Potato starch or instant mashed potatoes. Not as good as flour or corn starch but may be OK in your situation.

Jim

Julia Child recommends over cooking rice and pureeing it for a faux cream sauce.
Linda C

Rice has gluten, some types more than others. I don't know if any of them would be suitable for cookie8's diet.

Jim

I have been eating brown rice (also pasta and milk) and don't seem to having a problem with it. I can't have potato either, but thanks, I wouldn't have even thought of it, as with rice! I will make rice, over cook, puree and freeze in batches. Great idea.

There is a lot of information out there on gluten free diets. This information from the Canadian Celiac Association approves rice and rice flour.

Here is their list of substitutions which also includes rice and rice flour.

How about Tapioca starch?

It is Gluten free.

Rusty

What about other flours, like oat or almond flour (those two, I know are gluten-free)? Or another flour I can't think of right now.

Roast some carrots, celery and onions along with your chicken and puree them in a blender, along with some chicken broth and any pan drippings you want to add.

Arrowroot is a good thickener.
RB

"I can't use any gluten, corn or dairy..."

"I have been eating brown rice (also pasta and milk) and don't seem to having a problem with it."

Pasta and milk are OK???? I don't understand.

Jim

Cornstarch is a very effective thickener with minimal taste that doesn't require cooking like flour does, I use it all the time, not just in Chinese cooking.

Supposedly dooes not have gluten, from my exhaustive (10 seconds) Internet research. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornstarch as thickener

Oops, sorry, I did not see that you cannot have ''corn'', so maybe that rules out cornstarch too.

In that case, I'd make a large batch (2-3 gallons) of rich beef stock, then reduce on simmer until thickened (may take multiple days), freeze in cubes and use as needed. When making gravy, can mix with heavy cream.

Ruthanna, your method is what we've been using for my dietary needs. Just a couple nights ago we had potroast & mashed potatoes with gravy prepared as you noted. I actually like it better than gravy made with a roux. Since I pretty much need gravy in copious quantities on most everything I eat making it this way also reduces my usual reluctance towards eating gravies. Separate out the fat & it's not too unhealthy.

/tricia

""I have been eating brown rice (also pasta and milk) and don't seem to having a problem with it."

Pasta and milk are OK???? I don't understand.

Jim"

It means she can have pasta made from brown rice and brown rice milk - both available from many sources.

I also wondered about tapioca and arrowroot, but using pureed rice is genious!

Alexa

Sorry to hear you're being challenged. BTDT, I have gluten, soy and dairy issues and avoid potatoes too. When I need to thicken a sauce, I often turn to brown rice flour that I buy in bulk at Whole Foods. I use it to flour chicken cutlets and to thicken sauces. Another choice is to add in some naturally sweetened apricot preserves or orange marmalade for a bit of flavor and to coat the meat or fish. I cut & balance the sweet taste with addition of dijon mustard and or lemon juice.
Interestingly, I cannot eat brown rice (grains or cakes)without itching, but the small amount used as flour doesn't seem to bother me.

My father is having trouble swallowing and needs thickened liquids. Yesterday I made a chicken broth soup using a stick blender to puree carrots, a parsnip, part of a sweet potato (yam), and some basic noodles. The result was perfect texture and he loved it! In your case, you might try adding rice noodles until mushy and then puree them in the broth. It would probably work well as gravy!

My mother has found applesauce or cranberry sauce works to moisten food, but it turns the flavor from savory to sweet.

Thanks, Alexa. Now I get it. I was unaware of brown rice pasta and brown rice milk. I read it as just pasta and milk.

Jim

There are many different kinds of flour you can find in a Chinese store.

four or five different rice flours, water chestnut flour, taro flour, lotus root flour, yucca flour, tapioca flour, barley flour, sweet potato flour, Mung Bean starch ---------- many others I have no idea what they are made from.

All of them can make great sauce/gravy. I am sure many also are gluten free.

dcarch

Definitely go with tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour). But go easy on it! Start by using less than half the amount of regular flour you would use as a thickener. You can always add more, but I doubt if it will be required.

Wow, amazed at all of the ideas. I am a flour girl myself when I thicken and it always worked well for me so I didn't think beyond that. I used cornstarch when called for in recipes but never for my gravies that I made with turkey and chicken.

If you can have potatoes, then potato flour or potato starch would be my recommendation, and it is easier to use than cornstarch. I haven't tried instant potatoes, but that would probably be a good substitution. Potato flour is my thickener of choice, and it does not need cooking and is not prone to making lumps. It does not reheat well, however, and loses its thickening power with overcooking.

Lars

Not all rice has gluten. "Enriched" and flavored generally do. My (celiac) sister eats rice all the time. You need to watch out for the sauces. The place she goes has gluten in their soy sauce they use to make the food but the to-go packets interestingly are gluten-free so they make her food with the packets.

I use instant Tapioca as a thickener in my beef stew. An idea from Marcia Adam's Amish Stew recipe.