Pour it on

There aren’t many rules for a successful glaze, sauce or gravy.  Fresh, quality ingredients, a nice rich and smooth mouth feel, and the best fresh flavors are key.  The liquid envelopment brings a very satisfying reception to the palate, tongue and nose (and to the eyes too).

With any of these options, apply the required dried spices into the hot oil and ‘bloom’ them, opening their deeper flavors and activating the brighter oil-based essences.  Fresh herbs should be added toward the end of the cooking process for their brighter contributions.   As for your thickener – I recommend to add ground dry mustard/powdered sugars/dried fine ground herbs and spices to the starch requirement, better dispersing, and bringing less ‘grain’ taste and more depth.  Try using wines, juices, extracts, vinegars and natural sweeteners blended with the liquid ingredients. 

For my satisfaction, there is no need to use cream or whole milk if a dairy base is desired – a choice of two-percent milk is just fine.  Or even better, canned evaporated milk – almost no fat, thinned to a personal preference as you go.  In this fashion there is even MORE mouth feel, better taste and less animal fats. 

If a broth/stock base is desired, avoid using the heavily salted bouillon cubes or processed gravy bases if possible.  Either way, salt modestly as you add each ingredient, and taste at the final before balancing the seasoning. 

No thickener behaves well with extended high heats (rolling boil), high acids and freezing – so thickening a braise/roast dish at the onset could be a bad idea (never overcook any thickened sauce). 

Choose thickeners based on liquid choice, heat options and cooking duration.

Wheat flour is the most used thickener for most dishes – giving a thick, rich texture.  It usually needs to be enveloped in fat first (or else dissolved in small amounts of cool liquid in small doses, such as in fruit/berry pie), and then added with hot liquids.  It doesn’t reheat well, so for any hot dish you prepare to be ‘left-over’, you may not want to choose this as your thickener.  It isn’t your best option for acid-based dishes, as they will react with the thickening properties.

                       

Cornstarch is a more powerful option, as it contains the most starch for its volume, so may be used in almost half the required amounts as wheat flour. Cornstarch also gives a smoother texture than wheat flour.  The resulting sauce/gravy is more suited to become clear, as opposed to the opaque quality of wheat and potato, but it can impart a more ‘starchy’ flavor if not sufficiently cooked.  It suits well for glazes, fruit sauces, and dairy/egg-based dishes (but has a low sheen), especially when gently baked or low simmered.  It doesn’t suit well with acids, but it does reheat well (but don’t freeze).

Tapioca flour is excellent for quick dishes, but has a narrower temperature range.  It can hold up to gentle extended cooking times.  It has the most gloss for glazes and sauces, keeps clear, and works well with acids (a universal option for fruit, wine and vinegar based dishes and sauces).  Tapioca thickens quickly, so it can be used to balance out at the last-minute a dish that cooked out too thin.   It may be frozen and reheated, but it can’t hold up to extended high heating.  If tapioca flour can’t be found, processing tapioca ‘beads’ in a processor or spice grinder to a powder works perfectly.

Potato flour is a gluten-free starch and is used to thicken soups and gravies, with a nice flavor boost as well.  Its main advantage over other starch thickeners is that it’s an allowable ingredient for Passover, unlike cornstarch and other grain-based thickeners.  Liquids thickened with potato starch/flour should never be boiled (simmer only) because it will compromise the thickening ability.  In a  pinch, quality instant potato 'buds' or 'flakes' may be used.

Rice flour is a good thickener comparable to wheat or corn (but is more absorbent than wheat, and needs to be altered in strength as such), and can be obtained from either white or brown rice.  It is not a gluten product, so can be used for dishes served frozen or chilled; but due to the lack of gluten makes a flakier, less ‘elastic’ product.  Because of its gluten-free properties, it is an excellent choice (whole or mixed with wheat or corn flour products) when coating foods for deep-frying.  Pasta made of rice flour has a comparable texture and use as wheat, and an excellent choice for those with gluten allergies.

Arrowroot like cornstarch is stronger than flour and requires less quantity.  It is very neutral flavored and cooks out clear with a glossy sheen.  It has the lowest thickening temperature so is excellent with delicate dishes, but won’t fare well with dishes that are baked or extended simmered (not for braises or pies, and carefully with gravies) – and maintains the gentle thickness in cooled dishes as well (salad dressings and cool sauces).  It doesn’t mix at all well with dairy based liquids, but holds up well with acid based liquids.  It may be frozen and reheated. 

Kudzu is reputed medicinally more than culinarily and can be found in health food or Asian sources.  Its alkalinity aims more for sweet dishes.   Like cornstarch, it is dissolved in cold liquid before being added to the hot.

Gelatin is an animal-based product, so cannot be properly used with vegan or vegetarian dishes.   Gelatin is preferential with liquids and batters that do not involve egg or starch leavening/thickening (milk, as with panne cotte; pies, as with key lime etc; and water, as with dessert gelatins).  I use gelatin modestly in broths and stocks to enhance the rich ‘mouth feel’, which is normally obtained by long-term braising of cartilage and bone/marrow ingredients.