Polenta

Buy polenta labeled coarse or medium grind for real texture and skip instant polenta, which trades 40 minutes for a gluey shortcut. Polenta and grits are close cousins: polenta is usually yellow flint corn, grits are usually white dent corn, and in a pinch either works in this recipe. Store dry cornmeal airtight in a cool cupboard (up to a year, or freeze it, since whole-grain cornmeal carries oils that go stale). Cooked polenta keeps 5 days in the fridge and firms into a sliceable slab, which is honestly the best part: tomorrow it becomes grilled or pan-fried polenta. I always make a double batch just to guarantee myself that day-two crispy version.

Polenta is one of the best effort-to-payoff ratios in the pantry: cornmeal, water, salt, and 35–45 minutes turns into something that tastes like you went to culinary school. The ratio to remember is 1:4 cornmeal to water and the number one mistake is dumping the cornmeal into boiling water all at once (that's how you get lumps that never break up). Pour it in slowly while whisking, then let a low simmer and an occasional stir do the rest. Every method is below, from creamy stovetop to hands-off oven to Instant Pot, plus how to grill leftover polenta into crispy slices.