Aside from being a fun word to say, most people might raise their eyebrows wondering what the hell “mud” is. It’s certainly not a conversation starter if you want to be fun at parties.
The reality is, however, that liquid slurries are the goodness that makes many popular foods fun. Want a good, thick soup or an even bigger sauce? Slurry is your answer.
What’s great about this, too, is that it’s a super simple staple for cooking. It’s simply starch added to cold water before throwing it into anything you want to thicken, from chicken sauce to beef stew.
What is Slurry?
Most slurries are made with flour or cornstarch, but you can easily make your own interpretation. Use arrowroot, potato starch, or your own preferred starch substitute to make your sludge mixture.
You can also add non-water ingredients to your starch – try apple cider or pan drops. You can even add bone broth, whatever you want to add extra flavor.
But it is not only used in
cooking, it is also commonly used in construction. It refers to a semi-liquid mixture, typically of manure, cement or coal suspended in water.
Why use a suspension?
It’s simple: if you simply add starches to your recipe as a thickening agent, such as flour or cornstarch, they will often clump together and hinder your culinary life
.
This process makes it easier to mix without the suspension of solid particles in your amazing soup or stew. No one wants lumps of starch in their stew or sauce, right?
Instead, if you add starch to the water and mix it to combine it completely? You can add that to anything to make it the thickest, silkiest, decadent version of the recipe you have on the stove.
Next time you want a rich soup or such a good sauce, check this out to add that secret ingredient to your best dishes.
How
to make a cornstarch suspension Make sure you’re not trying to make equal parts: A cornstarch suspension
is simply a 1:2 ratio, which means one part cornstarch to two parts liquid. A tablespoon of cornstarch to two tablespoons of water will give you a small quick suspension, simply beat everything together until it has the desired smooth consistency.
Want more? Increase the amount based on the ratio. The beauty is that it is very easy to mix quickly.
You may need to experiment a bit depending on what you’re doing. If you’re making a small batch of salsa for your family when you cook a roast chicken with sauce on weekdays, this simple amount might suffice; obviously, if the whole family ends by Thanksgiving, it will have to be more.
How to make a flour suspension
The beauty of using flour is that it is exactly the same ratio. Use half the amount of flour as you do water.
The only difference between the two is that the flour will have a more opaque finish while the cornstarch will be more translucent. As for taste, the two are similar.
Important for both, however, is that they are mixed until they are completely smooth to the desired constancy. Using cold, not hot liquid water) will help ensure that for either.
Uses
of suspension Don’t confuse a suspension with a loux. The main differences between the two is that roux uses fat (like butter) and a suspension uses another liquid – you’ll use a roux for something like a creamy macaroni baked with cheese. A suspension is best used in other dishes like these
:
- Soups
- Stews
- Sauce
- Cake Filling
Can I make a suspension ahead of time or reuse it?
Fresh suspension is the way to go: grouts will tend to become even thicker or harden over time. It is best to do it as needed, as it does not store well. The good news is that you can beat it while your other ingredients heat up.
If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or ratings.
