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
Mound of Butter moisture from it, because the high amounts of buttermilk would shorten its storage life. Back then, butter was usually stored wrapped in a cheesecloth, in a cool place. In the painting, the butter mound's cloth is falling loosely over a couple of eggs beside it. The painting also has thick marks layered on top of the artist's brush-work, probably meant to illustrate the marks after the butter knife was used to spread butter with; or the wooden spatula, used to spread the butter with and also used in producing the butter. Kitchen scenes, food preparation, and depiction of everyday objects