What about boiling it down? Simple ol' evaporation.

I don't think it's one stop shopping because they result in different textures. For teriyaki sauce I'd have used corn starch, but I'd use flour in other things where I don't want that silky mouth feel.

I frequently turn to Wondra, very easy to work with. If you haven't already, you might want to experiment with xanthan gum - in very small quantities and do not feed to infants.

I use agar, a sea vegetable flake. (Eden brand makes one). And tapioca, made from yucca.
Both found at a health food store. They do not affect taste or color. Ladle out a cup of liquid into a bowl and stir in. Then add back to soup or stews. Or dissolve in a cup of warm water. I only use flour if i need or want a dark rough as in a gumbo.
If i want a more creamy soup or stew that has rice, white bean or potato, I often cook those elements separate to control the cooking time...added too soon or too late might not cook properly timing other ingredients....so i can puree some of that before adding to the rest of the soup/stew.
Agar and tapioca are my go-to thickeners as both produce a clear gelatin. Tapioca is super for thickening frozen fruits like blueberries/strawberries that tend to be watery after a thaw for tarts and pies.

Different thickeners for different uses..... It depends on many things - cooked (or not), kind of gel formation wanted/needed, and whether it's going to be frozen or reheated. Thickeners are a food science study....

-wheat flour
Poor resistance to thinning when overcooked.
Fair gel formation.
Does not freeze well.

-cornstarch
Good resistance to thinning when overcooked.
Good gel formation.
Does not freeze well.

-arrowroot
Good resistance to thinning when overcooked.
Fair gel formation.
Does not reheat well.

-tapioca
Fair-poor resistance to thinning when overcooked.
Poor gel formation.
Freezes well.

-potato starch
Fair resistance to thinning when overcooked.
Poor gel formation.

-rice flour
Good resistance to thinning when overcooked
Poor gel formation.
Freezes well.

Check out the information at Cook's Thesaurus at the link below.

I use arrowroot as a thickener, and I've recently become a big fan of Ultra Gel, and have used ClearJel for years. I use Xanthan Gum in gluten-free foods, but it's expensive stuff.

Ultra Gel, unlike flour, cornstarch and Instant ClearJel, can be stirred directly into liquids without lumping. Ultra Gel is great for things you are going to freeze. It can also tolerate the extreme temperatures of canning and freezing without breaking down. You can also reduce the amount of sugar in syrups, jams and jellies. Things don't separate, set up hard or go runny when refrigerated or frozen. It actually improves the texture, mouth-feel, and keeping qualities of baked goods.

Ultra Gel Conversion Guidelines:

Ultra Gel replaces cornstarch, arrowroot, flour and tapioca in thickening applications:

1 T. cornstarch or arrowroot = 2 T. Ultra Gel
1 T. flour or tapioca = 1 T. Ultra Gel

Can be added to hot or cold liquids.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Cook's Thesaurus -Thickeners

It really depends on what I'm making. I don't like corn starch in gravies. But I will use corn starch in Asian dishes.

For most sauces and gravies, I make a roux first.

I also will thicken stews with a beurre manié, Equal parts butter and flour kneaded together and then whisked into hot liquid, soups and stews and sauces to thicken.

Ann

In an Asian store, you can find 10 to 15 different kinds of flour, including sweet potato, bean, water chestnut, waterlily, gluten rice, taro ---------. They all can be used for thickening.

dcarch

From notes in my file on thickeners:

Butter - add cold butter at the end of cooking a pan sauce to thicken it. No need for a starch-based thickener.

Masa flour - made into a water/flour slurry. It imparts the flavor of fresh corn tortillas (can end up being a "secret" ingredient - if you know what I mean ;-). Good in chili that needs thickening, or tortilla soup.

Potato flakes - add to broth/soup/stew. Ends up being similar to pureed vegetables.

Potato STARCH - If you need to make soup/stew ahead to freeze or refrigerate to use later, you can use potato starch to thicken it when you reheat it. In fact, it's best used at the end of cooking so you can avoid over-thickening and over-cooking the thickener. There is no aftertaste. Requires less simmering than flour-based thickeners. Avoid using with high temperatures or when you need something to have holding power.

Coconut flour - Need something to help absorb liquid and thicken? Because of it's density, try coconut flour. Caution: little goes a long way.

Nut butters/grains/cereals - You can add cornmeal, grits, oatmeal or oat flour, etc. as well as nut meals, nut flour and nut butter to sauces. Almond flour can be used in stews, puddings, pies....

Don't use arrowroot with dairy because it turns slimy. Cornstarch is the better choice to thicken dairy.

Konjac flour - A food gum with 10-times the viscosity of cornstarch (viscosity is the firmness/thickness of the solution) that works as a low-carb thickener.

-Grainlady

I use a roux for many sauces, but when I have leftover marinades that I want to thicken into a sauce, I generally use potato starch or tapioca starch. Lately I prefer the tapioca because the potato starch loses its thickening when the sauce is stored and then reheated, but it's great if you plan to use all of the sauce at once.

When I make gumbo, I use sauteed okra for some of the thickening, but file powder is supposed to work also, although I haven't noticed it having much power as a thickener. I still add it for the flavor and only at the end of cooking. Most of the thickening in my gumbo comes from the dark roux that I make, and a dark roux has less thickening power than a light roux, but again it is the flavor I am after.

Lars

SEVERAL years ago, at Thanksgiving dinner... asked what can I do and was told gravy. Brother was handling the bird just fine. I was handed 2 jars of "turkey gravy"?? When I aksed for flour and something to shake it up in... became gravy QUEEN?? And this was among ADULTS??

A belated thank you for all these answers. I have a list of thickening agents to try. Some I've never heard of!

P.S. the reason reduction doesn't work for everything is that it concentrates flavours. When the liquid starts out with a dilute flavour, that works. But if you want to thicken, say, teriyaki sauce - the flavour can't be concentrated much more or it would be inedible.

An heirloom thickening agent you'll find in many PA Dutch kitchens is a jar of browned flour. I have two - light brown and dark brown. About a cup and a half of AP flour is browned without any fat or liquid over medium heat in a cast iron skillet, while whisking more or less constantly until it turns a beautiful golden brown or a milk chocolate color.

Light brown is used to thicken chicken or dairy dishes; dark brown for pork or beef dishes. The flour is mixed with water, broth or other liquid to form a slurry which is added to the boiling liquid to be thickened.

So next time you see a golden chicken gravy or a dark, rich beef gravy and wonder if that Kitchen Bouquet in a bottle was added, it just might have been made with browned flour.

Oh Ruthanna!

I did not realize anybody else made browned flour except my Mamma! That's the only way I knew how to make gravy until I was in my early 30s and started watching FoodTV. All the chefs made a roux which I didn't know existed. So, I assumed I'd been doing it either just wrong or "country bumpkin-ish" and changed to a roux. :( My gravy was never as good thereafter. I guess after reading your post above it was those durn German-Russian roots showing up again! (Mom was PA Dutch and Dad was German-Russian) I'm going to make some brown flour TODAY and add a whole chicken to my grocery list. What a coincidence to read your post. :) I still miss having Mom around (she died 10 days after my wedding) all these years when I have questions. She died 43 years ago come September 21. The older I get my cooking is getting closer to my heritage. Thank you for your comment to John.

/tricia

Tricia, I'm glad I brought back some pleasant memories for you. I do rouxs, reductions, and other thickening techniques but hadn't seen the browned flour mentioned. I also use it in stews.

Rice flour or chickpea flour for vegetable dishes. Just thin with some water and then mix with the dish. Rice flour thickness and has no flavor. Chickpea flour does have a flavor and color and needs to be cooked after adding to remove the raw taste.

This post was edited by GWlolo on Tue, Sep 17, 13 at 20:22