This useful facts about starch post is all about getting a pre-cooking education. There is so much to learn when it comes to food, health, and wellness. This is going to be a self-education-based cooking school from a more proper and traditional time. A time when books were passed down from generation to generation on your wedding day. A 1930’s publication to be exact. No drive-thrus, fast food, or pre-packaged deli meals, just simple, fresh home-cooked meals.
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Useful Facts About Starch
Foods that are rich in starch:
Flour – White enriched whole wheat, graham, buckwheat, rice, corn, rye, barley potato, soy.
Vegetables – Potatoes, sweet potatoes, hominy, cornmeal.
Legumes – Dried peas, dried beans, lentils, Lima beans, soybeans, marrowfat peas.
Breakfast Foods – Whole or cracker wheat, rolled oats, cornmeal, rice, barley, cracked buckwheat.
Misc – Chocolate, cocoa, macaroni, vermicelli, spaghetti, cornstarch, arrowroot, tapioca, sago, chestnuts, crackers, ginger snaps, and other cookies.
Starch-Rich Foods Must be Cooked Thoroughly-
if they are to be easily digested. This is because starch is not soluble in cold water and because of this the digestive juices will not act. When starch is cooked, it is easy to digest and develops a fine flavor, because cooking changes its form.
When Starch is Cooked in Liquid –
the heat causes the starch grain to crack and absorb liquid and soften. When flour or cornstarch is cooked in a liquid, it thickens the liquid.
When Starch is Cooked by Dry Heat –
that is, with very little moisture, the heat, breaks down the starch grain and changes the starch to a valuable substance called dextrin. Dextrin does not thicken the liquid, but, like starch cooked in water, it has a better flavor and is easier to digest.
Baking a loaf of bread illustrates both of these changes. The starch in the dough inside the loaf absorbs the water used in making the dough, rises, and softens. The water in the dough on the outside of the loaf evaporates and the starch in the outer layers of dough is partly changed. As a result, the crust has more flavor and is sweeter than the crumb.
When baking a potato or sweet potato, the water for cooking the starch is supplied by the potato itself.
Points to be Observed in Cooking Star-rich Foods
- Use enough water to soften all of the starch. When cooking breakfast foods, follow directions carefully. Cook at a temperature as high as the boiling point of water (212ºF.) cook until thick, then place over a double boiler.
- When flour or finely ground meal is mixed with a hot liquid, you must separate the particles before they reach the hot liquid, or lumps with raw centers will be formed. Separation of particles of flour or meal can be accomplished by mixing them with enough cold liquid to make a mixture as thin as cream, or by combining them with sugar or fat before mixing with hot liquid. Lumpy gravies, sauces, and puddings are caused by a failure to observe these precautions.
- A double boiler is the best utensil to use in cooking cereals and starchy sauces because it does away with the danger of sticking and burning. The water in the lower part of the boiler should be boiling.
Thickening Power of Flour and Cornstarch
This is one of the most important things for a good cook to know. If the recipe and directions are followed carefully, mixing and cooking these sauces to make them smooth and velvety is easily accomplished. To keep thickened sauces hot, place it over hot water until ready to use. Reheating or further cooking tends to allow evaporation, which may make them thick and pasty.
When the Liquid Used is Milk –
The recipe should call for a little more milk or a little less starch than when water is used. The solids in milk reduce the total liquid by about 12 percent.
When the Liquid Used is Acid –
Such as vinegar, a tart fruit juice, or tomatoes, the hot acid acts on the starch to form dextrin, just as dry heat does. Dextrin does not have the thickening power of starch. Therefore, when an acid liquid is to be thickened, more starch is needed, and the time for cooking may be shortened. There is no exact time, it will differ from dish to dish.
When Flour is Browned –
Dry heat not only changes the color but part of the starch to dextrin, and the flour may lose a considerable part of its thickening power. More browned flour than uncooked flour must be used or browned flour may be used for color and uncooked flour for thickening.
Cornstarch Requires Longer Cooking than Flour –
A quickly cooked cornstarch mixture always has a raw taste.
If a Sauce is too Thick –
It can be thinned by adding more liquid slowly, stirring constantly.
If a Sauce is too Thin –
It must be thickened by adding more of the thickening agent and recooking it. A starchy sauce or a cream soup is always thinner when hot. The amount of cooling which occurs in transferring a starchy sauce, from the pot to the serving dish thickens it.
If a Sauce is Lumpy –
Because proper precautions have not been taken in mixing and cooking, the sauce will need to be strained.
With Each Cup of Liquid:
1/2 tablespoon flour or 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch: Makes a very thin sauce, which may be used in making thin cream soups.
1 tablespoon flour or 1 teaspoon cornstarch: Makes a thin sauce, which may be used in making cream soups of average thickness.
2 tablespoons flour or 2 teaspoons cornstarch: Makes a medium sauce, which may be used for creamed meats or vegetables, scalloped dishes, gravies, or other sauces where a medium thickness is desired. It has about the thickness of heavy cream.
3 tablespoons flour or 1 tablespoon cornstarch: Makes a thick sauce, which can be used for creamed meats and vegetables, scalloped dishes, gravies, or sauces where a thick sauce is desired. A sauce containing this amount of flour has a considerable body and spreads rather than runs.
4 tablespoons flour or 4 teaspoons cornstarch: Makes a paste when cold. This sauce may be used in making mixtures from croquettes, soufflés, blancmanges (a sweet opaque gelatinous dessert typically set in a mold and served cold), and similar puddings.
Methods of Combining Flour or Cornstarch with Liquids
When little or no fat is used – heat 3/4 of the liquid. Stir in the remainder of the liquid gradually into the thickening agent. If sugar is used it may be mixed with the thickening agent before the liquid is stirred in. Stir into the thickening agent at first with only enough of the cold liquid to make it thick. Stir constantly until smooth to prevent sticking, then add the rest of the cold liquid and continue to stir until smooth. The mixture should be about as thick as medium cream. Stir this gradually into the hot liquid and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. If fat is used, it may be added at this time with continued mixing. After thickening, the sauce should be cooked in a double boiler.
When Fat Amount Equals/Exceeds Amount of the Thickening Agent –
- Melt the fat, add the flour or cornstarch, and cook, stirring constantly, until blended. Stir in the liquid a little at a time, then immediately enough to thin and finally the remainder. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. This is called a roux. If roux is for gravy and meat soups, brown onion, or other herbs in fat before adding flour, then proceed.
- Heat the liquid; cream together the fat and thickening agent; add this to the hot liquid and stir constantly while the fat melts and the particles of flour or cornstarch are being spread through the liquid and cooked. Complete cooking of roux, stirring constantly until thick.
Dishes That Have a Sauce Foundation
A White Sauce is one made from milk or white stock, seasoned, and thickened with flour or cornstarch. It can be used as a sauce for fish, vegetables, creamed soups, and desserts.
A Brown Sauce is one made from milk or water or brown stock, seasoned, and thickened with browned flour or part browned and part white flour or cornstarch, It is used as a sauce for fish, meat, poultry, and soups.
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