Cornflour Substitute??

Mutantk

Hello everyone, I'm having a making day with a very large bag of victoria plums the mil gave me and I want to make plum pie BUT many of the recipes call for cornflour to add to a little of the juice from cooking them to then add back to the pan and boil to thicken - only thing is I don't have any cornflour in and am eager to get going....do you know if there is anything that would make a good substitute - have got plain, SR and bread flour, baking powder, bicarb, cream of tartar....any ideas gratefully received. Thankyou for reading.

thriftlady_2

I would just drain off some of the juice and not bother with thickening. You could use the syrupy juice to flavour yogurt or to drizzle over ice cream or as I did with the excess blackberry juice from my blackberry cobbler at the weekend make a smoothie with by adding more fruit and some yogurt;)

Mutantk

Great idea, thanks for that - sometimes you get get so into what complicated substitution you're going to make you don't even think of the obvious! On another note, may I ask what is a cobbler? Is it like crumble?

lostinrates

I think thriftlady is right, or you could use a little arrowroot? Alternatively, and its not something I've tried, bt something I would try, if you really find your self indeed of thickening, and its a very juicy mix, how about straining, and using the juice to make a curd (following a lemon curd recipe but with less sugar as the plums won't need as much) to thicken? No guarntees, but strikes me as it might work.

valk_scot

Drain off the juice, boil it down seperately to reduce it then put it back with the plums?

avinabacca

Half a tsp of marge creamed with a big tablespoon of flour, then mixed with the juice as with the cornflour in original recipe - works fine every time.

debtmuncher

Mutantk wrote: »

Great idea, thanks for that - sometimes you get get so into what complicated substitution you're going to make you don't even think of the obvious! On another note, may I ask what is a cobbler? Is it like crumble?

its a scone topping instead of a crumble topping. make your scone dough as normal and cutting it out. place the rounds on top of the filling and there you are!
http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Plum_Cobbler.aspx

debtmuncher

ps you dont have to use it just for sweet dishes you could do the same for savoury dishes, maybe add herbs to the scone dough to make it more savoury.

thriftlady_2

avinabacca wrote: »

Half a tsp of marge creamed with a big tablespoon of flour, then mixed with the juice as with the cornflour in original recipe - works fine every time.

Don't know what Elizabeth David would have to say about marge Avinabacca :D

Cobblers! I usualy make my cobbler topping a bit wetter than a scone dough. Then, instead of rolling and cutting I dollop the dough onto my fruit (or savoury mixture). It cuts down on the work a bit and makes for a pleasingly craggy cobbler;)

xxvickixx

Custard powder should work, it's mostly cornflour.