Thickening Sauce with

SC_Dave · Aug 31, 2016

Anyone ever used Suregel or pectin to thicken bbq sauce with?

I usually make 4-5 gallons at once. It a vinegar based sauce and while these type sauces are generally thin I don't want mine like water. I have tried corn starch and I just don't care for the look or taste. I tried arrowroot a couple of times. The first time it did fine but the second time it didn't do very good at all. Lumped up on me, I probably did something wrong I'm sure.....

Anyway, I know nothing about suregel or pectin. Heck they could be the same thing for all I know. Has anyone used them to thicken sauce?

Any thoughts or help are appreciated.
SCD.

landarc · Aug 31, 2016

I have not, but, I would consider carageenan, it is both a thickener and stabilizer.

TedW · Aug 31, 2016

When I make sauces like ketchup, I get texture, flavor and thickening from fruit. Dried fruit like raisins, or apples, apple butter.

I also add corn starch in ketchup

Ham14 · Aug 31, 2016

I use cornstarch. Some say it will change sauce color and flavor but I never had that issue.

creekwalker · Aug 31, 2016

I find xanthan gum is cheap and good, as long as you only need a fairly modest amount of thickening from it. If you use too much, you can get a disagreeable over-smoothness, and beyond that gloppyness. It's also an emulsion stabilizer, although I guess that wouldn't apply here. You want to mix it with another powdered ingredient first, or add it into a running blender, or whisk it in smartly.

smoke ninja · Sep 1, 2016

TedW said:
When I make sauces like ketchup, I get texture, flavor and thickening from fruit. Dried fruit like raisins, or apples, apple butter.

I also add corn starch in ketchup

Interesting, tell me more

TedW · Sep 1, 2016

I make Apple butter in the fall. The apple core has pectin, so I cook whole apples for an hour, then process thru a food mil and keep boiling down. The pectin is now out, and in the apple "sauce" that's cooking down. I use a ratio of bitter, sweet and tart apples to make a pretty complex Apple Butter flavor. All natural.

Incidentally, I use the same apple ratio to make my Apple Cider Vinegar. I'll make about 6 gallons in another month or so

Anyway I did all this for sauces. The apples are all local and picked at peak flavor. Clean with no spray.

The pectin will thicken sauces a bit. Pectin is in raisins also, which is a neat background base flavor (think Worcestershire ).

creekwalker · Sep 1, 2016

TedW said:
I make Apple butter in the fall. The apple core has pectin, so I cook whole apples for an hour, then process thru a food mil and keep boiling down. The pectin is now out, and in the apple "sauce" that's cooking down. I use a ratio of bitter, sweet and tart apples to make a pretty complex Apple Butter flavor. All natural.

Incidentally, I use the same apple ratio to make my Apple Cider Vinegar. I'll make about 6 gallons in another month or so

Anyway I did all this for sauces. The apples are all local and picked at peak flavor. Clean with no spray.

The pectin will thicken sauces a bit. Pectin is in raisins also, which is a neat background base flavor (think Worcestershire ).

Pectin certainly will tend to thicken more with the right amount of sugar present. Just what that amount might be in a particular application I certainly don't know--I guess that there are multiple factors at play, but I do know that when I add bulk sugar subs that are chemically very close to sugar (erythritol, polydextrose) to my home made cranberry sauce, it thickens a good deal more.

I can't read this kind of thing without my eyes crossing, unless I'm keenly interested in using the information right now, but this looks like a good article on the subject:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/08/jam-making-101-pectin-sugar-gel-point.html

AussieMatt · Sep 1, 2016

I use Arrowroot to thicken my homemade Aussie sauce. The sauce doesn't need to be boiled for it to thicken and there's no taste to cook out. Just simmer it for a few minutes and it's thick.

TedW · Sep 1, 2016

AussieMatt said:
I use Arrowroot to thicken my homemade Aussie sauce. The sauce doesn't need to be boiled for it to thicken and there's no taste to cook out. Just simmer it for a few minutes and it's thick.

I forgot about arrowroot. I used to use it back in the day when I was counting calories. I stopped that silly habit and forgot about Arrowroot

kwas68 · Sep 1, 2016

Xanthan gum for me. A little goes a long way.

TedW · Sep 1, 2016

Nice article on Xanthan Gum. Microbes make it. I had no idea.

https://draxe.com/what-is-xanthan-gum/

Also in that article is a reminder of how groovy gelatin is

creekwalker · Sep 1, 2016

TedW said:
Nice article on Xanthan Gum. Microbes make it. I had no idea.

https://draxe.com/what-is-xanthan-gum/

Also in that article is a reminder of how groovy gelatin is

Off the track, but that article refers to xanthan being helpful with oropharyngeal dysphagia sufferers, of whom I am one. The condition can cause problems with voice and swallowing, and xanthan is supposed to help somehow with the latter--will have to look into it.

TedW · Sep 1, 2016

That's very interesting. It makes things quite smooth and not lumpy, apparently. It's a smooooth thick. Maybe that's part of it. Very interesting point you bring

Thickening Sauce with

SC_Dave

Knows what a fatty is.

landarc

somebody shut me the fark up.

TedW

is One Chatty Farker

Ham14

Take a breath!

creekwalker

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smoke ninja

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AussieMatt

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