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Banosh (Hutsul Cornmeal with Bryndza and Crackling)

Name: Banosh (Hutsul Cornmeal with Bryndza and Crackling)
Prep time: 52 min
Total time: 52 min
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: sour cream — 1000 g; cornmeal — 250 g; salt — 7 g; pork belly — 150 g; sheep's bryndza — 200 g; dried porcini — 30 g; chanterelles — 200 g; onion — 110 g; ground black pepper — 3 g; unsalted butter — 14 g

Banosh (Hutsul Cornmeal with Bryndza and Crackling) reads richness 6.4, umami 5.8 and salinity 3.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Ukrainian main, about 52 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.5 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 1.0 / 10
Sour & Bright — 3.5 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 3.3 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.7 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.4 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 6.4 · Umami 5.8 · Salinity 3.9 · Sourness 3.5 · Allium 3.2 · Earthy 2.9 · Funk & Ferment 2.7 · Smoke 1.8 · Warm Spice 1.4 · Nutty 1.1 · Sweetness 1.0 · Bitterness 1.0 · Heat 0.8

What's in it (10)

sour cream — 1000 g
cornmeal — 250 g
salt — 7 g
pork belly — 150 g
sheep's bryndza — 200 g
dried porcini — 30 g
chanterelles — 200 g
onion — 110 g
ground black pepper — 3 g
unsalted butter — 14 g

Time & effort: about 52 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 189.8 kcal, 2.9 g protein, 14.7 g fat, 13 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

Bring the smetana to a bare simmer in a heavy pan over low heat, about 5 minutes. It must not boil or it splits before the cornmeal can take it up. Banosh is cooked in soured cream, not water or milk, and that is the whole difference between it and any other polenta.
Rain the cornmeal in with one hand while whisking hard with the other, then add the salt. Whisk 3 minutes until there are no lumps.
Swap the whisk for a wooden spoon and stir, always in the same direction, for 22 minutes over the lowest heat. The Hutsuls say the direction matters; what certainly matters is that you do not stop. It is done when beads of yellow fat break out on the surface and the mass pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pan.
While it cooks, render the lardons in a dry frying pan for 8 minutes until crisp and the fat has run.
Lift out the cracklings and fry the onion in the fat for 6 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, the porcini powder and the butter and fry 8 minutes more until browned.
Season with the pepper.
Spoon the banosh into shallow bowls, crumble the bryndza thickly over the top so it slumps into the heat, and finish with the mushrooms and cracklings. Bryndza is a soft, salty, sharp ewe's-milk brine cheese from the Carpathian shepherds; feta is a different animal and a different ferment and will not do.
Substitutions: salo can stand in for the smoked pork belly; chestnut mushrooms can stand in for the chanterelles.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Chicken Fried Steak with Peppered Cream Gravy — Southern
Sarma (Sour Cabbage Rolls with Smoked Ribs) — Serbian
Jota (Sauerkraut, Bean and Potato Pot) — Slovenian
Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey and Pot Likker — Soul Food
Karjalanpaisti (Karelian Hot Pot) — Finnish

Keep reading: what richness, umami, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.