Re: arrowroot & cornflour

Sandra Bodycoat wrote:
> Hi
> I would like to know what is the difference between arrowroot &
cornflour 
> (cornstarch), and why you would use one instead of the other?
> Recently I seen a cooking show using arrowroot in place of cornflour.
> cheers
> sandra 

Corn starch makes a pasty consistency that I don't want in some things. 
Arrowroot thickens without becoming gluey and doesn't need the cooking 
that wheat flour does in order to dispel the "raw flour" taste. Think of 
the consistency of gravy made with corn starch and gravy made with a 
well prepared roux. It really depends on the desired result. Chinese 
tomato-based sweet-and-sour sauce need corn starch. For me, beef gravy 
suffers from it.

Cornstarch is often used where flour would be better (IMHO) because it 
is easy. Flour goes lumpy unless carefully handled. Arrowroot flour is 
about as easy to use as cornstarch (or Wondra). I use oat flour that I 
make myself. (Rolled oats reduced in a blender, then run through a flour 
sifter.) If your flour gravy lumps, serve it as dumplings in sauce. :_)

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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