Food & Cooking

How to thicken gravy without cornflour: reduce it, use a flour paste or beurre manié, or try arrowroot, potato starch or instant mash. Amounts and lump fixes.

Arrowroot and cornflour are both gluten-free starches that thicken sauces, but they behave differently. Arrowroot thickens at a lower temperature, gives a clear, glossy finish and works well in acidic sauces and dishes that will be frozen. Cornflour is cheaper, easier to find in UK supermarkets and copes better with longer cooking, but it can…

The best way to thicken a sauce, soup or gravy depends on what you are cooking. You can simmer it to reduce, stir in a cornflour or arrowroot slurry, cook flour into a roux, blend in vegetables such as potato or lentils, or finish with yoghurt, cream or butter. This guide brings every method together,…

To fix lumpy gravy, whisk it hard off the heat, then pour it through a fine sieve and press the lumps through with a spoon. If lumps remain, blend it with a stick blender for a few seconds. Lumps form when flour or cornflour hits hot liquid too fast, so the best way to avoid…

You can thicken soup without cream by blending some of it, adding potato, red lentils, oats or stale bread, or stirring in yoghurt or crème fraîche at the end. These methods make soup thick and creamy while keeping it lighter than adding double cream, and most use ingredients you already have in the kitchen. Quick…

What to use instead of breadcrumbs as a binder: oats, crackers, rice, Parmesan, ground almonds and mashed potato, with amounts for meatballs and burgers.

How to make breadcrumbs at home: easy fresh and dried methods, seasoned crumbs, panko, uses and how to store or freeze them.

Egg substitutes in baking: how to replace eggs with flax, banana, apple sauce, yoghurt, aquafaba and more, with amounts for cakes, cookies and muffins.

What is a slurry in cooking? A mix of starch and cold liquid that thickens sauces without lumps. Learn the ratio, the best starches and slurry vs roux.

Cornflour vs cornstarch explained: they are the same product with UK and US names. Learn how they differ from corn flour and cornmeal, and how to swap them.