It was indeed a horse of a different color, a delicious one nevertheless. I used coarse semolina. The dish still had some texture - and the flavor of semolina worked well with nutmeg. Thank you for all your advice.
As they say: " it will be a horse of a different color". I always get asked questions of sub-ing ingredients and my answer is always: "At what cost? Do your really want what your about make and have it taste right? Or do you want Something different. Is a trip to the store impossible? If so, than sub or wait until you can go to the store. Hope it all works out!
Cream of Wheat is made from grinding the endosperm and germ of the wheat grain--cornmeal is obviously ground whole corn. I think the whole beauty of the spoonbread recipe is the presence of the corn--the taste and texture of it is what makes the dish. When you cook plain cornmeal in water you get polenta, which is a very different texture and taste than when you cook plain cream of wheat. I just don't think the substitution would work!
I've never made the spoon bread recipe - but it looks wonderful.
However I can tell you that cream of wheat is a common sub for semolina in Gnocchi alla Romana (semolina is also wheat)...which is a different dish (a gnocchi baked with cheese, butter, etc.) - but sort of in the same universe. I'd imagine you could sub it - I'm sure it would be a somewhat different flavor/texture than with cornmeal, but it might be delicious in its own way.
5 Comments
However I can tell you that cream of wheat is a common sub for semolina in Gnocchi alla Romana (semolina is also wheat)...which is a different dish (a gnocchi baked with cheese, butter, etc.) - but sort of in the same universe. I'd imagine you could sub it - I'm sure it would be a somewhat different flavor/texture than with cornmeal, but it might be delicious in its own way.