GIALLETTI

This is recipe no. 593 from Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891) by Pellegrino Artusi, his second variation of cornmeal cakes.

 

The Cornfield (John Constable, 1826)

 

Cornmeal has been a staple ingredient of everyday diet, particularly among the lower classes. The best-known cornmeal dish to Italian food-lovers is polenta, which is also traditional, under various names, in central Europe and parts of the Balkans. The history of this dish is as old as Rome, where porridge was generally based on millet grains; centuries later, when maize was brought over from the New World, porridge would be made entirely, or partially, from the milled grain of this new crop. Another historic dish using cornmeal is milhassou, a wondeful pudding from the southwest of France that comes in both sweet and savory versions. In the colonies, baked goods from locally-produced maize flour became so popular among European settlers that whole sections of 19th century American cookbooks were dedicated to 'Indian' recipes.

A native of Emilia-Romagna, Pellegrino Artusi introduced his readers to several dishes that were based on 'yellow flour'. His gialletti came in two variations, the first leavened with yeast and the second without leavener. Both depended on raisins for sweetness, using little or no sugar. Their name, gialletti, was translated into 'cornmeal cakes' although cakes and cookies were often confused in the past. (Other recipes using cornmeal were labelled as pastries while modern bakers would probably describe them as scones.) Pellegrino Artusi himself labelled gialletti II as shortcrust pastry, noting they were more refined than yeast-leavened cakes and therefore worth making if you didn't care about the expense.

 

GIALLETTI

In the original recipe, there is butter and lard -the kinds of fat typically used in northern Italy but I find these cookies are just as perfect with extra-virgin olive oil. There is also lemon zest and no sugar at all.

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

350g cornmeal

150g plain flour

grated peel of a large orange

2tsp vanilla sugar

1tsp baking powder (optional)

150ml extra-virgin olive oil

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

100g raisins

 

M e t h o d

1. Sift the flours in a bowl. Add the grated orange peel, vanilla sugar, and baking powder (if using). 2. Beat the oil with the sugar and eggs. Combine with the dry ingredients and knead lightly with your fingers, into a soft paste. 3. Incorporate the raisins. 4. Preheat the oven to 180oC. Shape the dough into batons or discs or anything you like, using a pastry cutter. 5. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven with the fan on until lightly colored, about 15 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil, if necessary, to keep the raisins from burning. 6. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Keep in a biscuit tin.

 

N o t e

The original recipe uses 150g butter and 70g lard for 300g cornmeal and 100g plain flour. No sugar is added.