

This method is called tempering-it prevents the egg yolk from curdling when stirred into a sauce over heat. Whisk some of the thin sauce into an egg yolk in a separate bowl, then whisk the egg yolk mixture back into the sauce over low heat to let it do its thing. For dairy-based sauces, skip the arrowroot powder, which has a tendency to become slimy when combined with milk or cheese.Įgg yolks can be a magical thickener. The rule of thumb here is to plan on 1 tablespoon of either powder in a slurry for each cup of liquid. If you want a gluten-free thickener, you can use cornstarch or constarch substitute and arrowroot powder to make a slurry (use equal parts cornstarch or arrowroot powder and water, whisked together). A roux (equal parts flour and butter, whisked and cooked together over heat) is another flour-based thickener, but it's generally used as a building block in the earlier stages of sauce-making, so it's not a great fix if your sauce is already made. Start by adding a little bit, then cook, stirring, for a few minutes to allow the sauce time to thicken and cook off the raw flour taste if the results are minimal, add more.
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(This is also a trick we use for how to thicken stew, too!) A general ratio to work with is 2 tablespoons flour for every cup of liquid.

For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)-both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.

The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. What are different methods for thickening sauces? Flour-Based Thickeners
