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

stove than they’re meant to be at the table.
(Minimizingtheamountofthickenerwillalso
reduce the extent to which the sauce’s flavor
is muted.) The best way to predict the final
textureofasauceistopouraspoonfulintoa
cooldishandthensampleit.

Starchinsaucemaking.Aswollengranuleof
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
allofitsstarchmoleculestothesurrounding
liquid (right).As the granules in a starchthickened sauce disintegrate, they no longer
getcaughtinthemeshoffreestarch,andthe
saucethinsout.


DifferentStarches
andTheirQualities

Cookshaveseveraldifferentformsofstarch
tochooseamongforthickeningsauces,each
withitsownparticularqualities.Theyfall
intotwofamilies:starchesfromgrains,
includingflourandcornstarch,andstarches
fromtubersandroots,includingpotatostarch
andarrowroot.Lesscommonlyseenexcepton
theingredientlabelsofprocessedfoodsis

sagostarch,fromthestempithofaPacific
palm(Metroxylonsagu).
Grain Starches Starches from grains tend to
share several characteristics. Their starch
granulesaremedium-sized,andcontainsmall
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
takesahighertemperaturetogelatethem;and