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Sauce

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A simple flour‑water sauce for serving with mince pie.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kellogg, E. E. (Ella Ervilla) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Table Topics

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix one tablespoonful of flour with a small amount of water to form a smooth paste.

  2. Bring the remaining half pint of water to a boil.

  3. Add the flour paste to the boiling water, stirring continuously.

  4. Cook slowly for five to ten minutes until the sauce has thickened and the flour is cooked.

  5. Strain the sauce to remove any lumps.

By Kellogg, E. E. (Ella Ervilla). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the water into a sauce as its starch swells and sets when heated.

The step that matters

Add the flour paste to the boiling water while stirring continuously. Starch granules swell and stick together when they hit hot liquid before they are dispersed. Constant stirring spreads the paste evenly so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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