Thickening with flour

I've been making braises and I'm intrigued by the different methods for thickening the sauce with flour. I've come across five strategies:

Coating browned meat with flour and cooking the flour before adding browned vegetables and liquids.
Coating the meat with flour before browning.
Coating the vegetables with flour after browning and cooking the flour before adding the browned meat and liquids.
For certain braises, Escoffier recommends mixing in roux before adding the liquids.
Whisking in beurre manié before reducing the sauce. (I suppose that the flour cooks as the sauce reduces.) Some recipes use a slurry with cornstarch or other starch instead.

What are the relative merits of each approach? Are they interchangeable?

Best Answer

Unless you are making a vegetarian braisé, I would suggest not browning the vegetables.

If you brown the vegetables and add them too early in the pot, then they will cook too much and be mushy in the end product.

I prefer not using flour when browning the meat too early because I tend to burn it; so I brown the meat, and after that, do a roux and re-add the meat and add liquid.

As for using beurre manié, for me it is just a thickening agent and is done at the end and should not really add additional flavour to the dish.

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Quick Answer about "Thickening with flour"

The easiest way to thicken a sauce with plain flour is to make a flour slurry. Simply mix equal parts of flour and cold water in a cup and when smooth, stir in to the sauce. Bring the contents to a simmer for 5 minutes to cook away the raw flour taste.

Can you use flour to make sauce thicker?

1. Flour. If being gluten-free isn't a concern, adding flour is a fantastic way to thicken dairy-based sauces, thick soups and gravies. My preferred method is to make a roux (a combination of equal parts fat and all-purpose flour) and whisk in 2 ounces for every cup of liquid.

What is ratio of flour to water for thickening?

Make a simple flour slurry by combining 2 tablespoons (about 16-18 grams) of flour and . 25 cups (59 mL) of water for every 1 cup (240 mL) of sauce. Stir the flour slurry to combine it well and then stir it gently into your sauce. Cook the sauce on medium heat until it reaches your desired thickness.

Is flour or cornstarch better for thickening?

Because cornstarch is pure starch, it has twice the thickening power of flour, which is only part starch. Thus, twice as much flour is needed to achieve the same thickening as cornstarch. To thicken sauces, cornstarch is combined with cold water first, which is called a slurry.

Can flour be used to thicken liquids?

Using Flour to Thicken Liquids. Combine flour and water for a simple sauce thickener. This technique works well when you need to correct an overly thin sauce near the end of cooking XResearchsource Mix the flour and water together in a small bowl that is separate from the sauce you are cooking.

How to Thicken Sauce with Flour

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