Traditional Brenzone Dish Polenta Carbonéra Honors Culinary Heritage

Who knows if one day traditional dishes and local specialty products will be recognized as cultural heritage. For now, however, many flavors are being lost, along with the culinary knowledge passed down through generations.

An old Brenzone recipe that is disappearing deserves protection: polenta carbonéra, a dish that symbolizes the culinary connection between the Garda Riviera, characterized by oil production, and the Baldense pastures, which provide the milk for rustic cheeses.

Preparation and distinctive features

Prepare a normal polenta, and during cooking, add at least three or four types of cheese of different aging. Continuous stirring is necessary to ensure the cheese melts almost completely.

To keep everything soft, pour in extra virgin olive oil, while still stirring. A variation during cooking is allowed: adding salamella (a type of sausage). The result is a strong, very tasty one-dish meal: a slice of polenta carbonéra makes for a hearty meal.

Variations and traditions

The leftovers can be recooked on a grill: the cheese melts to form a crispy crust. The only drawback of reheating on the fire is the smell emitted by the melting cheese—it’s best to do this outdoors.

Polenta carbonéra undoubtedly deserves the attention of culinary enthusiasts of the region. Its introduction in the Baldense area was linked to trade between the opposite Lombard and Venetian shores, when the upper lake could only communicate by water.

Historical origins and cultural influences

Evidence of these ancient trade routes can still be seen today in the dialect spoken in Brenzone and Malcesine, rich with Brescian influences, and in this cheese polenta, closely related to the Lombard taragna polenta.

The similarities between the two dishes are numerous, though on the Baldo there is no debate about using yellow cornmeal, whereas in Lombard valleys, dark buckwheat flour is preferred, either alone or mixed with the yellow.

Polenta and cheese, then, in Brenzone. A pairing typical of Italian gastronomic history.

Ancient roots and evolution

As early as Roman times, when maize was unknown and pultes were made from roasted grains of spelt, millet, or other cereals, additional ingredients were added during cooking. Even cheese, to create the so-called ‘polente caseate,’ possibly the ancestors of Brenzone’s carbonéra.