Cold thickening with Ultratex: adjusting texture without cooking

Your sauce tastes right but spreads too much on the plate. Before reducing it over heat and concentrating salt and acidity, consider a thickener that works without cooking. Ultratex is useful when adjusting the texture of a water-based sauce whose flavour is already established.

Adjust gradually

Put a small portion of sauce in a container and add Ultratex a little at a time, distributing it carefully. Mix, rest for a few minutes and check before adding more. A sample lets you adjust the dose without committing the entire preparation.

You may want a sauce that coats a spoon, a cream for a squeeze bottle or a firmer purée. These are different textures: choose your test according to how you will serve the dish.

Measure as well as observe

Weigh the base and powder. Record how much product you used and how long you waited before assessing the sauce. Taste a cold dish cold, and check a hot dish at serving temperature.

A highly alcoholic drink, an almost water-free liquid or a high-fat formulation should not automatically be treated like juice. The composition of the base determines its behaviour.

When to choose a different ingredient

For a moulded jelly, Ultratex does not directly replace agar. For a small viscosity adjustment, compare it with xanthan gum. Start a complete trial with the tomato cream recipe.