Wild Hive Farm Polenta
A food review by Daniel B.
Don’t go to a farmer’s market desperate for pig skin. The chances are that you’ll leave disappointed. It’s not that there aren’t some great farmers, breeding delicious heritage hogs. There are. It’s just unlikely they’ll have brought any skin to the market.
Those of us who love the “specialty” cuts are accustomed to coming up empty handed.
The thing that set me off on this search was the memory of a fantastic dish. When chef Brian Bowden was behind the stoves at Creo in Albany, he took creamy Wild Hive Farm polenta, topped it with a poached farm egg, and garnished the plate with a brunoise of crispy cracklins made from the skin of a White Clover Farm pig.
While the thing I’ll never forget is the cracklins, the anchor of the dish was the polenta, and the stone-ground stuff Wild Hive Farm makes in Clinton-Corners is quite special indeed.
Polenta is effectively coarse ground cornmeal.
Corn these days has gotten a bad rap from a good man, Michael Pollan. Yes, corn may be in everything we eat. And yes, corn may be grown in monocultures that can be as destructive to the environment as industrial waste. Yes, we should not forget that corn is among the most widely planted genetically engineered crops along with soybeans and canola.
However the best way to nullify the evils of conventionally raised corn is to purchase the locally raised, organic alternative. And that’s what is in every bag of Wild Hive Farm polenta. There are no GMOs nor any synthetic pesticides in their products.
But not all coarsely ground organic cornmeal is created equal. Just take a look.
The grains on the left were purchased in bulk from a natural food’s store. They too are organic and make a fine polenta. But Wild Hive Farm stone grinds their polenta in small batches. Their micro mill produces a product that’s made from 100% of the germ which besides giving you the full nutritional value of the whole grain corn, it also packs greater flavor and aroma.
Seriously, you have to put your nose the the bag and inhale deeply. The smell is fantastic. Besides dried corn, it also gives the distinct impression of roasted nuts.
Now given some of the irregular sized grains, using a traditional method of preparation which involves stirring every ten minutes, takes a little bit longer than usual. Those larger grains are stubborn, and eventually lost their interior rawness after about 80 minutes.
That’s a lot of cooking time. Interestingly, Wild Hive Farm also suggests an 80 minute preparation time, however their method involves giving the grains a soak in cold water before cranking up the heat.
They recommend soaking the polenta for 1 or more hours, and then bringing to a boil while stirring. After it boils you reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Then simply maintain the simmer for 20 minutes, within which you should check on the simmer and stir the pot two to three times.
Regardless of technique the fundamental proportions of most polenta recipes call for one cup of cornmeal to four cups of water, with a heaping teaspoon of kosher salt added to the water. If you like yours a bit tighter, add a little more cornmeal or a little less water. If you like yours a bit runnier, add a little more water or a little less cornmeal.
Polenta is creamy on its own, just from the breakdown of the starches in the grains as they are stirred and simmered in the pot. But to make it really creamy, you could always add some butter and a soft flavorful cheese that melts well. I picked up a wedge of Gorgonzola Cremificato from The Cheese Traveler’s new storefront in Albany. The cheese hails from Lombardi and is made from cow’s milk with a traditional calf rennet.
And mashed into polenta, it’s heavenly. Topped with a poached egg from Cooper’s Ark Farm is even better. Just imagine how good it could have been if I could have found some pig skin. Drat. Next time.
About Daniel B.
A west coast transplant now living in Albany, Daniel Berman is applying his communication strategy background to food writing with the ultimate goal of improving the culinary landscape in the Capital Region. He writes the FUSSYlittleBLOG and contributes regularly to All Over Albany.