Choklit, soss. Choklit soss?

[spudtater]

When the galaxy_girl00 is away, the spudtater will... make silly foods.

1 mug chocolate milk
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder

Mix all together, heat in microwave, top with squirty cream. Omnomnom!

---

Also have made sauce from scratch both yesterday and today. Not my strong point, but something I really want to improve on. Yesterday's wasn't great — I always forget that sauces need at least a bit (usually a lot) of sugar in them to bring out the flavour. Today's was a huge improvement.

Approximate recipe:

1 onion
~dozen cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
splash milk
knob butter
~dozen frozen pre-cooked meatballs (well, you can't expect me to make everything from scratch)

Chop onion, cover with salt, leave for 15 mins
Heat pan on high heat, add oil, chuck in onions and tomatoes, coat with oil
Turn down to medium heat, leave to cook (stirring occasionally) for 10 mins, or until tomatoes are mushy
Pulp tomatoes. Add sugar, tomato puree, meatballs. Add water if too thick. Cook further 5 mins
Add flour, stir in. Add water if too thick. Add butter and milk. Take off heat, let sit for a couple of minutes. Serve with pasta.

One thing I could use is a method of thickening sauces that doesn't involve flour, which can make things too stodgy and powdery. Am I missing anything obvious? Or am I going to have to be more adventurous with my ingredients?

Edit: have purchased ground arrowroot. Shall try it some time in the future.

Comments

[feorag.livejournal.com]

I use kuzu, which might seem a little expensive, but it takes very little to thicken a sauce, and it makes it translucent and light.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

That would be pretty similar to Arrowroot, I imagine? Might try one or the other if I see it about.

[gominokouhai]

What is the function of salting the onion?

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

In theory it removes water. I hope there's a step missing where you drain off the resulting brine, otherwise it ends up being a rather odd way of seasoning the sauce without being able to taste what you're doing.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

More specifically it allows the onions to caramelize more easily. In this recipe you don't get anywhere near proper caramelization, but it still sweetens them up a little.

The sauce would need plenty of salt anyway, so in this instance I was happy to season before tasting. Maybe if I was cooking for more people I'd be a little more careful.

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I may try this.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Another suggestion I've seen is bicarbonate of soda, but when I tried this it was pretty disastrous! Might try it again in much smaller quantities...   8^)

[gominokouhai]

As for thickening---I generally just leave it on the heat to reduce down. Sometimes, if you want to eat today, this isn't much of an option.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

More specifically, how do you add thickness without having the sauce end up too concentrated?

[gominokouhai]

By not putting too much stuff in it in the first place.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I was trying to work out if you're being facetious, but I have concluded that you're just making no sense.

[gominokouhai]

Neither. Take the recipe above, frex. Consider using half an onion and ~6 tomatoes. Follow recipe up to add water if too thick. STOP. Reduce on the hob until it's the desired consistency. RESUME.

My cooking tends towards sauces that are too strong, largely as a result of this practice, but if you make the sauce thinner/weaker to start with, it negates the undesirable effects later on.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

So your advice on how to make my sauce thicker is to... make it thinner?

...nope, don't have a clue what you're going on about.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

You could try eggplant aubergine to thicken it. When it's boiled down, it has a consistency much like thick tomato sauce, though you'd have to experiment with cooking times. I always take a few hours or more to make my sauces so they come out thick (never used flour, oddly enough).

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Bleugh! Do not want!   8^P

(Although, if I did like aubergine, this would be an excellent suggestion.)   8^]

[gominokouhai]

Addendum: useful information in one of the comments on KKC (Adam Stein).

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Link b0rk.

[gominokouhai]

Gah. http://www.kamikazecookery.com/blogs/75

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Ta. Actually went ahead and added white wine vinegar to a sauce yesterday, and it works pretty well. Definitely a trick to remember.

[gominokouhai]

Also, more stuff in the chef's guest post about beurre manié and roux.