Convenient and versatile, corn starch is used as a thickener for gravies, sauces and glazes, soups, stews and casseroles. It also thickens pies and is an essential ingredient in corn starch puddings and cake fillings.
In cakes, cookies and pastries, corn starch is often mixed with flour to produce more tender baked goods. It also is used to coat foods before frying, it really works well for fish giving you a light crispy coating without a lot of carbs.
Corn starch thickens with a satiny smoothness and glossy appearance. It adds no taste of its own to mask the flavor of foods. Recipes thickened with corn starch have a brighter, more translucent appearance than those thickened with flour. Corn starch also blends more easily with cold liquids than flour because it doesn't absorb liquid until it's cooked.
Corn starch has the same "thickening power" as arrowroot, potato starch and tapioca, and you should substitute the same amount. Corn starch has twice the "thickening power" of flour, so it's necessary to use only half as much. Example: If recipe calls for 1/4 cup of flour, use just 2 tablespoons corn starch.
Corn Starch is good to use and store for an indefinite period of time as long as it is kept dry.
Lately thanks to some recipes on the Argo Corn Starch web site, I have been using it in place of flour in recipes. Brownies, and pancakes are just two I have tried so far.
Corn Starch added to Meringue pie topping will help it last longer, not weep, and hold up when refrigerated. You can sprinkle it on the egg whites just before they are beaten enough or heat it with some water and make a warm slurry to add to eggs while you are beating them.
Both Sue and I use Argo brand. I have tried several others and have not been pleased with the results. Argo now comes in a nice square plastic container with a wide mouth opening so it is easy to spoon out and measure. If you have a favorite brand you like and use by all means use it. Different parts of the country use different brands.
I use Argo in my Egg Foo Young Gravy.
ReplyDeleteI like it in stir fries and haven't had Egg Foo Young in years. That sounds good.
ReplyDeleteHave always used Argo corn starch; (over 50 years now) as a thickening unit; more so than using flour.
ReplyDeleteOnce I find a product that I really like; I use no other. I figure why switch to something else when a product does a good job & I'm happy with it. No need to switch to something else.
I agree with you, use what works for you. The few times I have had to switch because it wasn't available I was not happy with the produce and went back to what I had always used as soon as I could get it again.
DeleteI wish there was something else to use other then corn starch but I'd rather have that then something with soy.
ReplyDeleteMyrna was a celiac and couldn't eat wheat flour, so cornstarch gave her a chance to enjoy some foods like gravy and breading on meat, fish and poultry. I spent high school and college years in the South, where cornstarch is used more often than in the Midwest and learned to like it in gravies and puddings instead of flour. I can't eat soy.
ReplyDelete