Kitchen Tip of the Week: Cornstarch Confession

For me, corn starch is one of those superhero ingredients that can really save the day. Some people, though, think it's a cheat ingredient; feeling like its use is an all-too-easy way to get your gravy just right. However, I can happily say I've seen Food Network Iron Chefs toss in a handful of cornstarch in the limelight of Kitchen Stadium, so I'll stick with using it. (We'll just ignore that maybe they were adding it to save time, and thicken the sauce within the short amount of time they're given to make some serious magic...)

As most of us already know, cornstarch is used to thicken sauces, desserts, soup, and anything else you want to make a little thicker during game time in the kitchen. 

A lot of people run into a huge problem:

clumping

You know - those little balls of white that will never whisk down no matter how hard you try. It's crazy, and is a quick way to make a sauce look from pro to...  no. 

Thankfully, there are two methods I use to prevent cornstarch from clumping in the fourth quarter:

Tip:

#1 - To thicken a sauce with cornstarch, you can make a slurry, which is equal parts cornstarch and liquid. After you've created your slurry, slowly add it to your sauce and let it cook through. 

#2 - If you don't want to add any more liquid to your sauce, use a small fine mesh sieve to separate the cornstarch powder into the sauce. By about a teaspoon, slowly sift the cornstarch through the sieve. It won't clump, and you won't have to add any more liquid (as you would with a slurry). 

Easy peasy.