Ingredients to thicken Sauces?

I've been developing a couple BBQ, and soy sauce-style sauces. I've got the flavors right but they are too runny even after multi-hour reductions. I've been trying to make them more viscous & act more like ketchup or mustard--but not taste like them!

Anybody have any ideas for some thickening ingredients (other than flour)?

Thanks!

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Brandon_Byrd_40557

.25% xanthan.

fisher23

+1 for xanthan

elviswasjesus

This is probably unnecessary detail to @Brandon_Byrd_40557's excellent suggestion, but a great free resource on thickening and gelling is Dave Arnold's Hydrocolloids Primer at the (semi-defunct) Cooking Issues blog:

http://www.cookingissues.com/index.html%3Fp=1247.html

Molecular Recipes also has a neat guide that probably owes something to Dave: (http://www.molecularrecipes.com/hydrocolloid-guide)

If for some reason xanthan doesn't work for you, you could try locust bean gum. Maybe 0.2% relative to the weight of your sauce, blended in and hydrated at over 80C for a couple of minutes. As the others note, xanthan's got you covered though.

wolfiegirl

If you're developing your own recipes (fun, ain't it!!?!) you might want to revisit your ingredients. Could be you have too much liquid in what you're making to begin with thus even with a longer reduction time you're still not where you want to be viscosity-wise. Just a thought.

JasonWirth_68226

You mention soy sauce. Try potato starch. It's quite common in Asian cooking.

tangma27

i feel like whenever I use starches to thicken sauces it tends to zap flavor away! But i..still use it anyways from time to time. Try using Xanthan or gelatin (if is a hot sauce), or try making a fluid gel like Chefstep's beet fluid gel! it has an awesome mouthfeel.

artstype

Kuzu

artstype

I wa in a Japanese restaurant in Taiwan a few years ago , and they served a fish with a vinegar that had been made into something like jello that was then broken into gem-like pieces scattered about the fish. It was beautiful and delicious, and while it is a bit OT, I have always wanted to reproduce the effect.

matthewmicahhall

+1 on xanthan -- it also has the benefit of keeping little bits of foodstuff (e.g., finely diced alliums, herbs, sesame seeds, etc.) suspended in your sauces.

Ismail_Jadun_426971

Thanks! I'll try that.

Ismail_Jadun_426971

Oohoh, this is really good info. Thanks for taking the time!

Ismail_Jadun_426971

Yeah, I've initially did add too much water but even after using less liquid it's still runny. It's the ingredients that just don't stick together well. I'm going to try xanthan.

Ismail_Jadun_426971

Interesting on using gelatin. Any specific reason to use it for hot sauces?

Also the fluid gel looks really interesting. I'm going to have to try that.

bkeene12

I am going to throw this out there just because I've had so much fun with it. With some experimentation, you could use chia seeds. Do a few small experiments with some of the seeds and your BBQ mixture, let it sit overnight and see the different degrees of viscousness you achieve. I had a lot of luck using it in various sauce applications. My favorite is making a soy yuzu glaze and then pouring it over a whole fried red snapper. It taste great and looks really cool.

To give you an idea of what I am talking about, here is a pic- the dark stuff is ponzu sauce mixed with a good many seeds, reduce the number of seeds and you will reduce the viscosity.

tangma27

If its cold it will turn solid! Gelatin is actually pretty common I think because most stocks you would use to make a sauce have gelatin from the bones and whatever scrap pieces. Make the broth taste thicker and creamier. But I think gelatin also hides flavor a bit too.

Amos_Schorr_168815

If you're making a BBQ sauce, tweak your ratios so you can just use more molasses and/or brown sugar.