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Modern Cookery

A simple mixture of water, salt, and flour simmered to thicken.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine cold water, coarse sea salt, and flour in a saucepan.

  2. Stir until the ingredients are perfectly blended.

  3. Heat the mixture until it is just about to boil.

  4. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cold water
Forms the liquid that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce.
Flour
Its starch swells in the hot liquid and thickens it.

The step that matters

Blend fully before heating. Flour mixed into cold liquid and stirred until smooth stays dispersed as it heats. If it is left lumpy or not fully combined, the starch clumps and cooks unevenly, leaving lumps in the finished thickener.

“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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