In my BH&G there is a crockery recipe for "Beef and Brats":

1 pound boneless beef round steak, cut 1" thick
4 ounces uncooked spicy bratwurst, cut into 3/4" slices
1 TB cooking oil
1 small onion sliced and separated into rings
2 TB quick-cooking tapioca
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 14 1/2 oz can chunky tomatoes with garlic and spices, undrained

1) trim fat from beef, cut into 4 pieces. Sear beef and brown brat
slices in oil.
2) place onion in crock, sprinkle with spices, pour in tomatoes, put
meat on top.
3) cook on low for 10-12 hours. Serve on noodles or rice.

a) I presume that the tapioca's role is to thicken the sauces? If
so, I presume that you'd do this instead of the usual water+flour into
drippings method so that the flavor isn't diluted?

b) What is the consistency of this supposed to be like? Watery like a
soup, or thick like a stew? I've never had it before (nor heard of it
prior to owning this book) and it is referred to as an "American
classic". The Internet hasn't heard of it either.

It's a fairly simple, inexpensive recipe and not so bad. I doubled it
so that I could have leftovers for the week, but maybe I screwed up,
because mine turned out watery like soup. If that *is* how it's
supposed to be, how much should I increase the Tapioca to make it more
stew-like?

Or, would it be best to skip the tapioca, separate the fat from the
juices, then do the flour+water+plus juices method to make a "gravy"
out of it?

Thanks.

-J

"phaeton" > wrote in message
...
> In my BH&G there is a crockery recipe for "Beef and Brats":
>
> 1 pound boneless beef round steak, cut 1" thick
> 4 ounces uncooked spicy bratwurst, cut into 3/4" slices
> 1 TB cooking oil
> 1 small onion sliced and separated into rings
> 2 TB quick-cooking tapioca
> 1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
> 1/4 tsp salt
> 1/4 tsp black pepper
> 1 14 1/2 oz can chunky tomatoes with garlic and spices, undrained
>
> 1) trim fat from beef, cut into 4 pieces. Sear beef and brown brat
> slices in oil.
> 2) place onion in crock, sprinkle with spices, pour in tomatoes, put
> meat on top.
> 3) cook on low for 10-12 hours. Serve on noodles or rice.
>
> a) I presume that the tapioca's role is to thicken the sauces? If
> so, I presume that you'd do this instead of the usual water+flour into
> drippings method so that the flavor isn't diluted?
>
> b) What is the consistency of this supposed to be like? Watery like a
> soup, or thick like a stew? I've never had it before (nor heard of it
> prior to owning this book) and it is referred to as an "American
> classic". The Internet hasn't heard of it either.
>
> It's a fairly simple, inexpensive recipe and not so bad. I doubled it
> so that I could have leftovers for the week, but maybe I screwed up,
> because mine turned out watery like soup. If that *is* how it's
> supposed to be, how much should I increase the Tapioca to make it more
> stew-like?
>
> Or, would it be best to skip the tapioca, separate the fat from the
> juices, then do the flour+water+plus juices method to make a "gravy"
> out of it?
>

I've used it in a couple of desert recipes to thicken the filling and it
does indeed coagulate quite copiously. The fact that it didn't thicken might
have more to do with when you added the tapioca than how much. When did you
add it? I don't think you mentioned that.

I would want to do it near the end, say 30 minutes before serving, for fear
it would break down whatever binding power it has over the long cooking
period. However, the flour + water to juices would work too.

Jon

> I would want to do it near the end, say 30 minutes before serving, for fear
> it would break down whatever binding power it has over the long cooking
> period. However, the flour + water to juices would work too.
>
> Jon

Whoops... yeah the recipe says to add it prior to cooking, and that is
what I did. I think I'll try the flour+water=gravy method next time.
Hopefully the tomatoes would let go of all the fat if I put the juices
in a fat separating pitcher.

-J

"Wayne Boatwright" > wrote in message
5.250...
> On Mon 12 Oct 2009 12:16:11p, Zeppo told us...
>
>>
>>
>> "phaeton" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> In my BH&G there is a crockery recipe for "Beef and Brats":
>>>
>>> 1 pound boneless beef round steak, cut 1" thick
>>> 4 ounces uncooked spicy bratwurst, cut into 3/4" slices
>>> 1 TB cooking oil
>>> 1 small onion sliced and separated into rings
>>> 2 TB quick-cooking tapioca
>>> 1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
>>> 1/4 tsp salt
>>> 1/4 tsp black pepper
>>> 1 14 1/2 oz can chunky tomatoes with garlic and spices, undrained
>>>
>>> 1) trim fat from beef, cut into 4 pieces. Sear beef and brown brat
>>> slices in oil.
>>> 2) place onion in crock, sprinkle with spices, pour in tomatoes, put
>>> meat on top.
>>> 3) cook on low for 10-12 hours. Serve on noodles or rice.
>>>
>>> a) I presume that the tapioca's role is to thicken the sauces? If
>>> so, I presume that you'd do this instead of the usual water+flour into
>>> drippings method so that the flavor isn't diluted?
>>>
>>> b) What is the consistency of this supposed to be like? Watery like a
>>> soup, or thick like a stew? I've never had it before (nor heard of it
>>> prior to owning this book) and it is referred to as an "American
>>> classic". The Internet hasn't heard of it either.
>>>
>>> It's a fairly simple, inexpensive recipe and not so bad. I doubled it
>>> so that I could have leftovers for the week, but maybe I screwed up,
>>> because mine turned out watery like soup. If that *is* how it's
>>> supposed to be, how much should I increase the Tapioca to make it more
>>> stew-like?
>>>
>>> Or, would it be best to skip the tapioca, separate the fat from the
>>> juices, then do the flour+water+plus juices method to make a "gravy"
>>> out of it?
>>>
>>
>> I've used it in a couple of desert recipes to thicken the filling and it
>> does indeed coagulate quite copiously. The fact that it didn't thicken
>> might have more to do with when you added the tapioca than how much.
>> When did you add it? I don't think you mentioned that.
>>
>> I would want to do it near the end, say 30 minutes before serving, for
>> fear it would break down whatever binding power it has over the long
>> cooking period. However, the flour + water to juices would work too.
>>
>> Jon
>>
>>
>
> I have an "oven stew" recipe that calls for "minute tapioca". The
> quantity
> specified vs. the rest of ingredients is just right to thicken the liquid
> of the stew. One thing you end up with are almost invisible transparent
> particles of the tapioca. It's not really objectionable, but it can be
> eliminated by grining the tapioca into a powder in a spice mill. The
> finished texture is similar to a sauce/gravy thickened with cornstarch.
>
> The oven stew recipe I have calls for adding the tapioca at the very
> beginining when adding all the other ingredients. The stew cooks at 250°
> for 8 hours.
Hi Wayne,

I seem to remember someone mentioning tapioca flour here sometime ago. Is
that the same thing?

Jon

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>
> Essentially, yes. Tapioca flour is sometimes harder to find than other
> forms, but the various forms of tapioca can be ground to a flour
> consistency.

Most Asian markets have tapioca flour. I was making a lemon meringue
pie and I ran out of cornstarch, so I used tapioca flour for the
remainder. The pie turned out great.


Becca

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:11:50 -0500, Becca > wrote:

>Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>
>> Essentially, yes. Tapioca flour is sometimes harder to find than other
>> forms, but the various forms of tapioca can be ground to a flour
>> consistency.
>
>Most Asian markets have tapioca flour. I was making a lemon meringue
>pie and I ran out of cornstarch, so I used tapioca flour for the
>remainder. The pie turned out great.
>
>
>Becca

Most often what's sold as tapioca (casava) is actually starch of the
sago palm, or is actually arrowroot... culinarilly they are
interchangeable.

http://www.starch.dk/isi/starch/arrowroot.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sago

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Tue 13 Oct 2009 09:11:50a, Becca told us...
>> Most Asian markets have tapioca flour. I was making a lemon meringue
>> pie and I ran out of cornstarch, so I used tapioca flour for the
>> remainder. The pie turned out great.
>>
>>
>> Becca
>>
>>
>
> Is it measure for measure with cornstarch? I've never used it for baking,
> only thickening sauces, gravies, etc.

The tapioca flour worked for me, I am not sure if they are
interchangeable or not. I found out too late, that I was almost out of
cornstarch.


Becca

brooklyn1 wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:11:50 -0500, Becca > wrote:
>
>>
>> Most Asian markets have tapioca flour. I was making a lemon meringue
>> pie and I ran out of cornstarch, so I used tapioca flour for the
>> remainder. The pie turned out great.
>>
>>
>> Becca
>>
>
> Most often what's sold as tapioca (casava) is actually starch of the
> sago palm, or is actually arrowroot... culinarilly they are
> interchangeable.
>
> http://www.starch.dk/isi/starch/arrowroot.htm
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sago
>

Thanks Sheldon. :-)


Becca

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone. I think that next time I
make this it'll be a lot closer to how it should be.

-J