# Cornstarch/Cornflour where am i going wrong?



## Douzer77 (May 13, 2008)

Everytime I try to thicken a sauce with cornflour i always end up with white bits floating in my sauce .  i blend a little with water and then add to sauce and loan behold there are the white bits everytime!!!  HELP!!!


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## miniman (May 13, 2008)

Thats how I do it Douzer. The only thing to make sure your slurry is well mixed and really stir your slurry into the sauce. Also do it just before the sauce is ready, the cornflour breaks down if you keep cooking it.


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## Andy M. (May 13, 2008)

Maks sure your slurry is with cold or room temp. liquid and as miniman said there are no lumps in the slurry.  Then whisk it into the hot liquid in the pan to eliminate lumps.


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## jpmcgrew (May 13, 2008)

Make sure you use enough water and that it's cold water. If you set slurry down a while make sure to stir it up again. Add slowly and stir whatever you are cooking until its mixed in.


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## LadyCook61 (May 13, 2008)

I do the same, mix well with cold water , then add a little from the hot sauce to the slurry and mix well, and then gradually add to sauce.


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## jkath (May 13, 2008)

What they said....
or, here's something that never seems to clump for me:


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## Carlos75 (May 14, 2008)

It can take a while for it to be fully mixed in, keep on stirring...


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## CharlieD (May 14, 2008)

I think starch is easier to deal with. That is what i started with and then after I had more expirience in the kitchen I moved onto using flour.


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## VeraBlue (May 14, 2008)

Try tempering it, instead.   Put some of the flour or cornstarch in a bowl, and add a bit (a cup, depending on how much you are actually working with) of the hot liquid, whisking till incorporated.  Then, slowly add that to the simmering pot.   This method should prevent clumping.


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## Caine (May 14, 2008)

VeraBlue said:


> Try tempering it, instead. Put some of the flour or cornstarch in a bowl, and add a bit (a cup, depending on how much you are actually working with) of the hot liquid, whisking till incorporated. Then, slowly add that to the simmering pot. This method should prevent clumping.


This might work with flour, but I don't believe it is going to work with corn starch. If you add a hot liquid to corn starch, it clumps immediately. We're talking a corn starch rock.


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## CharlieD (May 14, 2008)

BUt the original question was about flour.


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## Douzer77 (May 14, 2008)

Hmmm, i always thought cornstarch and cornflour was one in the same thing!. its definately cornflour i'm working with! would cornstarch be easier to work with?


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## Andy M. (May 14, 2008)

I believe you are right. What we in the US call corn starch, is referred to as corn flour in other parts of the world.

Check this out.


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## jennyema (May 14, 2008)

CharlieD said:


> BUt the original question was about flour.


 
It was about cornstarch


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## CharlieD (May 15, 2008)

Providing Andy's coment, I see how the question as about cornstarch. Little did I know that people call starch - flour, or is it other way around, I'm confused.


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## Caine (May 15, 2008)

CharlieD said:


> Providing Andy's coment, I see how the question as about cornstarch. Little did I know that people call starch - flour, or is it other way around, I'm confused.


You had to look at the location of the questioner. In Europe, the terms are interchangeable, but in the U.S., particularly the southwest U.S., corn flour, or masa harina, which is made from dried corn which has been soaked in lime water, is used to make Mexican specialties such as corn tortillas, tamales, empanadas, etc. Corn starch, on the other hand, is a fine powdery substance made from the endosperm of the corn kernal, and used as a thickening agent. Don't see to many enchiladas or tamales in Ireland these days.


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