"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Teri wrote:
>
>> Slurry question: I assume this is a mixture where the flour gets mixed
>> with
>> the water - what's the ratio? equal amounts? - do you need a certain
>> amount
>> of slurry to thicken a certain amount of liquid? (i know most people do
>> this by feel or sight, but I can never seem to get it right)
>
> Probably about three parts cold water to one part flour. The idea is to
> mix it
> cold and then pop it into the hot liquid so that it won't get lumpy. If
> you add
> flour directly to hot liquid, or if you add a thick slurry, it is likely
> to be
> go lumpy.
>
>> When you add flour to pan juices - do you need to bring it to a boil? If
>> you stir long enough, will it definitely thicken (sometimes - i wonder if
>> i
>> didn't give it enough time to thicken up) if you've added flour.
>
> What you should so is to poor off the juices leaving enough fat to mix
> with the
> flour to make the roux. Then return the pan juices.... minus the extra
> fat....
> and add liquid as required. You can use vegetable water, broth, wine....
>
> It depends on the type and cut of the meat, the type of pan. My sister
> in law
> taught me to make gravy by pouring off most of the fat, let the pan cool,
> add
> the flour and stirring it in and then heating it up. I found that if the
> there
> were lots of nice little brown bits stuck to the pan it was better to
> deglace
> with wine, and then use the slurry.

I never understood why sometimes it got so lumpy! Thanks!
Teri

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