I’m not yet educated enough on corn cookery to wax intelligently about corn mush. I’ve been using that term—mush—as a catch-all for the various ways you can mill corn (grits, polenta, cornmeal etc.), boil it in some liquid (water, stock, milk etc.) and add some adornments (butter, cheese, parmesan, cream etc.) enroute to a final dish of varying consistency ranging from quite thin to cookie-cutter thick. Incidentally, I used the term “porridge” in the title because nobody gets excited about mush and because food snobs will come for me if I try to pass off this recipe as polenta.
In many recipes I share, I try to avoid prescriptions and specific definitions. Instead I recommend you take a long view toward discovering just how you like to boil your milled corn. Experiment with multiple batches and be prepared to like some more than others. I now make some form of corn mush at least once a week and I love it.
Here’s where to start:
1 cup grits, polenta, cornmeal, or a blend (if you’ve purchased cornmeal from me it’s actually a blend of polenta and cornmeal). Preferably whole-milled like mine, since the flavour is way better.
4-6 cups of cooking liquid (water, milk, stock, or a mixture)
pinch of salt plus more at the end, to your taste
Butter, cream, parmesan cheese, or a mixture
Maybe some hotsauce?
Bring your liquid to a boil. If you’re using mostly milk, stir it often/use lower heat/watch closely. Once boiling, whisk in the cornmeal and the pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to low and stir every few minutes as you would oatmeal.
Your mush will become increasingly thick as it cooks. If you don’t like where it’s headed, add more liquid, a little at a time.
Cook for 15-20 minutes. Toward the end, blend in some butter, cream, cheese, or a mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. Add some hotsauce if you like.
That’s the basic approach. From there you can layer up in any number of ways—breadcrumbs, sautéed mushrooms, different cheese, herbs, I don’t know, google your options. But often I just have the basic version for lunch. So good.
