Banosh

Ingredients

Banosh

• 250 gfine cornmeal
• 700 mlsmetana (thick sour cream), or 500 ml sour cream plus 200 ml water
• 300 mlwater
• 1½ tsp salt
• 40 gbutter

To serve

• 150 gbryndza (sheep’s cheese), crumbled
• 150 gpork cracklings (shkvarky) or diced smoked bacon, rendered crisp
• 150 gwild mushrooms, fried in butter (optional)

Directions

1. Bring the smetana and water to a gentle simmer in a heavy pot with the salt, stirring. Do not let it boil hard — sour cream splits at a rolling boil and the dish is built on it staying whole.
2. Rain the cornmeal in slowly with one hand while whisking constantly with the other. Adding it all at once guarantees lumps that never come out.
3. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir continuously, always in the same direction, over low heat for 20–25 minutes. It thickens gradually and then quite suddenly.
4. Keep stirring past the point where it thickens. Banosh is finished when droplets of butterfat separate out and glisten on the surface and the mass pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pot. That separation is the traditional sign of a properly made banosh, and it takes real arm work.
5. Beat in the butter at the end.
6. Spoon onto warm plates and top with crumbled bryndza, hot cracklings and fried mushrooms if using.
7. Serve immediately. Banosh sets firm as it cools and is quite different, though not bad, eaten cold and sliced.

Technique

• Sour cream, not milk or water. This is what distinguishes banosh from ordinary mamalyga or polenta.
• One direction, constantly, low heat. Hutsul cooks are firm about all three.
• Fine cornmeal, not coarse polenta. Coarse grains stay gritty at this cooking time.

Substitutions

• Feta rinsed of brine stands in for bryndza, though it is saltier and less sharp.
• Crème fraîche makes a more stable base if your sour cream splits easily.

Variations

• Served with a fried egg on top for breakfast.
• Mamalyga, the plainer water-cooked Moldovan and Romanian relative.

History

A creamy cornmeal porridge, cooked slowly in cream or sour cream rather than water, typically topped with a salty cheese called brynza and cracklings, documented across Ukraine, particularly the Carpathian Mountain region associated with the Hutsul people, an ethnic group native to that specific mountainous area of western Ukraine. Its rich, cream-based cooking liquid, distinguishing banosh clearly from simpler water-based cornmeal porridges found elsewhere, reflects the Carpathian region’s strong dairy farming tradition tied to its mountain pastures. Banosh remains closely associated with Hutsul and wider Carpathian regional identity within Ukraine, considered a defining dish of that specific mountain culinary tradition.

Frequently asked questions

What is Banosh?

Banosh is a main from Ukraine: hutsul cornmeal cooked in sour cream with bryndza, cracklings. A creamy cornmeal porridge, cooked slowly in cream or sour cream rather than water, typically topped with a salty cheese called brynza and cracklings, documented across Ukraine, particularly the Carpathian Mountain region associated with the Hutsul people, an ethnic group native to that specific mountainous area of western Ukraine. Its rich, cream-based cooking liquid, distinguishing banosh clearly from simpler water-based cornmeal porridges found elsewhere, reflects the Carpathian region’s strong dairy farming tradition tied to its mountain pastures. Banosh remains closely associated with Hutsul and wider Carpathian regional identity within Ukraine, considered a defining dish of that specific mountain culinary tradition.

How long does Banosh take to make?

Banosh takes 10 min of preparation and 35 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Banosh?

Yes, within limits. Feta rinsed of brine stands in for bryndza, though it is saltier and less sharp. Crème fraîche makes a more stable base if your sour cream splits easily.

What is the most important thing to get right in Banosh?

Bring the smetana and water to a gentle simmer in a heavy pot with the salt, stirring. Do not let it boil hard — sour cream splits at a rolling boil and the dish is built on it staying whole.