SC - Sauces, Gravies, and flour thickening OOP

[Karen Evans]

As some on the list may have surmised, I am not a food historian, or a
famous chef (or any kind of chef for that matter) but a cooking Mom,
and an Epicure.  This discussion of gravies and thickening has been
fascinating and educational for me.

Growing up, my mom used recipes for many things, like baked goods
because the chemistry has to be a little more exacting for things to
rise and have a good texture.  But she didn't have a recipe for gravy,
she just made it, and that is how I learned.

Many times in my childhood, we would have Hamburger Gravy or Tuna
Gravy (what some would call Creamed) on toast or potatoes.  This is a
standard "budget" dinner (my father was in graduate school until I was
7, and there were 4 of us kids) that she learned as a child during the
depression.  For the tuna, you put the can of tuna fish in a large
heavy frying pan, without draining (remember the days of tuna in oil?
before springwater?), add the juice drained from a can of peas, and
more water to make about the volume of gravy she needed.  Heat to
boiling, and add some flour and water shaken to emulsion in a small
jar, along with about half a can of condensed milk, and the peas. 
Stir occasionally until thick, and serve.  I still serve it to my
family, as it has become one of our "comfort foods"

I was in my 20's before I ever heard of roux, or thickening sauces
that way.  I read "gravy recipes" or "white sauce" recipes several
times before I had heard about roux, and with my then limited
experience, they didn't make any sense to me.

I think it entirely possible for medevial cooks to have thickened
their sauces thus, and not with a roux as such.  I guess with the oil
from the tuna already in suspension in the water, and the flour in
suspension in the water in the little jar, it is sort of like a roux,
without the butter browning step.  (sigh, hamburger gravy on
cornbread!! We might have to have something like that tonight!)

Tyrca





 


 
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