Please help me - cornflour!

[BadgertheBodger]

I need urgent cornflour help please. Just what exactly does one do with fucking cornflour to thicken gravy?

I’m looking for a method which does not involve any of the following:

• decorating grade wallpaper paste which sits in a clump in the gravy
• small white lumps throughout gravy reminiscent of mould
• further ruined bowls from attempting to mix a “smooth paste”
• a strange hybrid paste/lump which congealed solid and refused to melt in the gravy
• any more of my futile effort

I mean, I get the concept but what the fucking fuck is going wrong here?

Help me...please!

Do you not add it to water first then add it to the gravy

Get a cup. Put some cold milk in it, two cups of tea worth. Add a teaspoon of cornflour. Mix till smooth. Add to the gravy and stir till thickened.
Repeat till thick enough.

I thought so but I don’t appear to be capable of executing this

Milk, JohnLapsley?

Mix a little bit of cornflour with water and mix til smooth. Then slacken it with quite a lot of cold water (needs to be watery and thin) before adding to hot liquid and stirring vigorously over a low heat.

A couple of teaspoons of cornflour in a glass. Add a bit of cold water, mix and then add to whatever you need thickened. Don't understand why its causing issues?

Ok, so I always add it to cold water first, get the lumps out and then add. Stir constantly and keep the head low.

@Ffsnosexallowed

A couple of teaspoons of cornflour in a glass. Add a bit of cold water, mix and then add to whatever you need thickened. Don't understand why its causing issues?

Me neither, ffs but it’s not gone well so far the 5 times I’ve tried it

I do it like @EnPoinsettia. Remember that it won’t really thicken until the sauce or gravy starts to come close to the boil - the heat bursts the starch and that’s what thickens the gravy.

I always use milk. Blame my weird island ways

It took me ages to work out to never mix it with warm or hot water. It has to be cold or you get lumps.

And two teaspoons of cornflour is enough for a small pan of gravy, so if it’s not thickening at all, make a bit more cornflour mixture.

1 part cornflour to 2 parts cold water is what I have always done. Mix first then add x

Put in small bowl,
Add enough water to make it like milk,
Heat gravy to boiling point and stir vigorously,
Keep stirring and trickle in the cornflour, the gravy should start to thicken pretty much immediately.

Or - put a spoonful of cornflour into cold gravy,
Mix till dissolved,
Heat slowly, stirring all the time.

Doesn't work for me either. I assume you have to chant incantations or sacrifice a goat to appease the sodding stuff.

I buy a pouch of ready made gravy and bung it in the microwave.

I usually make a thin watery mix of cold water and cornflour, and drizzle it into the pot slowly while stirring it constantly. Then keep stirring until you're sure it's not going to thicken any more.

You can get thickening granules in the baking section at most supermarkets. Just looks like a pot of bisto granules or something but with no flavour. Works like a charm and much easier than fannying about with cornflour

To be fair I don't make Jamie's gravy, maybe something in the recipe makes it harder?

Thickening granules! I think I need these. Many thanks for your kind suggestions, wish me luck I’m going to have another go

I tip the juices out of the roasting tin to settle, and then use a spatula to mix dry cornflour into the fat left in the pan to make a paste (scraping up any nice crispy bits as I go). Then I pour the juices back in (minus as much of the fat as I can) and add a bit more stock if needed, then mix again before heating, stirring frequently. If I get impatient and skip a step, a stick blender will sort out most lumps.

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack

I usually make a thin watery mix of cold water and cornflour, and drizzle it into the pot slowly while stirring it constantly. Then keep stirring until you're sure it's not going to thicken any more.

Thats what I do.

I use either red or white wine to make a paste with the cornflour depending on if I’m making Beef/lamb gravy or chicken/turkey gravy.

Don’t use cornflour, it is too slick.

WELSH VALLEY GRAVY

Melt a piece of butter or vegan ‘butter’, about a tablespoon, over a low heat.
Remove from stove
Slowly add, stirring with a small whisk, 1 tbsp flour. Can be SR or plain, GF or ordinary.
Add either water from boiled vegetables or from kettle.
Stir very slowly over low heat, adding more water until you have amount of gravy you need. Above makes enough for two/three people.

If the gravy looks lumpy use stick blender to smooth it all.
Return to heat stirring and stirring.
Add stock cubes or bouillon, tsp of mustard or Marmite
To give lovely brown colour use gravy browning.

If you eat meat you can use the fat from the roast instead of butter

It’s absolutely lovely and you could hide in the kitchen and put some in a bowl to eat with bread dipped in.

.

Well I think the actually mixing of the cornflour went ok...thin watery paste as advised, but it has not done much to actually thicken the gravy. Possibly because there’s 3.5 litres of gravy. I’ve given up now, it can go in MIL’s freezer and on the day I’ll say oooh it looks a bit thin and she’ll do her Irish mammy cooking wizardry and make it ok while I drink wine

I usually take the cornflour and add a few table spoons of the mixture in trying to thicken.

Stir till it dissolves then add to the pan.

And repeat till I get the consistency I need.

Not failed yet