Narsai David: Four Ways To Thicken Sauces

BERKELEY (KCBS) - There are so many ways to thicken sauces, whether you're dealing with a roast meat, or any kind of broth. Here's a couple of traditional ways to thicken a broth once it's boiled down.

There's roux, which is basically equal parts butter and flour. You can cook it until the flower actually starts to brown, which will give a much nuttier flavor. Just stir the roux right into your sauce.

Another French thickener is burre manié, butter kneaded by hand. Take a lump of raw butter and massage it with some flour, then dump that right into your broth.

My standby is what's called a white wash. You can take either corn starch, arrowroot or flour, and dissolve it in any cold liquid—water, white or red wine, milk. Then slowly add that mixture into your broth or sauce until you get the thickness you want.

And my all time favorite go-to is a flour from Gold Medal called Wondra that's been granularized so that it doesn't lump up in hot liquids. It comes in a shaker container, so it's simple and easy to deal with. You just shake it into the pot while whisk your broth, and keep going until you get the smoothness you want.

Narsai David is the KCBS Food and Wine Editor. He has been a successful restaurateur, chef, TV host, and columnist in the Bay Area spanning four decades. You can hear him Saturdays at 10:53 a.m., 12:53 p.m. and 4:53 p.m., and at 2:53 a.m. Sunday on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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