Hey mesquitecountry (or anyone else) I have a question about a meat sauce thickener..

[cosmiccowboy]

I do smoked hams for special occasions on the smoker using the cheapest basic spiral sliced hams I can find...

I use a "half pan" foil pan and do step one with a pineapple juice/honey/spice glaze and smoke for a couple of hours.

I then pour 1/2 of a room temperature root beer over the ham, cover tightly with foil and then cook for another hour.

Then I uncover and repeat the glaze recipe and smoke again for an hour or so till it's dinner time...

I'm left with the ham sitting in this really lovely (but very thin) clear brothy sauce 2-3" deep that has the cooked and reduced pineapple juice, honey, spices, root beer, and reduced ham fat...

It's an out of the ballpark dipping sauce but I'm thinking about somehow thickening it to a syrupy/smooth light gravy consistency...

I'm a little stumped here...It's clearly not a place for flour or even cornstarch...

any ideas?

[Johnny Dangerr]

Pour it into a seperate pan and reduce the fluid.

[cosmiccowboy]

Pour it into a seperate pan and reduce the fluid.

Yeah, but that doesn't work on the timing issue...plus it's really rich already...I don't need to intensify the flavor and I want to serve it within 30 minutes of the ham coming off the pit. That would be a 2 hour + process to reduce to the consistency I want. I need an appropriate thickener.

[cosmiccowboy]

This may sound crazy but I'm thinking about maybe a package of rasberry jello mix.

[coon007]

hey cowboy why wouldn't cornstarch work here ? Jello will not work simply because you need heat to dissolve it and it has to be cold to set so there is no in between with jello.
Tapioca or even potato flakes will work in a pinch.

[cosmiccowboy]

hey cowboy why wouldn't cornstarch work here ? Jello will not work simply because you need heat to dissolve it and it has to be cold to set so there is no in between with jello.
Tapioca or even potato flakes will work in a pinch.

hmmmm...

The liquid is 225 when I pull it out of the pit so theres your hot. I was thinking jello because I wanted syrupy at room temperature and not solid set at 38 but you may be right on not going completely off the reservation and sticking with more conventional starches. I saved the juju juice from the last ham to experiment with, I was just trying to get a little food science input to try to hit it the first time.

[Cajun Blake]

hey cowboy why wouldn't cornstarch work here ? .

winner , winner, chicken dinner


cornstarch is the ticket as Asian restaurants use it to thicken sauces ... ie. sweet n sour sauce

mix with water and dissolve before adding to sauce

[tvc184]

winner , winner, chicken dinner


cornstarch is the ticket as Asian restaurants use it to thicken sauces ... ie. sweet n sour sauce

mix with water and dissolve before adding to sauce

I have used the corn starch in almost the exact same situation described by cc. A bit of corn starch dissolved in water first, then stir it into the gravy.

Works like a charm.

[badger16]

I know a guy that uses cream cheese to thicken up sauces.

Might give that a try.

[Bily Lovec]

jez..

Im getting fatter just reading this thread

[old killer]

Corn starch dissolved in White Zinfendel.

[cosmiccowboy]

hmmm...

I played with it some tonight and added about 4 heaping tbsp cornstarch total (in three different attempts where I kept trying more) and it STILL didn't thicken up...that was with about 5 cups of juju juice. It changed color and I could start to taste the cornstarch slightly but it didn't thicken...

[Hillary]

hmmm...

I played with it some tonight and added about 4 heaping tbsp cornstarch total (in three different attempts where I kept trying more) and it STILL didn't thicken up...that was with about 5 cups of juju juice. It changed color and I could start to taste the cornstarch slightly but it didn't thicken...

Was the liquid hot?
You need to heat it to thicken it.

And 4 TB to 5 Cups is alot.
I can usually put a heaping one in a big pot and it does just fine....
Something is off.

[cosmiccowboy]

It wasn't boiling but it was probably 150 degrees...That could have been the problem...

[mesquitecountry]

CC,


If you want the best thickener, use either xantham or guar gum. Buy it online, it is what we use to thicken sauces in the industry. A little goes a long way. Shoot me your address and I will mail you some.