Polenta taragna from the Valtellina: buckwheat and maize, butter and stringy Casera. The traditional recipe in an hour and a quarter, for 4 people.
Introduction
Polenta taragna is the polenta of the Valtellina, and you can tell it by its colour: it is not yellow but dark grey, speckled, because in the mixture the maize flour sits alongside buckwheat flour, which has been grown in the valley for centuries. The name, according to the most common explanation, comes from the *tarai*, as the dialect calls the long wooden stick used to stir it in the copper pot for the whole of the cooking. Unlike the polenta eaten beside a sauce or a braise, taragna is dressed from within: at the end of cooking the butter and the cheese go in, in pieces, and they melt and make it stringy. It is a mountain dish, for cold days, and in the Valtellina it is a meal on its own.
Three things matter. The proportions of the flours: the more buckwheat there is, the darker and more flavourful the polenta, with a toasted, slightly bitter undertone; here we use three parts of it to one of maize, which is the most common ratio in the valley. The time: taragna wants at least an hour of cooking over low heat, stirring often, because undercooked buckwheat stays grainy and leaves a raw taste in the mouth. And the cheese, which must be a Valtellina Casera or a Bitto, cheeses from the valley that melt without separating: it goes in at the end, in cubes, and is stirred only until it turns stringy.
In the glass, the Breganze Cabernet DOC by Firmino Miotti, a full-bodied red from the foothills around Vicenza, with tannins already softened by the years, which stands up to the butter and the cheese without hardening against the buckwheat. For those who want the Valtellina's own grape, the Monferrato DOC Nebbiolo Superiore by Tenuta Vallone.
The Story of Polenta Taragna
Buckwheat reached the Valtellina between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it stayed because it grew where wheat yielded little: on the terraces, in poor soils, even as a second crop after the rye. For a long time the valley's polenta was made with buckwheat alone, and it was a black polenta, dark and dense. Maize arrived later, and mixing it with buckwheat gave a softer, less bitter polenta: it is from that meeting that taragna as we know it today was born, together with pizzoccheri and sciatt, the buckwheat fritters filled with cheese.
The butter and the cheese come from the mountain pastures, where the cows were taken in summer and Bitto was made, the valley's alpine cheese, and further down Valtellina Casera, the cheese of the village dairies. Stirred into the polenta, they turned a humble dish into a complete meal. Today taragna is made throughout the Valtellina and the Valchiavenna, and it is also found in the neighbouring valleys around Bergamo; in autumn it is the dish of the village festivals, cooked outdoors in large copper pots and stirred in turns.
Ingredients
For the polenta
- buckwheat flour300 g
- maize flour for polenta100 g
- water1,6 l
- coarse saltto taste
For the dressing
- butter150 g
- Valtellina Casera DOP cheese300 g
Equipment Needed
- Copper polenta pot or large heavy-based pan
- Whisk
- Long wooden spoon or stick
- Kettle or small pan for the hot water
- Chopping board and knife for the cheese
Tip: The base of the pan matters more than the pan itself: taragna cooks for an hour and sticks easily, and on a thin base it burns before it is cooked. The copper pot is the traditional choice because it spreads the heat evenly; otherwise a heavy-based steel pan or a cast-iron one will do. Keep a small pan of hot water beside you: if the polenta thickens too soon, add a ladleful of it, never cold water.
How to Make Polenta Taragna — Valtellina Recipe
The flours
Bring the water to the boil in the pot and salt it. Mix the two flours in a bowl. When the water boils, lower the heat and sprinkle in the flours a little at a time, stirring with the whisk so that no lumps form.
Chef's tip: The flours should be poured slowly, in a thin stream: if too much falls in at once it forms lumps that will not dissolve again during cooking.
The cooking
When the mixture starts to thicken, put down the whisk and take up the wooden spoon or stick. Cook over low heat for at least an hour, stirring often and scraping the base and sides well. If the polenta becomes too firm, add a ladleful of hot water.
Chef's tip: Taragna is ready when it comes away from the sides of the pan and no longer tastes of raw flour: taste it, as undercooked buckwheat stays grainy.
The butter
Meanwhile cut the Casera into cubes of a couple of centimetres. About ten minutes before the end, add the butter in pieces and stir until it is all absorbed and the polenta turns glossy.
Chef's tip: The butter goes in pieces and at room temperature: cold and in a single block it lowers the temperature of the polenta and takes longer to blend in.
The cheese
Turn off the heat and add the cubes of Casera. Stir vigorously for a couple of minutes, until the cheese has melted and the polenta forms strings. Serve it straight away, on warm plates or on a wooden board.
Chef's tip: The cheese goes in with the heat off and is stirred only long enough to melt it: if it cooks for long it separates and leaves the fat on the surface.
Wine to Pair with Polenta Taragna
Polenta taragna is a polenta with nothing light about it. The base is a mixture of buckwheat and maize flour cooked for a long time, with a toasted flavour and a slightly bitter undertone that yellow polenta does not have. Then, at the end of cooking, the butter and the cheese go in, in pieces, Valtellina Casera or Bitto, which melt inside it and make it stringy. What reaches the plate, then, is a hot, dense mass, rich in fat and salt. Hence what the wine is asked to do. It needs a red with enough body not to disappear beside such a full dish, because a thin wine on taragna tastes of water. It needs acidity, to lift the melted cheese off the palate between one mouthful and the next. And it needs a tannin that is already rounded: a young, rough tannin, on buckwheat, reinforces the bitterness instead of covering it. In the Valtellina they drink it with the valley's Nebbiolo. The roads we suggest are two: a mature Cabernet from the foothills around Vicenza, or a Nebbiolo, the dish's home grape.
The Red We Recommend
Breganze Cabernet DOC — Firmino Miotti — The **Breganze Cabernet DOC by Firmino Miotti** is a half-and-half blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, from the volcanic slopes of the hill of Santa Lucia, at Breganze. The grapes are left to dry for about a fortnight before vinification, and the wine spends time in oak before it is bottled: the result is a full-bodied red, above 14 degrees, and the vintage on sale, the 2017, has had time to soften its tannins. That is what matters most with taragna. The body stands up to the butter and the cheese without disappearing, and the tannins, which the technical sheet describes as silky, do not harden against the buckwheat and do not raise its bitterness. The small red berries bring a fresh note to a dish that is all hot and cooked, and the spicy background binds with the toasted flavour of the dark flour. The Cabernet Franc adds that touch of greenness that sits well beside a mountain polenta. The limit has to be said: it is a warm, structured wine, and with a generous portion of taragna the combination becomes demanding; the acidity is there, but it cleanses less than that of a younger red. Serve it at 16 °C, the lowest of the temperatures the producer gives, and take it out of the cellar the day before, as the technical sheet recommends.
Want to know more about the grape? our guide to Cabernet
The Alternative: Nebbiolo
Monferrato DOC Nebbiolo Superiore BIO — Tenuta Vallone — In the Valtellina Nebbiolo is called Chiavennasca, and it is the wine that taragna has always found on the table. The **Monferrato DOC Nebbiolo Superiore by Tenuta Vallone** comes from Piedmont, not from the valley, but it carries the same grape on its own, from organically farmed vineyards on the marl and limestone soils of Conzano. Compared with the Cabernet it is fresher and less warm, 13,5% vol, and it works more through acidity than through body: it lifts the melted cheese off the palate more decisively, and leaves the mouth clean before the next forkful. The nose of berries and roses brings a fragrance the dish does not have, and the tannin, which the producer describes as fine, supports the sip without hardening against the buckwheat. The limit is precisely that tannin: it is the hallmark of the grape, and those who find taragna slightly bitter will notice it more than with the Cabernet, which is softer. Serve it at 16-18 °C.
Want to know more about the grape? our guide to Nebbiolo
Craft Beer as an Alternative
Reckless Bock Beer — doppio malto — Buckwheat has a toasted, almost nutty flavour, and a malty beer meets it at close range. The **Reckless Bock by Norah's Farm** is a bottom-fermented Dunkel Bock from the Venetian foothills, deep copper in colour, with 7% vol. The caramel and dried fruit of the malt bind with the dark flour and the butter, and the carbonation does on the melted cheese the job that acidity does in wine. The hops, which the producer marks as low, stay in the background, and this matters: a pronounced bitterness would add to that of the buckwheat. The limit is the beer's sweet finish, which on a dish already this rich can tire after the first glass. Serve it at 8-10 °C: any colder and the malty notes stay closed.
Want to explore the style? dark and doppelbock beers
Serve It With
With the butter and the cheese inside it, taragna is already a meal in itself, and it asks for little alongside. In the Valtellina it is often served with a sausage or a few ribs cooked in a pan, or with a braise or a stew, when it is wanted as the side to a main course; in autumn sautéed mushrooms with garlic and parsley go well too.
To lighten the meal, a green salad or a radicchio salad dressed with a little vinegar is enough, refreshing the mouth between one mouthful and the next. Leftover polenta is cut into slices the next day and toasted in a pan or on the grill.
Variations
- With Bitto: instead of the Casera, or half and half with it, use Bitto, the alpine cheese of the Valtellina. It is more aged and more flavourful, and gives a taragna with a bolder taste. Cut it into smaller cubes, because it melts more slowly.
- Baked taragna concia: the finished polenta is spread in a buttered baking dish, covered with more slices of cheese and a few flakes of butter and put in a hot oven at 200 °C for ten minutes, until a light crust forms on top. It is handy when you make it in advance.
- With ready-mixed flour: in the Valtellina you can buy bags of flour for polenta taragna, with the buckwheat and maize already mixed. There is also a pre-cooked version, which cooks in a few minutes: convenient, but the toasted flavour of the buckwheat comes through less.
- With more buckwheat: those who love the rustic flavour can raise the buckwheat to four parts in five. The polenta comes out darker and more bitter, and needs a few more minutes of cooking and an extra ladleful of water.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between polenta taragna and yellow polenta?
The flour and the dressing. Yellow polenta is made with maize flour alone, while taragna mixes the maize with **buckwheat flour**, which gives it its dark grey colour and a toasted, slightly bitter flavour. And yellow polenta is usually served beside a sauce or a main course, while taragna is dressed from within, with the butter and the cheese melting into it at the end of cooking.
Is polenta taragna gluten-free?
The ingredients are: buckwheat, despite its name, is not a cereal and contains no gluten, and neither does maize. People with coeliac disease must, however, use flours **certified gluten-free**, because buckwheat is often milled in the same mills as wheat and can be contaminated by it.
Which cheese is used in polenta taragna?
In the Valtellina, **Valtellina Casera DOP** or **Bitto DOP**, two cow's milk cheeses from the valley that melt well without turning oily. Outside the Valtellina they can be replaced with **fontina** or with a semi-skimmed, lightly aged dairy cheese. Cheeses that are too aged should be avoided, as they separate in the heat.
Can polenta taragna be made in advance?
Better not: as it cools the cheese hardens and the polenta loses its stringy texture. If there is some left over, the next day it is cut into slices and toasted in a pan or on the grill, or put in the oven with a little cheese on top. Those who want to make it ahead can prepare the baked concia version, which is heated up just before serving.
Which wine goes with polenta taragna?
A **red with body, acidity and soft tannins**: the body stands up to the butter and the cheese, the acidity lifts them off the palate, and a rounded tannin does not reinforce the bitterness of the buckwheat. A **Cabernet** with a few years in bottle answers well. In the Valtellina they drink the valley's **Nebbiolo**, Chiavennasca. As an alternative to wine, a dark, malty beer with little hopping.
