Watery Chutney...can I revive it ??
jo-jo
I have made a truly MAGNIFICENT Pineapple and Lime Chutney..BUT it's
not sorta thick like jam (jelly), the fluid part is insufficiently
viscous, I'm not sure of the Stokes Centipoise number, but I guess you
know.
So all you culinary wizzes, can I somehow, with my very limited skills
and tools bring this masterpiece to an improved consistency ?
It actually simmered away for best part of a day, but....runny.
Waaah I can taste it now, it grabs your taste buds.
Chuck Narad
I don't know if this will give you the consistency you want,
but dissolve a bit of cornstarch in warm water then add it
to the simmering chutney; it should thicken right up. too
much will make it glue-like, though.
c/
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| Chuck Narad -- diver/adventurer/engineer |
| |
| "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? |
| Today is a gift. That's why we call it The Present." |
| - Babatunde Olatunji |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sara
Chuck Narad wrote:
> I don't know if this will give you the consistency you want,
> but dissolve a bit of cornstarch in warm water then add it
> to the simmering chutney; it should thicken right up. too
> much will make it glue-like, though.
>
> c/
This is off the topic of runny chutney, but is there something that makes
cornstarch technically non-vegetarian? I ask because so many veg recipes
call instead for more exotic thickeners like agar agar or arrowroot
powder. Is it because animal products lurk within our friend cornstarch
or do whole foods-types reject it because it is such a highly processed
and refined substance?
Chuck Narad
good question...I've always assumed that it was just extracted
from corn...maybe it's just not exotic enough? :-)
does arrowroot work differently from cornstarch? I know that
agar is more gelatin-like...
anyone?
Randy & Pam Workman
> > This is off the topic of runny chutney, but is there something that makes
> > cornstarch technically non-vegetarian? I ask because so many veg recipes
> > call instead for more exotic thickeners like agar agar or arrowroot
> > powder. Is it because animal products lurk within our friend cornstarch
> > or do whole foods-types reject it because it is such a highly processed
> > and refined substance?
>
> good question...I've always assumed that it was just extracted
> from corn...maybe it's just not exotic enough? :-)
>
> does arrowroot work differently from cornstarch? I know that
> agar is more gelatin-like...
>
> anyone?
>
Arrowroot is used in a lot of oriental sweet sauces (sweet 'n' sour, plum sauce,
etc.) because it does not change the colour of the sauce. It keeps it clear,
instead of making it opaque. Arrowroot thickens a sauce before it reaches boiling
point, so if you have a sauce you don't want to cook too much (or burn) arrowroot
is a good solution. Use about the same amount as you would cornstarch.
Malcolm J. Sickels
>From what I've read corn starch and arrowrood will thicken similarly (some
sources claim that less arrowroot is necessary), but corn starch will make
a cloudy sauce, while arrowroot will not make things cloudy. Agar is
gelatinous and I don't know how it acts when it's more dilute (it's too
expensive for me to experiment with).
Mac
michael goldenberg
while arrowroot may be a superior thickener to cornstarch, its also
MUCH more expensive. i had to buy some for a tofu-cheesecake i was
making, and then wondered if i could have simply used cornstarch
when i read somewhere that they were interchangeable. darn expensive
cheesecake.
mike
Stefan Badarau
In <DyCv6...@bisco.utcs.utoronto.ca> hbac...@email.csun.edu (michael
Mike, you could have used cornstarch, but the texture would have been
grainier or sandier. The benefit of arrowroot (clearly not the price!
<s>) is that you use less of it, it has no flavour, and its texture is
much finer so you don't detect it as an ingredient, as you may with
other thickeners like cornstarch or flour. If you have any left, try
adding a small amount to stir-fry sauces, or use in place of flour in
an apple pie. You will probably notice the difference! - JanisB
Don Wiss
On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, mjsi...@umich.edu ("Malcolm J. Sickels") wrote:
>From what I've read corn starch and arrowroot will thicken similarly (some
>sources claim that less arrowroot is necessary), but corn starch will make
>a cloudy sauce, while arrowroot will not make things cloudy. Agar is
>gelatinous and I don't know how it acts when it's more dilute (it's too
>expensive for me to experiment with).
>From "The Allergy Self-Help Cook Book" by Marjorie Hurt Jones R.N.
ARROWROOT
Flavour and Colour
Snow white. Flavourless.
Breading
Browns quickly and well. Produces golden crispy coating.
Thickening
Excellent. Substiture for equal amount of cornstarch. Leftovers may need
to be rethickened.
Baking
Substitute for 25-50% total flour. Will lighten baked goods.
Comments
Silky powder, much like cornstarch. Store tightly in sealed jar and
refrigerate.
========================
Newsgroup: rec.food.cooking
Subject: arrowroot
From: Carol Dunlap <cdu...@gems.vcu.edu>
Date: 25 Nov 95 13:46:19 -0400
Hi there. I've been reading several low-fat cooking recipes that call for
arrowroot. Graham Kerr says its superior to other thickeners, such as corn
starch. Can someone tell me about it, how it differs, etc. I'm not such a
tightwad that I wouldn't buy it, I'm just curious to hear more about it.
It looks like such a little bottle of powder for the $5 price tag.
-----------------------
From: Len S <e...@delphi.com>
Date: 27 Nov 95 03:59:07 -0500
In his book "Minimax Cookbook", Kerr says that both arrowroot and
cornstarch are pure starches. He prefers them to flour for thickening
liquids.
He recommends arrowroot for dark hot sauces because of its
clarity and its lack of taste that might mask the food flavor.
Arrowroot is good, too, he says, for giving pasta a glaze when he
wants the pasta to have the look of oil on it.
Arrowroot, however, has a drawback in that when it cools,
especially in contact with dairy foods, it develops an unusually
slippery feel. So for foods containing dairy products or crispy cooked
vegetables, he prefers cornstarch.
Cornstarch, he continues, does cause a slightly misty film that
dulls the light reflection, but since this happens anyway in dairy
sauces and lighter colored casseroles that contain beans, it's not a
real loss.
Another difference, according to Kerr, is that cornstarch
requires thirty seconds at the boil to remove its starchy taste, while
arrowroot clears in very hot liquid without the need to boil it.
------------------------
From: a005...@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (H Whitney Turner)
Date: 3 Dec 1995 23:13:50 GMT
Go to a good natural foods store (this is the only reason I go) and you
will find bagged arrowroot for a *small* fraction of the cost. I use it
anywhere I have to thicken, and it's great. I had to use cornstarch the
other night.....didn't work! I guess I'm spoiled.....
========================
From: Don Wiss
So I checked at my local stores to see how big the difference is. At the
health food store that bags its own bulk, it was $4.80/lb ($2.39 for 8
oz, smaller sizes also available). At the Food Emporium (a higher
grade A&P) it was unit priced at $33.28/lb ($3.89 for a little jar).
That is a difference of *seven* times! Contamination with other things
packaged could be a problem.
========================
Newsgroup: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: arrowroot, what is it?
From: rby...@wariat.org (Richard J. Byrne)
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 1996 03:13:36 GMT
Then again, the cheaper stuff may not actually be arrowroot starch,
but tapioca starch! Sometimes one is sold as the other, although the
arrowroot starch is more difficult to process, thus resulting in a
higher cost. For a extensive discussion of the difference, point your
web browser to:
http://www.frontierherb.com/spices/spices.notes.no2.html
(I know all this is probably a tempest in a teapot, but I find it
interesting to see how a seemingly "simple" question can lead to some
interesting discussion and hopefully more understanding!)
-------------------------
From: gray...@aol.com (Grayjackl)
Date: 24 Jun 1996 06:56:14 -0400
I get it mailorder for $5.80 a pound. I prefer it to cornstarch. I've
found it is not only lighter, easier to use and less likely to add flavor,
but it seems to work better in homemade 'frozen dinners' -- we often make
enough for four or six servings and freeze the leftover in individual
servings for quick meals.
------------------------
From: Lu Bozinovich <U33...@uicvm.uic.edu>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 00:21:52 CDT
I think arrowroot won't thicken if you are using honey in the
mix. Cornstarch seems to work all the time. I think another
time I've seen arrowroot breakdown is when you have to cook it
for a long time or subject the sauce to heavy beating. Fuzzy
memory -- but I use arrowroot over cornstarch and am branching
out to potato starch even. Cornstarch was always too starchy
tasting to me.
There's also kuzu BTW (kudzu?) -- but I refuse to pay $$$ for
something that grows rampantly in the deep south. All kuzu is
from Japan.
------------------------
From: p008...@pbfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (Edward Conroy)
Date: 24 Jun 1996 13:19:32 GMT
While the purposes are the same, there are some differences between the
the finished product when using arrowroot v cornstarch.
Arrowroot slurries and cornstarch slurries are both used to thicken
sauces and gravies. They both yield a clear, glossy sauce which gives a
"mouth feel" and appearance similar to a sauce containing quantities of
butter, without the calories, cholesterol, and saturated fat problems
associated with butter.
They both require much less time than a flour-thickened sauce. They are
both used as slurries, stirred into the hot liquid *off heat!*. The
arrowroot slurry is merely stirred into the liquid for 30 seconds to a
minute and it's ready.
The cornstarch slurry is stirred into the liquid; the mixture is returned
to the heat and heated to a simmer, stirring constantly until the sauce
thickens and clears (it will be opaque at first).
According to Graham Kerr, there is one significant difference between the
two -- Arrowroot should *never* be used with milk-based liquids. He
claims that it just doesn't work; the finished product does not have a
satisfactory mouth-feel.
I have used both, and where a non-milk based liquid is used, I prefer
arrowroot to cornstarch.
BTW, a cornstarch thickened sauce will become thin again (there's a
technical term for what happens --something concerning the release of
water-- but I don't recall what it is called).
----
It might depend upon how much cornstarch was used in the slurry. As
you probably know, cornstarch-thickened sauces (such as those used in the
typical Chinese restaurant to accompany egg foo yung) will become a
rather thick jelly when refrigerated. However, when re-heated, the sauce
will typically be much thinner than it was when freshly prepared, and may
even require re-thickening with another CS slurry.
Arrowroot thickened sauce, on the other hand, freeze well in such
preparations as chicken pies, and do not re-hydrolize (the word just
popped out of my sub-conscious) when the pies are reheated. I have also
used it for thickening chicken ala king, which I have then frozen and
re-heated without any problems.
I suspect that --in both cases-- the concentration of the arrowroot or
cornstarch in the original slurry may have some effect.
BTW, I have also used raw rice or raw tapioca, first reduced to a
powder-like consistency in an electric spice grinder as thickening
agents (mixed in a water slurry) or mixed with the fruit or contents of
both sweet and savory pies.
-------------------------
From: fie...@rintintin.Colorado.EDU (j.a. fielden)
Date: 25 Jun 1996 16:43:10 GMT
I just noticed that in the current Williams Sonoma catalog tapicoa starch
is recommended over cornstarch as being the preferred thickener for fruit
pies. Doesn't dull the color or add a starchy taste according to them.
=========================
Newsgroup: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Arrowroot
From: sbha...@styx.ios.com (Shankar Bhattacharyya)
Date: 3 Jul 1996 21:26:53 -0400
The dominant advantage attributed to arrowroot is claimed to be
greater acid-stability than that displayed by cornstarch.
I have read in cookbooks that cornstarch shows some breakdown in
seriously tart pies and such and arrowroot does not. I don't know any
more about it than that and I don't know what the chemistry might be,
if the claim is indeed true. I'm somewhat sceptical, since starches
are not all that easy to hydrolyze.
=========================
Michael & Jennye
Just a note, arrowroot (from what I have been told) shouldn't be used
with dairy products. (I learned that from Graham Kerr) He says that it
won't work well and that corn starch should be used. I also substitue
potato starch.
Jennye
Poo...@ix.netcom.com
This may sound real goofy, but in some things, I have used instant
mashed potatoe flakes, sort of at the last minute, just to thicken
something up. If the meal is already using veggies, it will blend in.
Nice thing about it, is that it doesn't lump either and can be used at
the last minute.
VICKI PATTON-HULCE
with the dish, then easily locate them and puree with a little broth,
then put back in to thicken.
Vicki
Wendy Joplin
I agree that instant mashed potatoes is a great thickener for just about
anything. Thickens without adding much flavor. Another thing that
works great as a soup thickener is refried beans.
Wendy