Cooking In European cooking, a mixture of butter and flour called a roux is used to thicken liquids to make stews or sauces. In Asian cooking, a similar effect is obtained from a mixture of rice or corn starch and water. These techniques rely on the properties of starches to create simpler mucilaginous saccharides during cooking, which causes the familiar thickening of sauces. This thickening will break down, however, under additional heat. Types of fat include vegetable oils, animal products such as butter and lard, as well as fats from grains, including corn and flax oils. Fats are used in a
Pastry blender Pastry blender A pastry blender is a cooking utensil used to mix a hard (solid) fat into flour in order to make pastries. The tool is usually made of narrow metal strips or wires attached to a handle, and is used by pressing down on the items to be mixed (known as "cutting in"). It is also used to break these fats (shortening, butter, lard) into smaller pieces. The blending of fat into flour at this stage impacts the amount of water that will be needed to bind the pastry into a dough. There are several alternatives to using a