"Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
...
> Meryl wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I made my first own broccoli with cream sauce using flour, butter and
> > milk to make a white sauce but it came out ... too starchy tasting.
> >
> > I tried to understand what happened (thanks to the many good posts here
> > about this) but I have a question. Many posts on RFC say to cook the
> > flour and butter for a short time "to remove the starch taste" but some
> > others say cook the white sauce for a long time ... "to remove the
> > starch taste".
> >
> > So I was cureous, what is it that gets rid of the starch taste, cooking
> > the flour or the white sauce? I was cureous too, how does the starch
> > manage to provide thickness but no starch flavor once its cooked
> > properly?
>
> The simplest solution is to do what Escoffier suggested. Use a pure
> starch like corn starch, potato starch, etc. in the roux. It's
> essentially instant and it has none of the drawbacks of flour. No long
> cook needed, either before or after adding it to the sauce base, no
> skimming necessary, thickness becomes obvious quickly rather than
> after cooking and waiting.
>
> You're not tasting starch in that undercooked roux, or rather you're
> tasting everything else plus ungelatinized starch. It's pasty and
> that's because the starch is part of a very complex little package,
> each member of which needs to be cooked in its own fashion. Cut to the
> chase. Use a pure starch. If you want the opacity that flour provides,
> use a slurry with some cream in it instead of the roux. Finish by
> mounting with butter and - voila - a good, classic, Escoffier-approved
> sauce.

Another alternative is to use Wondra Flour which is pre-gelatinized.