sweet.
Then you can make polenta.
In central italy (at least where my inlaws come from) polenta is different than northern italy where it uses coarsely ground cornmeal and it generally is poured onto a table, holding its shape. (In the far north, it stays in a ball and is cut with a string- in tuscany where my family comes from you pour it onto a cloth on a board and it stays about two inches thick and you cut it with a spatula)
But in lazio they would cook fine cornmeal and it would come out like a soup, fairly thin, and pour it in soupbowls, put tomato sauce on top and parmesan or romano cheese and eat it with a spoon.
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post #10 of 16
10/31/07 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that Shroomgirl, Saves all the experimenting.
I like the sound of the Lazio soup Siduri, have you tried it. -
You reminded me of a true story i heard about the Highlanders here :- They used to cook their porrige really thick and then pour it into the drawer in the kitchen table to go cold. Then it was sliced up and stuck in the sporran ( original fanny pack) and sustained our cheery highlander all day
Can't say crotch warmed porrige stodge is my idea of lunch.
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post #11 of 16
10/31/07 at 7:28pm
rotfl......you are too much.
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post #12 of 16
10/31/07 at 7:42pm
I've also got about a kilo of fine-ground corn meal in my cupboard; it's been sealed in a FoodSaver vacuum-sealed bag for a couple of years. I just opened it last night to sprinkle on a baking stone for homemade pizza. It was perfectly fine (as I'd have expected). Curious that this thread popped up just now.

I also have a similar amount of masa harina which is also vacuum-sealed. Tamales, anyone?
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post #13 of 16
11/1/07 at 2:38am
I never made it since i prefer the harder coarser polenta, but i've eaten it plenty of times, and watched it made (same as regular polenta but with a little more water)
By the way, my parents grew up in the hills around lucca, where the staple food for poor people was chestnuts. They made polenta from chestnut flour (as well as many other dishes besides the well-known castagnaccio - a kind of pancake called necci, (pronounced NECH-chee) cooked between two irons and eaten with ricotta (sounds great, but it was very disappointing when i tasted it - i guess my parents grew up hungry and that seemed like heaven), and a kind of polenta thing made with chestnut flour boiled with wine (now that one is outright gross).

A funny story that came to mind when you mentioned the highlander's hardened porridge is one that my parents used to tell about very poor families they knew. They would buy a baccala' (salt cod) and hang it over the table. They'd take their slabs of coarse corn polenta and slap it against the cod to get a little flavor. At the end of the month, it was soaked and cooked for a super luxury treat (eating actual fish). Poor peasant food can be good, but sometimes we idealize and romanticize it out of proportion!
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post #14 of 16
11/1/07 at 5:09am
First off, you should give cornbread a second chance. You prolly tried a sucky recipe. Let me know if you want some of my bread recipes.

Polenta is great, especially with sage, butter and parmesan. You can also put it in a plastic wrap lined loaf pan or in on a baking pan and let it set, then cut slices or shapes and fry in a bit of butter. Make the layer thin enough and small enough and makes great appetizer bites with a little tomato or veg topping.

Also, it makes delicious pastry crust for tart shells. I adore tomato tartletts and also caramellized onion tartletts with this stuff. Goat cheese with it is divine.

The answer is what can't you do with cornmeal! :D ;) (Yes I prefer a mix of flour and cornmeal for breading all things seafood and veg related).
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post #15 of 16
11/1/07 at 6:36am
Chess or Lemon Chess Pies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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post #16 of 16
11/1/07 at 7:52am
Definitely!!!! What a great suggestion!

Man I miss a couple places in Atlanta that served this delight! Just picked up some cornmeal to make cornbread crumbs for stuffing later this month. Thanks Even! Now I have something to make for dessert besides the pumpkin pie. Typically I just do an Caramel Apple pie but not this year!!!:D

Ahh... the things we forget when they're not around us.:blush:
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