Cornmeal is a staple ingredient in so many cuisines that it just about spans the globe, from East Asia’s breadlike Tie Bing to the American South’s ubiquitous grits. For thousands of years, creative cooks have ground corn, turned it into meal, fried it or boiled it—and then feasted on the deliciously satisfying results. Cornmeal-based dishes offer consistent, cost-effective servings that remind customers of real home cooking, wherever “home” may be.

If you’d like to stretch your creativity by using cornmeal as your canvas, consider these two options from South America and Italy.

Arepas

Christina Nguyen is the chef and co-owner of Minneapolis-based Hola Arepa, a local eatery that serves up Latin food and craft cocktails. As the name suggests, the restaurant’s mainstay is the crispy griddled corn cake that’s a specialty of Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine. Made with the precooked cornmeal called masarepa, arepas have a light and fluffy texture. Once they’re split open, they become a handheld sandwich which can be filled with any number of ingredients. “In Latin America, they’re eaten for breakfast with butter and jam or later in the day with ham and cheese,” Nguyen says. At Hola Arepa, more extravagantly packed versions feature braised meats, black beans and sweet potatoes. “It all tastes better with our Hola Sauce, which is tangy and herbaceous.”

“Arepas are great street food,” says Nguyen, who worked the Hola Arepa concept as a food truck before moving to a brick and mortar location. “They need to be consumed right away, because they’re most delicious when they’re hot and fresh.”

Polenta

The ultimate in Italian comfort food, polenta is a boiled cornmeal that not only tastes great when served right away as a thick porridge, but can be cooled and set and then shaped and fried, grilled or baked. With such a rich and creamy texture as the backdrop, polenta allows for chef-driven creativity in saucing and topping presentations. It can be used as a base for sauces, stews and thick soups; can be topped with meat, vegetables and marinara sauce; or can even be used as a “crust” for pizza toppings. You can even use it as a breakfast special, serving it with nuts, fruit and milk topping.

Marzetti^® tip

Marzetti sauces make a great topping option for cornmeal-focused specials. Experiment with our wide variety of sauces such as Roasted Garlic Parmesan.

Resources

Hola Arepa

Read more

Feature on Hola Arepa in Bon Appetit

Serious Eats’ Daniel Gritzer discusses the “real rules” for making polenta

Recipes

Zucchini Corn Bread Muffins
Corn Cake Sliders

Looking for more recipe ideas and menu inspiration?
Make sure to check out our recipe section.

Vibrant, energetic and complex: those words certainly describe Jamaican culture, but according to Minneapolis-based Pimento Kitchen’s Tomme Beevas, they also describe its cuisine, a regional darling that’s been making a play as the next hot global food trend.

Don’t forget the pimento

Beevas, a native of Kingston, grew up in a home dominated by the kitchen skills of his grandmother, Sylvia “Baby Lue” Jones. The new restaurant invokes the tastes and spirit of his hometown. “The city of Kingston is the heart of Jamaican culture,” Beevas says. “We savor the pure enjoyment of food.” If there is one ingredient that dominates all others in Jamaican cuisine, Beevas says, it’s pimento – hence the name for the restaurant. “We use whole or ground berries and use the wood to smoke jerk dishes.” Most diners are familiar with jerk chicken, but Jamaicans also have delicious interpretations of fish dishes. “We don’t really batter our fish, but prefer to marinate it in a sauce of vinegar, onions, carrots and Scotch bonnet peppers that we call escoveitch.”

Food Court War winner

After winning the Food Network’s Food Court Wars, Pimento Kitchen opened just a little over a year ago on Minneapolis’ famed Eat Street. It’s a fast-casual concept of authentic Jamaican street food using family recipes, chef-inspired techniques and fresh local ingredients. The restaurant’s most popular dish is Kingston-Style Jerk Chicken, which is marinated in the kitchen’s signature jerk rub, then fire-grilled.

Other customer favorites include Braised Oxtail, prepared from Beevas’ cousin Pinky’s signature recipe and served with butter beans, carrot, potato and country gravy. Another top seller is Curry Goat, slow cooked with potato and island spices. The eatery carries five signature sauces, ranging from mild to hot: Neutralizer, Jerk Ranch, Minnesota Nice, Kingston Kick and Kill Dem Wid It, a super-spicy blend of habanero peppers, lime, charred scallion, soy sauce and fresh herbs.

Don’t skimp on flavor

If you’re considering adding Jamaican-inspired dishes on your menu, Beevas suggests incorporating a big and bold flavor profile. “Control the amount of salt you use, but after that, have fun and don’t skimp. Be sure to include plenty of thyme and, of course, pimento. As my grandmother always said: ‘Good food is glory.’”

Resources

Pimento Kitchen

Read more

Read this descriptive roundup of Jamaican dishes, including ackee, bammy, callaloo, run down (fish and vegetable stew), Solomon Grundy (pickled fish pâté) and soursop.

Recipes

Caribbean Flatbread Sandwich
Grilled Jerk Chicken Sandwich

Curry Apple Vinaigrette – 36 oz Apple Vinaigrette with 2 tsp Curry Powder

Looking for more recipe ideas and menu inspiration?
Make sure to check out our recipe section.