SC -Simmering cream sauce, was Fried/fri interjection

[Decker, Terry D.]

> At 11:19 AM -0400 9/3/98, Jgoldsp at aol.com wrote:
> >Roux is classical french method of thickening sauces and gravies that
> came in
> >to being in France around the mid17th century though there are hints in
> >earlier books.This happened because of a little revolution in plowing
> method
> >and in grain plantin{ie wheat} and finally the milling process which
> aloud a
> >finner whiter flour to be produced.
> 
> 2. I'm not sure I understand your explanation of why it happened. How
> would
> a change in plowing methods be relevant? Roux uses trivial amounts of
> flour
> compared to bread, so it isn't likely to have anything to do with changes
> in price and availability. My impression is that you can make fine flour
> by
> stone grinding--am I wrong?
> 
> David/Cariadoc
> http://www.best.com/~ddfr/
> 
Stone grinding will produce a very fine flour if you are using hard, careful
dressed stones.  In such cases about 80 percent of the wheat berry becomes
usable flour.  Roller milling, a 19th Century invention, increases the
percentage of usable flour, but not necessarily the fineness of the flour.
In any event, very fine flour could have been had in period by boulting
through fine cloth and flour usable in roux could have been had by passing
twice-boulted flour through a fine sieve.

IIRC, mid to late 17th Century saw the introduction of contour plowing and
some hybrid wheats, but those would have nothing to do with the fineness or
whiteness of the flour.  

Bear
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