One of the things that we’ve talked about in some of our previous recipes is how to thicken sauces and soups, and what types of thickening agents you need in order to do so. But today we’re going to take a step back a bit and talk about how a thickening agent works and what types of ingredients you should use.
First let’s start with the definition of a thickening agent: it’s a substance that increases the viscosity (or thickness) or a liquid without changing the rest of its properties. There’s only a handful of ingredients that work well as a thickening agent. Each type of thickening agent works well with certain dishes and to thicken certain things. Here’s what you can use as a thickening agent.
Types of Thickening Agents
Flour – Flour is the base of almost all cooking, so it’s no surprise that it acts as one of the most common thickening agents. Flour is used often as a base to thicken soups and stews. It’s also part of a thickening process called “farine” which translates to “flour” in French. Farine consists of dusting a protein (think a piece of meat) in flour, brushing off the excess, sauteeing it in a pan, and then de-glazing the pan and using that as a base for a sauce.
Corn Starch – Corn starch is a very common thickening agent, since it works even better than flour does. It gives sauces a sleek, shiny look and it’s used commonly in Asian cooking. To use, combine corn starch with water (use a 1:1 ratio). Keep in mind that you’ll need to heat your sauce or soup up to where it’s simmering before you start to really see the corn starch thickening up.
Arrow Root – Similar to corn starch, arrow root is also a hefty thickening agent. Mix it into water (this is called a slurry) using a 1:1 ration (again, like the corn starch). The one main difference with arrow root from corn starch is that arrow root has less of a flavor so it won’t add any unwanted taste to whatever you’re cooking.
Roux – A roux is a mixture of flour and butter and it’s used more often as a base for soups, like potato soup. If you check out one of our earlier blog posts, you can read about the three different types of roux (white, blonde, and brown).
White Wash – A white wash is just a simple mixture of flour and water. This is commonly used as a quick and dirty base for a gravy at home, but it’s not considered to be the best way to thicken dishes.
Beurre Manie – A beurre manie is a combination of flour and whole butter that’s been kneaded together to form a dough like substance. It’s basically the solid form of a roux. Because of this it has a fun nickname “The lazy chef’s roux” because, well, it’s a lazy way to make a roux. But it works. Pieces of the beurre manie are pulled off and mixed in with the dish to act as a thickening agent.
