Cooking with Starches: Thickening Agents (Soups, Sauces, Gravies) - CS1(SS) Foster

Learning Objectives Discuss the larger concepts that apply to cooking with starches Identify the different types of starch thickeners Discuss the methods of use and how they differ

Cooking with Starches There a many different starches used in thickening and differing methods for each There is one unifying property across the board… ALL STARCHES ARE FULLY COOKED AT 200°F! This means rice, bread, potatoes, flour thickeners, etc. EVERYTHING!

Flour Thickeners Roux: equal parts of flour and fat (usually butter) cooked to one of three colors  White Roux: used for cream (béchamel) sauces and soups  Blonde Roux: used for veloutes such as chicken or fish  Brown Roux: Brown sauces/soups/stews  ALWAYS cook out the roux for a period of ~ 15 min. to dissipate flour flavor - Beurre Manie: equal parts raw butter and flour, worked together like a dough then added in dime sized pieces. - Singer: dusting of flour into cooking fat/liquid (ex., into the liquid/fat in a pot while a mirepoix sautes).

Other Starch Thickeners Cornstarch: combined with cool/room temperature water to form a slurry with a creamy/milky consistency; added directly to boiling liquid. Arrowroot: used in the same manner as cornstarch, above. Rice/Potato puree: fully cooked rice, or potatoes can be used to thicken when pureed in a liquid, or in the instance of potatoes, cooked until they essentially dissolve.

The Thickening Process The thickening process is pretty simple once it is understood. 1) First, the starch thickener is dissolved into the cooking medium, or liquid. 2) This liquid is then brought to a boil (212F), then reduced to a simmer. Duiring the boil is when the thickening occurs. 3) All starches are fully cooked at 200F,so when the liquid breaches that temp., the flour granules expand as they do when cooked, sucking up liquid like a little sponge, which creates a thicker consistency.

Tempering This leads to tempering, an often overlooked concept that is extremely important The rule of adding roux to a liquid when they are as close together in temperature as possible (and NOT above 200F) is critical. This is what I call the “dumpling rule”. When cold/room temp. roux is added to boiling liquid, the flour tries to rapidly adjust its temp. to that of the liquid before it can dissolve, creating little lumps in your sauce/gravy.

Tempering Tempering is the process of reaching a temperature equilibrium. Basically, a room temp. roux should be dissolved in liquid that is still well below boiling. Or cold liquid should be slowly added to hot roux to help bring the temperature of the roux down well below 200F, before adding the majority of the liquid allowing the roux to dissolve. Then, it is brought to a boil with the fully dissolved roux, and then simmered until the roux is cooked out. Nice, smooth, silky sauce or gravy. No lumps.

Stocks Stocks are flavorful liquids that are the basis of all sauces, gravies, soups and stews. There are 3 types of stock: 1) Brown Stock 2) White Stock 3) Vegetable (Neutral) Stock

Stocks They are made in similar manners, meaning the meat or bones (for Navy purposes, predominately meat and mirepoix) are simmered in water to create a flavorful broth. This is then used as the base for a sauce, gravy, etc. Always start your stock with cold liquid (if using bones/carcasses Skim (depoullage) the liquid of the impurities that float to the surface (i.e. blood) The addition of aromatics can enhance a stock (i.e. boquet garni)

Sauces There are 5 mother sauces: 1) Espagnole (Demi-glace) 2) Veloute 3) Hollandaise 4) Bechamel (White Sauce) 5) Tomato From these, many variants (compound sauces) spawn such as: marinara (tomato), bearnaise (hollandaise), alfredo (bechamel), etc.

Sauces Bechamel based sauces should never be boiled, because milk will scorch and the product will be ruined Tomato Sauces should never be prepared in copper/galvanized pans due to the acidity present Demi-glace is a brown that is reduced by half, and can be used as a from scratch base due to its potency Hollandaise is an extremely fragile sauce, made with clarified butter and egg yolks and does not stand hot holding very well When working with commercial bases, always take into consideration the salt content…taste often!

Soups There are 3 basic categories of soup: 1) Clear Soups (consomme, broths) 2) Thick Soups (chowders, bisques) 3) Special Soups (ethnic, regional) All soups have different preparation techniques that should be adhered to on a case by case basis…READ THE RECIPE!

Soups Add ingredients in the order listed on the recipe, or in the order of cooking time related to the end time of the product Adding potatoes to early will make them dissolve, carrots to late and they are still crunchy, etc. Always adjust seasonings at the end, flavor profiles change dramatically with cooking times Consomme is a special, clarified soup involving a raft generally made with ground meat, mirepoix and eggs. Take great care when preparing.

Summary It is extremely important to understand what is happening when thickening with starches The concepts of tempering, dissolving, and understanding what is happening at what temperature allows you to control it, there for controlling the quality of your final product Broad culinary concepts can usually help you through a more focuses preparation (everything starts somewhere, alfredo with bechamel, cheese, garlic and seasoning, bechamel with just a roux and milk)

Questions

Review What is a roux? - Equal parts of flour and fat (butter) cooked to one of three colors. How many types of roux are there? -3-3 What are they? - White, Blonde, and Brown

Review What is tempering? - Act of equalizing the temperature of two things Why do you care? - Tempering roux avoids lumpy gravy/sauce. What temperature water is used in a cornstarch slurry? - cool/room temperature

Questions?