Review: Golden Pheasant Polenta

Posted by Jaron Schneider on November 1, 2011 · 3 Comments 

Like we have said before, sometimes there are ingredients that cooks and chefs don’t often put a lot of thought into. What’s the point, right? Sometimes salt is just salt, pepper is just pepper, breadcrumbs are breadcrumbs, and corn meal is corn meal. Well, through it all I still manage to remember the brands that really stuck out in my mind as successful or unsuccessful. There is a reason I don’t buy bottles of bay leaves in the spice isle or, in this case, choose to shy away from a tried and true polenta brand. Bay leaves in bottles are about 600% too expensive, and Golden Pheasant Polenta got everything so right on the first swing that I have never thought of changing my tune.

You will always have your options when it comes to purchasing polenta. You will find five to ten different brands at any given supermarket, and that is because it is such an easy product to sell. One company can make it all and sell it to major brands for redistribution with little worry as to quality changing. Let’s face it, it’s dried and ground corn. My first experience with polenta was unusual and satisfying. My father made it when I was a child, and watching the porridge come together was actually rather disgusting. I’ve never been a fan of cream of wheat or grits, so watching polenta thicken was not the most rewarding experience. But once I actually tasted the polenta, all that changed.

Something about Golden Pheasant is uniquely delicious. With just a little salt added to the mixture, you can create a creamy wonder that truly warms the heart. Looking for something with more shape? That’s easy enough. Spread the warm polenta out in a baking dish and refrigerate for a few hours. Suddenly you have a block of polenta that you can cut and sear or grill. In all cases, Golden Pheasant delivers a really delicious product.

But what makes this polenta different from any other? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. Looking at the ingredients, there really is no particular reason why Golden Pheasant should taste any better. The addition of iron, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, and beta carotene does sound either appetizing or influential. But it works. And man, does it work well.

Out of the bag, the polenta is a pretty even, medium sized grind. What contributes to the end product being so perfectly velvety is how perfect the grind is.

Golden Pheasant is a really great value. For $3 retail, and often half that price on sale, you get 24 ounces of the golden grain. That’s 19 servings, which is actually quite a bit. You can easily feed a family of five for a week with the stuff. As a side dish at least. Personally, I only eat Polenta once a month or so. That means that one bag of Polenta usually lasts me about a year. Since it is just dried corn, the shelf life is pretty much equal to dried pasta: basically forever.

If you haven’t tried polenta or you’ve been dissatisfied with the flavor, consistency, or value of some you have tried before, give Golden Pheasant a shot. It’s available basically everywhere and I never buy any other brand of polenta.

Filed under Product Reviews · Tagged with cooking, corn, corn meal, food, golden pheasant polenta, grain, polenta, product review, review