On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1161

stove than they’re meant to be at the table (Minimizing the amount of thickener will also reduce the extent to which the sauce’s flavor is muted.) The best way to predict the final texture of a sauce is to pour a spoonful into a cool dish and then sample it Starch in sauce making A swollen granule of potato starch caught in a meshwork of molecules freed from it and other granules (left) A starch-thickened sauce is thickest at this stage, when both starch granules and molecules block the movement of water A granule of wheat starch that has lost nearly all of its starch molecules to the surrounding liquid (right) As the granules in a starchthickened sauce disintegrate, they no longer get caught in the mesh of free starch, and the sauce thins out Different Starches and Their Qualities Cooks have several different forms of starch to choose among for thickening sauces, each with its own particular qualities They fall into two families: starches from grains, including flour and cornstarch, and starches from tubers and roots, including potato starch and arrowroot Less commonly seen except on the ingredient labels of processed foods is sago starch, from the stem pith of a Pacific palm (Metroxylon sagu) Grain Starches Starches from grains tend to share several characteristics Their starch granules are medium-sized, and contain small but significant amounts of lipids (fats, fatty acids, phospholipids) and protein These impurities somehow give the starch granules some structural stability, which means that it takes a higher temperature to gelate them; and ... including flour and cornstarch, and starches from tubers and roots, including potato starch and arrowroot Less commonly seen except on the ingredient labels of processed foods is sago starch, from the stem pith of a Pacific... sago starch, from the stem pith of a Pacific palm (Metroxylon sagu) Grain Starches Starches from grains tend to share several characteristics Their starch granules are medium-sized, and contain small but significant...Different Starches and Their Qualities Cooks have several different forms of starch to choose among for thickening sauces, each with its own particular qualities They fall into two families: starches from grains,