Italians will hate me, but...

I mentioned (and showed you a picture of) watery tomato sauce yesterday. I noted that I should have simmered the sauce at a somewhat higher temperature to reduce it more properly, but failed to talk about what I usually do in such situations: I cheat. I doubt I'm the only American to do this, but if you're Italian or an Italy-loving traditionalist/purist, turn away now, because you don't want to know that I cheat by mixing in a bit of cornstarch as a thickener while the sauce is still boiling. Whoops-- too late. You read it already.

I do this because I'm not a patient man. Simmering is a much better method for achieving non-watery perfection with Italian sauces, but it takes time and a watchful eye. Cornstarch-- the el cheapo, Chinese restaurant solution to all sauce consistency problems-- is a much faster and easier way to achieve the same results as patient simmering. I imagine that a discerning palate might be able to detect the cornstarch in the sauce, but I normally can't, and I usually allow the sauce to cook a few minutes after the cornstarch has been added; this minimizes its flavor, which is already muted. For me, taste-wise, there's no harm in adding cornstarch.

Purists (rightly?) rebel against this because, once you start introducing wheat- or corn-derived reagents into your tomato sauce, you're on your way to converting the sauce into bread. Ever seen what happens to a Chinese sauce when it cools to room temperature? It turns into gelatinous goop. Were you to keep adding cornstarch to such a sauce, you'd eventually end up with a disgusting pancake. The goop is a protocake, an intermediary evolutionary form. By adding cornstarch, you're violating the very concept of a proper Italian tomato sauce.

But we're all about concept-violation here at the Hairy Chasms, so unless a commenter can present a truly persuasive reason for me to desist in my sinful ways, I shall continue to improvise, adapt, and overcome-- the Chinese way.

[I suspect, however, that the Chinese in China don't rely on cornstarch to quite the extent that Chinese-American restaurant cooks do.]


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