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Polenta and Cheese

A baked dish of cold polenta squares topped with cheese, butter, cayenne pepper, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Polenta and Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Assemble

  1. Cut the cold polenta into squares about ½ inch thick.

  2. Arrange a layer in a buttered baking dish.

  3. Cover with grated cheese and season with cayenne and salt.

  4. Add another layer of polenta followed by more cheese.

  5. Top with cheese and a few pieces of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until brown, about 15 minutes.

  2. Serve hot.

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 + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold maize meal porridge
Forms the firm base layers that hold the dish together when set and baked.
Grated cheese
Melts into the layers and browns on top, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the top brown and keeps the dish moist.

The step that matters

Baking until brown. The top needs enough heat to brown the cheese and butter without drying the polenta underneath. Watch the colour rather than relying only on the timing, since oven strength varies.

“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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