Guest guest Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 ----- Original Message ----- From: " F. Jewett " > Am I the only person in the world that has tried to use sorghum as a > replacement for flour in gravies, stews, and had it turn into a miserable > failure every ... single ... time? If I'm making gravy, I use a starch flour. If I'm making a roux, I use glutenous (sticky/sweet) rice flour. I haven't tried sorghum for making gravy. GF grains lack the " stretch " and cohesiveness of gluten flours, which is why guar gum or xanthan gum are added to the recipes. Perhaps either of these is your missing ingredient? Or using a combination of sorghum and starch? Just tossin' out ideas. --s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 >(Yes, I know I can use arrowroot and whatnot, but there are some times when >using " flour " is more appropriate.) When is flour more appropriate? I watch cooking shows a lot, and some of the gourmet cooks don't use wheat flour for sauces for culinary reasons. But you could use rice flour ... it is " flour " , and if it is brown rice flour it is whole grain. I avoided wheat flour for sauces when I DID eat wheat mainly because it clumps too easily. Potato flour is the easiest to work with, makes great soups. I've never tried sorghum for sauce, I'll try it and let you know what happens. >I'm using Bob's Red Mill. Do I have to regrind this stuff to get it >finer or something? Or am I completely and totally out of luck on this >score? My sorghum is really fine, as was Bob's Red Mill when I last saw it. What does it do that you don't like? Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 At 10:46 AM 10/23/04 -0400, you wrote: >If I'm making gravy, I use a starch flour. If I'm making a roux, I use >glutenous (sticky/sweet) rice flour. I haven't tried sorghum for making >gravy. GF grains lack the " stretch " and cohesiveness of gluten flours, >which is why guar gum or xanthan gum are added to the recipes. Perhaps >either of these is your missing ingredient? Or using a combination of >sorghum and starch? > >Just tossin' out ideas. Thanks, ideas are good! So rice flour works okay for a roux, huh? Odd, I never considered that. Too set in my ways, perhaps. But I'm workin' on that. Tee HEE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 At 10:30 AM 10/23/04 -0700, you wrote: > > >>(Yes, I know I can use arrowroot and whatnot, but there are some times when >>using " flour " is more appropriate.) > >When is flour more appropriate? " Cultural conditioning " . That's my only excuse. Wow. >I watch cooking shows a lot, and >some of the gourmet cooks don't use wheat flour for sauces >for culinary reasons. But you could use rice flour ... it is " flour " , >and if it is brown rice flour it is whole grain. I avoided wheat flour >for sauces when I DID eat wheat mainly because it clumps too >easily. Potato flour is the easiest to work with, makes great soups. > Time to get past the cultural conditioning. I dunno, I just always thought " gravy " shouldn't be ... clearish? Is that a word? Hehe. >I've never tried sorghum for sauce, I'll try it and let you know what >happens. Be interesting to see if you get the same thing I did - although per Suzanne's post, I used it straight, not mixed with anything else (i.e. starch or xantham or whatever). >My sorghum is really fine, as was Bob's Red Mill when I last saw it. >What does it do that you don't like? It's grainy. Not unmixed or unthickened, it works fine thickening-wise. But it's grainy. Like eating sand in your sauce. It may be simply something like the cooking time or the amount of heat or something odd like that. I don't have enough experience with it yet to know how it might react differently - it just didn't occur to me that in something as simple as pan gravy, it would react any differently than " regular " flour. *shrug* MFJ I just don't like it when you lump me in with everyone else in the world. Because just like everyone else in the world, I wanna be speshul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 How about cornflour (cornstarch)? Cheers, Tas'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 ----- Original Message ----- From: " F. Jewett " So rice flour works okay for a roux, huh? >> Ayep! With cooler weather setting in, I just made the first gumbo of the season....well, actually the first ever since going gf, so this was a test case. It turned out to be the best batch of gumbo I've ever made (we used Aidel's andoille sausage, so that helped and my mother pronounced it the best she'd *ever* had. High praise indeed. It might have made a difference, too, that I used Spectrum Palm shortening for the oil rather than the typical grain/veg oil or even olive oil. I was able to get the roux a very deep brown without burning it. It struck me as being slightly grittier than wheat flour roux, but when I added it to the gumbo, the textural difference faded....perhaps because it cooked with the gumbo. I'm making gumbo again this weekend and hoping that it wasn't a fluke! --s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 >Time to get past the cultural conditioning. I dunno, I just always >thought " gravy " shouldn't be ... clearish? Is that a word? Hehe. I don't think potato flour is clearish, it's whitish. I never add xanthan to gravies etc. though, it's too slippery (weird, weird texture except in bread). In general you do NOT want protein in sauces, which is why the chefs like potato and rice flour. > >My sorghum is really fine, as was Bob's Red Mill when I last saw it. >>What does it do that you don't like? > >It's grainy. Not unmixed or unthickened, it works fine thickening-wise. > But it's grainy. Like eating sand in your sauce. Huh. No, I don't get that with sorghum. I DID make my bread brown once. I don't use Bob's Red Mill though. > It may be simply something like the cooking time or the amount of heat or >something odd like that. I don't have enough experience with it yet to >know how it might react differently - it just didn't occur to me that in >something as simple as pan gravy, it would react any differently than > " regular " flour. *shrug* Actually all the starches are a little different for thickeners ... there was a discussion about that once, and the chefs are pretty opinionated on the subject. Graham Kerr loves arrowroot ... > Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 I use either arrowroot starch or tapioca flour for sauces. You have to dissolve them in cool liquid first before adding them to the sauce. Irene At 08:12 PM 10/22/04, you wrote: >Am I the only person in the world that has tried to use sorghum as a >replacement for flour in gravies, stews, and had it turn into a miserable >failure every ... single ... time? > >Done it about a dozen times, different scenarios, different ratios, >different goals ... and every single time I end up with something >disgustingly grainy. It just doesn't seem to integrate or cook or ... >something. > >(Yes, I know I can use arrowroot and whatnot, but there are some times when >using " flour " is more appropriate.) > >I'm using Bob's Red Mill. Do I have to regrind this stuff to get it >finer or something? Or am I completely and totally out of luck on this >score? > >*sigh* > >Rant over. Just really disappointed at the moment. Coulda SWORN it >was gonna work this time. I was looking forward to that sauce. Dang, >now I have to go put out MORE effort to make another one. *sigh* ... the >trials and tribble-ations. > > > >MFJ >Sauceless but undeterred >My dinner asploded? > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 ----- Original Message ----- From: " Irene Musiol " > I use either arrowroot starch or tapioca flour for sauces. You have to > dissolve them in cool liquid first before adding them to the sauce. > Irene > <nodding> These are my favorite sauce flours, as well. I've also found these flours to be *tremendous* for breading and frying foods. Simply wet the food item and dredge or shake in a bag full of flour, let flour saturate to a paste consistency, then fry. O. M. G. Better than any grain flour, imo. I grind up various meats, make meatballs, grill, then deep fry this way just long enough to cook the coating. This is my children's favorite food and they think of them as most kids think of McNuggets. --s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 Sounds great, I'll have to try that! Irene At 05:26 AM 10/24/04, you wrote: >----- Original Message ----- >From: " Irene Musiol " > > > I use either arrowroot starch or tapioca flour for sauces. You have to > > dissolve them in cool liquid first before adding them to the sauce. > > Irene > > > ><nodding> These are my favorite sauce flours, as well. I've also found >these flours to be *tremendous* for breading and frying foods. Simply wet >the food item and dredge or shake in a bag full of flour, let flour saturate >to a paste consistency, then fry. O. M. G. Better than any grain flour, >imo. > >I grind up various meats, make meatballs, grill, then deep fry this way just >long enough to cook the coating. This is my children's favorite food and >they think of them as most kids think of McNuggets. > >--s > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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