Why should I roll the meat in flour for a ragout
Most recipes for ragout call for rolling the meat in flour before adding, including one recipe whre you don't sear the meat but add it with the vegetables and everything else once the onions are done. What is the function of the flour, especially in the latter case?
Best Answer
Flour is a thickening agent, plain and simple. However adding it without cooking it first can lead to your dish having a raw flour taste, and you can get blobs of flour in it, so I would ignore the recipes which say coat with flour without cooking it first, or use cornstarch (cornflour) instead.
Alternatively you can make a roux with flour in a separate pan and add it in later. This is simply mixing equal weights of flour and butter and cooking it in a frying pan until it has the color you want. A lighter roux will add a paler color and a milder flavor, a darker roux adds a deeper color and richer flavor.
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Quick Answer about "Why should I roll the meat in flour for a ragout"
If you do prefer your stew on the thicker side, though, you can toss your beef in flour or cornstarch before you sear it—the bits left behind will thicken your stew and add deeper flavor.Why do you Toss meat in flour before cooking?
The idea behind coating meat with a sprinkling of flour before browning in a hot pan is pretty simple: Flour is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.Why do you dredge meat in flour?
The reason you dredge chicken or any other food before pan-frying is to help give it an enticingly brown crust. A food that you dredge in flour or another coating will also gain flavor and texture from the coating and absorb extra flavor from the oil or butter in which you've cooked the food.Why do you cook meat in flour?
Aside from its thickening power, flouring meat, especially with seasoned flour, can provide both a flavorful crust and insulate the meat from the high heat in the pan.What is it called when you put flour on meat?
Dredging is coating something, usually meat, with a flour before browning the item. The purpose of dredging is to make a meat's surface a more attractive brown colour, and to create flavourful carmelized [1] flour bits in the pan that can be used in making a thick sauce through deglazing.The BEST Beef Ragu you'll ever taste.
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Answer 2
I don't think it's a thickening agent in this case, although it contributes a bit. Especially when you roll the meat in it, it is used for the Maillard reaction. It is a reaction between proteins and carb chains. The meat alone has lots of protein, but relatively little carbohydrates from the glucoproteins, and so it's not crisping optimally on its own.
When you add some flour to it, it crisps alone while the other vegetables are softening, it doesn't need a separate sear. Of course, you should take care to use the appropriate temperature - if it is so cold that the vegetables start stewing in their own liquid, the meat will get too wet to crisp too.
This is based on my understanding that you add the meat and all vegetables together and only later add the liquid. If you meant that you dump the liquid at the same time too, my guess is that the person who wrote down this recipe didn't realize what is happening and decided that it's easier to not wait with the liquid. Or that it is derived from a meatball recipe and the author again didn't realize that the rolling makes no sense. The thickening hypothesis is insofar shaky that there are better ways to add flour for thickening.
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