Paiolo

A unhandled copper pot: polenta stirred in the same vessel that hung over Alpine fires.

Also called paiolo di rame · From Northern Italy

A copper paiolo of yellow polenta with a wooden stirring stick resting on the rim.

The journey

Polenta is a gesture: coarse maize, water, a wrist that does not stop. The paiolo is the unlined or tinned copper pot, rounded at the bottom, that Italian mountain kitchens still hang or set on a ring. The wooden stick is part of the hearth.

A heavy saucepan can cook the grain. The paiolo is why the crust at the edge is a prize.

A 1742 map of Italy — the Alpine kitchens that still stir polenta in a paiolo. — Homann Heirs, map of Italy (1742) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Rain the meal into salted water. Stir one way. Finish with butter or cheese in the pot. Serve with a string, or let a bottom crust form.

The Italian volume's polenta pages assume this copper. A Dutch oven stands in if you keep the heat honest.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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