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Milanese Polenta

A baked polenta dish with butter, Parmesan, sausage, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Milanese Polenta

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the polenta

  1. Prepare polenta, making it not too thick, and mix in plenty of butter.

  2. Once cooled, cut the polenta into shapes to line a buttered mold.

Fill the mold

  1. Sprinkle the inside of the mold with grated Parmesan.

  2. Fill the mold with layers of polenta, slices of Parmesan, and cooked sausage meat or forcemeat, adding bits of butter and pepper.

  3. Cover with a disc of polenta, no thicker than ¼ inch.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Parmesan cheese + meattop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together269 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Polenta
Forms the firm, sliceable body that holds the layers together.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the polenta and melts into the layers as it bakes.
Grated parmesan cheese
Melts and browns during baking, adding savoury, salty flavour and helping the crust set.
Sausage meat or other forcemeat
Supplies the savoury meat filling and fat that flavour the layers as they cook.

The step that matters

Keep the polenta not too thick. Polenta that is too thick sets stiff and dense rather than soft and sliceable, and it may bake unevenly. Keeping it looser helps it hold its shape once cut and cooked through in the oven.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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