I’ve gone 47 years without knowing that.
Same technique as making and integrating a cornstarch slurry to thicken a soup.
If you add hot water to corn starch, you’re gonna have a bad time. And clumps.
(Use cold water to make the paste, then add that to the heated liquid you want to thicken via corn starch, FYI.)
Usually I mix cold water and starch in a jar and shake the fuck out of it, then pour it into the sauce or soup or whatever
I do this with cold milk or creamer when making hot chocolate. Make a nice paste by continuously mixing it while waiting for the water to boil is plenty good enough and makes it much tastier!
With the exception of protein powder, add it on top of the liquid and mix it.
Would that also be true of something like Soylent?
Never used it so not sure, maybe try a couple experiments. At least with protein when you try to make a paste it becomes a thick hard goop that is difficult to stir, and when you diluted it doesn’t go into solution any faster than if it was dry. And the reason I say put it on top of the liquid is because when it’s in the bottom it still goods up, sticks to the cup and doesn’t mix. But if it’s on top it stays suspended allowing it to mix when you stir
Same if you make mac and cheese with powdered cheese. Make a roux, make the sauce, then mix the sauce into the noodles.
Any mac’n’cheese recipe that involves silent consonants is too fancy for my mac’n’cheese…
When making mac and cheese just cook the pasta in milk, then when it’s ready add in the grated cheddar, mozzarella and cream cheese and stir. Job done.
That’s kind of a different thing than I was talking about.
