JUMP To TOP           GENERAL INFORMATION:

The primary reasons for thickening cooked liquids is simply mouth feel with a pinch of visual attractiveness thrown in. It imparts a “richness” to a dish without altering the flavor for the most part.

Liquid thickening is for certain an exact science. Different cooking methods call for different types of thickening agents. Experience and practice is the best teacher about the many different kinds of food thickeners in order to determine which is best for your next thick and hearty meal. Soups, stews, gravies, jams, sauces, creams and other foods often require a thickening agent to provide weight, depth and texture to those thinner still runny liquids, including stocks and juices. Most food thickeners are derived from vegetable and refined starches as well as animal and plant proteins. There are a tremendous number of "flours" available to be used as thickeners, used mostly in the form of making a roux, with each imparting it's own flavors and characteristics to the dish.

JUMP To TOP           DIFFERENT THICKENING METHODS FOR 2 +/- CUPS OF SAUCE

LIQUID FACTS: Liquids that are heated enough to boil (even slightly) or use flour as a thickener WILL become cloudy. Liquids that are heated ALMOST to boiling (a low simmer) WILL remain clear or at worst transparent. Those beautiful Asian dishes with the clear, flavorful broths HAVE NEVER BEEN BOILED.

FLOUR SLURRY

2 tbsp all purpose flour

¼ cup cold water.

Mix the flour and water thoroughly. Stir the sauce while slowly drizzling in the slurry - Cook for a minimum of three minutes.

FLOUR ROUX

4 tbsp all purpose flour

4 tbsp butter, grease or oil

Heat the fat in a skillet, slowly sprinkle in the flour while constantly stirring until there is no white flour visible. Cook for a minimum of three minutes. Stir the roux into the sauce you want to thicken.

STARCH SLURRY

1 tbsp starch

1 tbsp cold water

Mix the starch and water thoroughly. Stir the sauce while slowly drizzling in the slurry

EGG YOLK THICKENING

4 to 6 egg yolks

Use a spoon to remove those ugly white chalaza strings attached to the yolk skin. Beat the egg yolks until they are an even color & texture. S L O W L Y add an equal amount of the hot sauce you want to thicken into the egg yolks while vigorously whisking. Conversely, adding the egg yolks into your hot sauce WILL give you scrambled egg yolks in the sauce. Slowly drizzle the sauce/egg mixture into the sauce you want to thicken while constantly whisking. 

LIQUID REDUCTION

Liquids are normally runny because of their water content. You can thicken most liquids by boiling off excess water (as steam) until the desired thickness is attained. Two cups reduced to one or 1 1/2 cups.

THICKENING COLD SAUCES

Slowly add in guar, xanthan gum or unflavored gelatin while constantly whisking until the desired thickness is reached

JUMP To TOP           BEGINNERS SHELF STOCK NECESSARIES: 

All purpose flour, corn starch, rice flour, tapioca flour & arrowroot. The words "starch" and "flour" are completely interchangeable in reference to thickening agents, always meaning a very “fine powder”. Corn starch is indeed simply fine-ground corn flour. There is a reason that every "class" restaurant has on staff, one or more third-in-command "Saucier Chef's". Sauces are considered to be as important to the overall impression and flavor of a meal as is the main ingredient itself.

JUMP To TOP           NATURAL THICKENERS:

Eggs, milks, okra, potatoes, Irish sea moss, Etc.

1) Egg yolks make wonderful thickeners, imparting both a rich flavor and velvety smooth texture, but they're tricky to use. You can't just whisk them into a simmering sauce, they will curdle on contact. Instead, you need to "temper" them by adding some of the hot liquid to the egg yolks (see hollandaise sauce), whisking the mixture together to bring the temperature up gradually, and then adding it back into to the sauce.  To prevent the yolks from coagulating, you need to keep the sauce below 190° F, although this rule can be broken if the sauce has a lot of flour in it. 

NEVER - EVER Cook sauces with egg yolks in aluminum pans because they'll turn gray.

2) Okra (a.k.a. lady fingers) are a long, thin, pointed, green pod-like vegetable that is used pretty much exclusively as a seasonal broth thickener in Creole and Cajun cooking. it is sliced about ½ inch thick and added into the nearly complete dish to boil until just tender and release it's thickening properties. Do NOT wash okra until just prior to use. Overcooking okra makes it slimy - cook until just tender and ALWAYS avoid re-heating any dishes containing it if possible.

3) Potatoes can be added into soups and stews to thicken the broth. You want to use potatoes with the highest starch content possible (russets, long whites, etc.) because when heated, they tend to break down quickly in liquids.

4) Irish sea moss is not a true moss and is not exclusive to Ireland, so go figure. Many people use it for its culinary benefits. If you blend or cook it, the moss forms a mucilaginous gel, turning it into a jelly-like substance. This natural jelly thickens up smoothies and shakes and is a key ingredient in cheesecakes, puddings and raw ice creams. Raw Irish sea moss has long been an important ingredient in Jamaican cuisine and raw food preparation.

JUMP To TOP           ALL PURPOSE FLOUR:

All purpose flour can be used to thicken runny sauces, both easily and inexpensively. “Raw” Flour has a distinctly unpleasant taste & mouth feel. Flour acts as a starch, but it takes TWICE as much flour as pure starches (corn, potato, etc.) in order to attain the same liquid thickness. The main advantage to using flour over starch comes after refrigeration and then re-heating. Flour thickened liquids will refrigerate and then reheat back to the same texture and silkiness. Starch thickened liquids tend to THICKLY GEL once refrigerated and are difficult to reheat to the same texture later.

JUMP To TOP           ARROWROOT:

Arrowroot is very similar in properties to corn starch, albeit, a little more expensive. It makes for a clearer more transparent finished product. It is also used exclusively to thicken foods that are high in acid content as most of the "starch" type thickeners are broken down by acids.

USAGE: Mix into cold water and then add to your hot liquid.

JUMP To TOP           BUERRE MANIE:

A buerre manie is pronounced "burr mahn-yay". Made by using your fingers to thoroughly combine flour and softened butter to create a smooth, very thick paste.  It is usually used for quick thickening at the end of any cooking process and it makes everything delicious and a little glossy! Technically, it is a foolproof, lump-free version of a roux.

USAGE: Add into your hot liquid at any time.

JUMP To TOP           CORN STARCH (Inexpensive):

Reasonably priced thickeners are readily available in all grocery stores today. Corn starch, rice flour, tapioca flour, etc.  

Corn starch is a proper flour, used as a thickener when we want to confer a translucent look to the dish. However, since it has quite a strong taste, it is preferable to use it in situations requiring very little cooking,

Tapioca flour is considered to be the new frontier in the ambit of starch thickeners. It dissolves well without having to be diluted, it has an almost neutral flavour and excellent thickening properties, on condition that it is not used at excessively high temperatures, which would entirely neutralize the effect.

Kuzu flour, the dehydrated and pulverized root of the eponymous plant is another excellent thickener, considered to be even better than tapioca. In fact, it has extraordinary thickening properties, with half a spoonful of this powder being sufficient to turn 250 ml of liquid into a jelly.

JUMP To TOP           GUMBO FILE:

File powder, also called gumbo file, is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree, native to eastern North America. Choctaw Indians of the American south (Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana) were the first to use dried, ground sassafras leaves as a seasoning, what is now called file, or gumbo file, used in Creole cooking. It is used in the making of some types of gumbo, a Creole and Cajun soup/stew often served over rice; other versions of gumbo use okra or a roux as a thickener instead. Sprinkled sparingly over gumbo as a seasoning and a thickening agent, it ADDS a distinctive, earthy flavor and texture. File can provide thickening when okra is not in season. Filé translates to "string", suggestive of the powder's thickening ability.

USAGE: Mix into your hot liquid near the end of cooking.

JUMP To TOP           PECTIN:

Pectin is naturally derived from plant cells and is used mainly for making jams, jellies and gelatins. Most grocery stores carry fruit pectin powder, but you can also make your own pectin extract. Boil 2 pounds of tart apples, such as granny smith, in 4 cups of water until tender. Pour the juice and pulp into a cheesecloth and suspend overnight with a shallow dish underneath to catch the drippings. Boil the filtered drippings in a small saucepan, reducing the liquid by half. You now have a homemade fruit-based pectin thickening agent that is great for jams, jellies and even fruit pies.

JUMP To TOP           POTATO STARCH:

Potato starch is one of the most expensive among traditional thickening agents. Taking care to dissolve it beforehand in a small amount of water to form a “paste”. If added directly to the dish without mixing first with water, would form lumps that are practically impossible to get rid of. Potato starch performs better at low temperatures. You are advised to add the diluted potato starch when you have already removed the dish from the heat, without ever actually boiling the starch.

USAGE: Mix into cold water and then add to your hot liquid.

1) Great strength and holding power – Use only a little bit to yield a thick sauce.

2) Stability: Quite weak. When you’re heating up a sauce that requires thickening, consider bringing it to a close boil, add the starch and turn off the fire as soon as possible. Overheating will cause the molecules in potato starch to break their bond and will end up resulting in a thin liquid. Be cautious when re-heating dishes that you used potato starch to thicken.

3) Semi-light flavor – Not very powering to the tongue when you thicken your liquid. Since its strength is good, you do not need to add too much, this will leave the liquid clear of its flour-like flavor.

4) Potato starch has no color influence when it’s added to your liquid. But, don’t ask for trouble by cross-contaminating it.

5) Consistency – Silky and stringy. When you scoop some up in a spoon and pour it back down, it should be in a very steady stream, with little silky strings dropping off like a calm waterfall, then when it goes back up, the stream will slightly bounce back up to the spoon.

Potato starches are great for quick, thin, transparent sauces that require only a small amount of cooking time or reheating of it. Keep in mind that in order to get a consistent thickening agent, ensure that your ratio of flour to water is at least 1:5. Mix them well – Because after leaving it set for long, the starch will fall off and you’ll see water puddled on top of the flour.

JUMP To TOP           ROUX (CAJUN / CREOLE):

A roux is the one best and most commonly used agents added to thicken up any sauce or soup. A roux is simply equal volumes of all purpose flour and some kind of liquid fat (oil, bacon fat, butter, etc., etc.). Cooked over medium high heat while constantly stirring, scraping and with CAREFUL observation. A burnt (even SLIGHTLY so) roux is absolutely useless as either a flavoring or a thickening agent - TRASH IT IMMEDIATELY and start all over.

The longer a roux is cooked, the darker in color and more flavorful it becomes. Conversely, the longer a roux is cooked, it's ability to thicken those liquids you will be adding it to decreases greatly. There are 4 "normal" named types of roux: In reality, the possible combinations in between those 4 are limitless. I sincerely believe it takes a Cajun Mother to consistently and properly make a dark roux on the stovetop WITHOUT burning it. In defense of that belief, I have enclosed a foolproof method of making a brick red roux in the oven:

JUMP To TOP           100% FOOL-PROOF BRICK ROUX:

Unless you count yourself among experienced Cajun or Creole Grandmothers, creating any of the darker roux can be considered an art form. The stovetop method of creating a dark roux is extremely quick and extremeleir more difficult… Dark roux provide extremely rich flavors but are extremely EASY to burn (especially those butter versions). ANY burning at all (small BLACK flecks begin to appear) and the roux is COMPLETELY RUINED, there is NO WAY to repair a burned roux. The only fix for a burned roux is to wash the pan and begin over. The below link takes you to a Recipe for an oven baked roux. Slow and time consuming, but you can make a brick red roux that isn’t burnt on your FIRST TRY.

(FOOLPROOF Roux Method Recipe - No-Burn)

CAUTION: The darker roux mixtures are known in Louisiana as "Cajun Napalm". DO NOT splash any on bare skin. NEVER make a roux in an aluminum pan - Use ONLY stainless steel or cast iron due to all of the constant scraping required during cooking.

USAGE: Make by sprinkling all purpose flour into fat over medium high heat while constantly stirring until the desired color is achieved. Liquids are then added into the hot roux while stirring to release any fond stuck on the bottom of the pan.

WHITE: Colorless, very little flavor and by far the best thickening agent.

BLOND: Ivory colored, a mild flavor and has moderate thickening powers.

MEDIUM: Peanut butter colored, a rich, nutty flavor and even less thickening powers.

DARK: Brick red colored, a strong, earthy caramel flavor and minimal thickening powers.

Naturally, the volume of the roux you use vs the volume of liquid in the dish will determine the eventual balance between flavor and thickening.

1) Medium-weak holding power. Cooking the roux too long will further weaken its holding power.

2) Stability – The good part about a roux is that it holds (after being incorporated well) the sauce at its thickening point even after the liquid has cooled off. Certain starches like tapioca and corn do not hold very well when they are cooled down.

3) Robust flavor – a roux imparts a very complex flavor of its own, especially when it comes to the kind of fats you want to add in. Choose fats that have higher heating points. E.g. sunflower seed oil or peanut oil. Butter is commonly used, but animal fats are desirable, if you want a more robust flavor.

4) Color – Varies. If you’re looking for the traditional dark roux, cook the flour a little longer before incorporating your fats. If you’re looking for a white roux which needs little color influence, don’t burn your flour.

5) Consistency – Like the potato starch, it should be running from a spoon in a very streamlined position and springing back up a little.

JUMP To TOP          WITHOUT USING STARCH:

If you prefer not to use starch thickeners, there are plenty of alternatives. Of these, the most widely known is agar-agar. This is a jelly-like substance obtained from an algae which is widely used in pastry-making, since it is composed of sugar galactose molecules. It has good thickening properties and may also be used at high temperatures.

If, on the other hand, you need to jellify a liquid at low temperatures, it is preferable to use xantham gum, a linear polysaccharide structure made up of molecules of mannose, glucose and glucuronic acid. It can also be used for stabilizing emulsions, sauces in particular, together with pectin, another well known gelling agent based on the formation of an interlaced structure.

Finally, it is also worth remembering some protein-based thickeners which are cheap and effective. collagen for example, obtained from meat broth, and egg yolk, on the condition that it is used at a temperature of approximately 60° C, to prevent it from solidifying.

JUMP To TOP