| Clumps, lumps and bumps... chefmike, No matter what method I use, my gravies always wind up with little lumps of flour or cornstarch in them. Teach me, you wild man... Peace, Hugs and Lumpy Gravy, Cecilia Cecilia is opening up a can of worms here, I am going to use this as a preamble to my posts about cajun cooking and roux's... Starch granules absorb a tremendous amount of water and expand thus making it important to continuously stir your product. If you take a pot of hot liquid and just throw in some flour, you will get major lumpage. Why? The starch granules on the outside of the flour, expanded and formed a waterproof gel on the outside. If you try this, take out one of your clumps and squeeze it between your fingers and you will see that even though it is gooey with this waterproof gel the inside of the clump is dry. You can divide starches into two different categories; grain and root/waxy starches. Grain starches are flour and cornstarch, to name the two most popular, while the root/waxy starches are the likes of arrowroot, potato and tapioca. The grain starches are high in a form of gluclose called amylose and the root starches are high in a different form of gluclose called amylopectin. I will discuss these forms of gluclose and their importances in another post. The basic rule of thumb is to add cold to hot or hot to cold, whether it is roux or a slurry made with cornstarch. There are some that will argue with this statement, but I will explain myself. When adding a hot liquid to a cooled roux, you have time to stir the product to incorporate the starch granules into your sauce. If you are adding a hot liquid to a hot roux, you better be prepared to stir the hell out of your sauce. It will occur almost instantly. If you don't you will wind up with major clumpage. In making roux, use equal parts of fat and flour and cook the roux for 10 minutes. Usually I will make my roux paste and then bake in the oven, but it is just as effective to cook it on the stove, as long as you pay attention to your roux and do not allow it to darken too much.In baking the roux in the oven, you do not necessarily have to worry about the roux darkening. I will go further into the using darkened roux's in my next newsletter and in future posts about cajun foods. I prefer to cook my roux primarily to release some of the flavor of the starch, so it does not interfere with the flavor of my dish. If you have flavor in your roux, it will be evident in your whole dish. Again, there are those that will argue with this method, some state that they get the same effect by allowing their sauce to cook for a longer period of time. I will somewhat agree with this statement as long as you are not boiling your product, when you boil a starch thickened product you are breaking down the starch once it has expanded to its maximum capability, thus being counterproductive One of the best methods I have found is to take your cold roux and temper the roux with some of your hot stock and make a paste. Add the paste into your stock, drippings or whatever it is you are attempting to thicken. Whip like hell for a minute and then simmer your sauce, stirring until the sauce comes to a soft boil. For the most part with roux, once your sauce reaches a boiling point it is not going to thicken anymore unless you reduce it. With other thickening agents like cornstarch or arrowroot, the thickening stage is at a much lower temperature. To make a slurry out of cornstarch, put the cornstarch and water in a bowl and stir. I prefer to use my hands to mix the slurry to ascertain that all the lumps have been dissolved in the water. To quote a german chef I used to work under, he always said that "your hands are your two best tools in the kitchen..." A philosophy I still stand by. To determine the amount of roux or cornstarch to use for 1 cup of a medium sauce use 2T roux per cup of liquid and for cornstarch use 1T plus 1t. I hope this helps and adds a small insight to the science behind the use of starch in making your sauces. |
| Class-Starch Bound Sauces |