Many recipes for sauces and stir-fries call for cornstarch slurry, which is cornstarch dissolved in liquid. Here are some tips to keep in mind when using it:
1 Dissolve cornstarch in cold or room-temperature liquid to prevent clumping.
2 Once cornstarch slurry is added to the liquid to be thickened, boil just until the liquid has thickened and the starchy taste has been cooked away, about one minute. Don’t cook the sauce any longer—continued cooking and stirring will break down the starch and the liquid will thin out again.
3 Cornstarch slurry is best used in stir-fries, pastry creams, and chocolate puddings.
4 Acid makes this thickener less effective. When thickening acidic liquid, use tapioca flour or arrowroot starch.
5 Cornstarch doesn’t freeze and thaw well. For casseroles, sauces, and pies that need to be frozen, use tapioca flour or potato starch instead.
Learn how to use cornstarch as a thickener in these video tutorials:
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