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Orange Sauce (Cup water tablespoons)
1 cup water 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 cup sugar Grated yellow part of the rind of 1/4 orange 1/4 teaspoon vanilla A few grains salt Stir the cornstarch smooth with a little of the water. Heat the remainder of the water to boiling, and stir into it the cornstarch. Boil one minute, then stir in the remaining ingredients. If a richer sauce is desired, only one tablespoon cornstarch should be used, and one egg yolk added last, and the sauce allowed to heat long enough to thicken slightly by cooking the egg.
A clear cornstarch pudding sauce of the kind poured over steamed puddings, plain cake or baked apples. It comes together in under ten minutes and depends almost entirely on how you treat the starch.
- The hinge: cook the starch, then add the juiceThe starch gets its full boiling minute in plain water to lose its raw taste and reach full thickening power. The orange juice goes in only after that minute; prolonged boiling with acidic juice breaks down the starch and the sauce thins again.
- Slurry temperatureMix the cornstarch with cold or room-temperature water from the measured cup, not warm. Warm liquid gelatinizes the surface of the granules and leaves lumps that no amount of stirring will clear.
- Zest before you juiceThe grated yellow rind of a quarter orange comes to somewhere around a teaspoon. Take it off the fruit before cutting, and use only the colored layer; the white pith underneath is bitter.
- SugarHalf a cup of sugar to a cup of water and a half cup of juice is sweet by modern habit. Start with 1/3 cup and taste before adding more.
- The egg-yolk versionFor the richer sauce, temper the yolk: whisk a few spoonfuls of the hot sauce into the beaten yolk, then return it to the pan. Hold it below a simmer — around 170-180F — until it thickens. If it boils, the yolk curdles into visible threads.
- Yield and servingMakes about 1 3/4 cups, enough for six to eight servings of pudding or cake. Serve warm; it thickens noticeably as it cools and can be loosened over low heat with a spoonful of water or juice.
- KeepingCornstarch sauces weep on standing and do not freeze. Refrigerate up to two days and reheat gently, stirring.