Kitchen Tips

Cornstarch Thickening

Cornstarch is one of the most common thickeners in cooking. It’s used a bit differently than its nearest competitor, flour, though. Flour is usually added at the beginning of cooking and combined with fat; cornstarch is added at the end and mixed with water to make a slurry.

The most common technique for using cornstarch involves mixing 1 tablespoon cornstarch in 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons water, then adding the resulting mixture, bit by bit, to the dish over heat until it is as thick as you want.

Cornstarch thickening gives a glossy finish, but it is not heat-stable. In other words, if it is overcooked, it loses its thickening abilities. And too much cornstarch can make a dish gluey.

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Star Anise

Star anise has a sweet, seductive anise-like aroma, but it is not related to anise; it comes from a relative of the magnolia tree. Unlike most spices, it’s neither a seed nor a root nor a bark but a seed pod (the seeds are removed). It looks like a brown woody star with five to eight points. Star anise was one of the favorite spices of the great 19th century chef Antonin Care^me, but its principal use is in the Chinese spice mixture known as five-spice.