Thickening Agents for Cooking
I grew up eating my mom’s beef stew. I always thought the tiny balls of flour in that stew was the norm. Till this day my dad still won’t eat stew! Now that I know a thing about cooking I understand. Those little balls of flour dont do much to flavor that stew but it does thicken it. Actually it kind of gave that beef stew a kind of flour taste.
Now that I learned a thing or two about thickening agents for food that was called a bad white wash. A white wash is a quick way for a cook to thicken something. Usually the cook would wisk water and flour together and drop it into the boiling pot of stew, soup or sauce. YUCK! What really should have been used to thicken that stew create a roux, cornstarch or ARROWROOT. The easiest way to thicken that stew and give it a great look and feel to it is to use ARROWROOT. ARROWROOT will not lose thickening properties through the cooking process. The only major draw back is that it is expensive. That brings us to CORNSTARCH. CORNSTARCH is a inexpensive thickening agent but does lose it’s thickening properties after cooking it for more the 10 minutes. CORNSTARCH also has a gloss to it. Think of chinese food how shiny it is. If you want your stew to have a nice shine to it this may be your choice. Roux on the other hand the choice of most chefs. It is a stable agent for most stews, sauces and soups. Think of New England clam chowder. Its nice and thick and no shine to it. YUM!
Being in professional kitchens for many years I have seen other methods used to thicken a sauce or stew in a pinch. I remember one time when we had no flour I used potato flakes. It was great to give that chicken pot pie sauce and texture. The only problem with that system is that it can break down very easily and you can lose that texture quickly. Speaking of losing texture did you ever see a roux break down? YUCK! It looks like someone threw up in your soup. Oh so many cooking stories to tell! I have much more but that will come in future posts.
Back to thickening agents! Here is my list of thickening agents and what you should use them for. This will be a helpful list for people trying new ideas and not following recipes:
- Roux: A roux is equal parts flour and butter. The butter should be clarified and then the flour mixed making sure all lumps are gone. A blond roux if you continue cooking that roux for approximately 5 minutes. You will begin to smell a nutty smell. This is great for white sauces, soups and chowders. A brown roux is a roux cooked for 20 minutes chaning the color to a dark tan or light brown. This will have a very nutty smell to it. It is good for thickening a dark sauce, beef stew or lamb soup etc. Another way to make that brown roux is by putting the flour in the oven and baking it till it turns light brown. You have to spread it out and turn it often for about 20 minutes then add it to the butter. I think it is easier to cook it with the butter in a pan on the stove.
- Cornstarch: As I said earlier corn starch is very glossy when used. It is mixed with water or stock and added to a very hot liquid to thicken it. It takes about 3 ounces of cornstarch to thicken 1 quart of stock. Don’t forget you cannot keep cooking cornstarch for more then 10 minutes because it will break down.
- Arrowroot: My favorite but expensive. Arrowroot is used like cornstarch but it will not lose its thickening properties over time. It also does not produce that glossy shine to the stock.
- Other thickening agents: Blood (yuck!) yes it can be used. Starch, think of using the water you used to cook you pasta in. Again yuck!
If anyone wants to add to this little lesson on thickening agents please feel free. I would love to have open discussions and bring new ideas to this new website. Next we will talk about stocks!
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19 comments
thanks for all the infomation. I also like the arrowroot for thickening….
Adding too much roux to any dish would leave your finished product with a floury TASTE!
Flour, when used in small amounts and cooked well into the sauce, won’t give a floury taste to a dish. I’ll admit that a roux is usually the best way to go, but sometimes you just don’t have the luxury of doing that.
cornstarch and arrowroot flour are both types of flour. they’re also forms of starch. what’s with all the ‘yucks’?
Here in the Czech Republic they have pre-made roux, they call it hotova jiška, it comes in light and dark and is quite convenient. Also, they don’t have cornstarch but potato starch. I’ve found the potato starch to substitute quite well.
Juice a potato. Add the liquid first, if that doesn’t thicken you hot sauce. Use the pulp. That’s how it done. Oh wait it’ll leave a potato taste. And if you taste flour from a Chicago Roux(flour and water), it’s time to increase the “flavor” in the sauce.
how about xantham gum? great thickening agent as well but expensive. the cool thing is you need very little, so you get your moneys worth.
I had to stop reading partway through. All the “yuck” comments, not to mention the description of something looking like vomit, were making me lose my appetite pretty fast.
Kind of found this out by accident when I had all 28 teeth pulled at once (YUCK) and for a long time solid food made me VOMIT or at least LOSE MY APPETITE! True story. My food processor became my best friend. For soups or stews, cook until done. Take some of each veggie and puree in food processor or blender. Then put it right back in. My ratio is 1/2 cup per Dutch oven (the large 2-handled stovetop pot). That way you don’t alter the flavor so there’s no need to adjust your spices. If you still want it a little thicker, you can then use cornstarch, but you can use a lot less. Put 1 tsp. cornstarch in an Oriental-style rice bowl, add 1 Tblsp. hot broth and use the back of a spoon to mash out all lumps and form a paste. Add 2 more Tblsp. broth, mix well, and return mixture to pot. Boil 10 minutes and voila! You have a thick, flavorful broth with no lumps. You can find a silver lining in any cloud.
Arrow root should not be used to thicken anything with a dairy product in the base mixture. It comes out slimy. So don’t use it in clam chowder. I used Wondra flour and Smart balance buttery spread to make a roux. It cooked for 10 hours in my crockpot without breaking down.
……..about the blood i don’t get it when you say to use blood to clean the pasta……thats what i read…..well im doing this for my science fair project on thickening starches like cornstarch and flour…this is great imformation but put more imformation or details about the blood……thank you!
A Roux is equal parts flour and any fat (oils, lard, bacon grease) not just butter. And if you are going to write a guide on thickening agents, you should include ratios. Like you did with the cornstarch.
Hello! Maybe you can help…I just made a beef stew and thickened it with flour – but now it tastes way too floury! How will I think it down effectively. I used 2.1kg beef and about 5 heaped dessertspoons of flour….thanks. C
Excellent overview. Thanks heaps. I’m going with the root.
Nut flours are used in Persian and Turkish dishes.
I just have questions… what starch will give a thick product that is not gelled? What starches can be used for a pie that is to be frozen? Why?
I am surprised that no one mentioned instant potato powder.
It makes an excellent thickener esp if your dish contains potatoes anyway (which I always put in my stews/chowders and the best thing is it doesn’t stay lumpy like flour will do if added to a too hot liquid (just make sure you cook the stew/chowder/gravy long enough and eventually it will smooth out unlike flour).
egg yolks make a good thickening agent. Whisk in quickly so egg does not set.
can you tell us what products they can be used in? the rest doesn’t help me at all rubbish the whole lot!
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