Roux

[SRFrancis]

Donna asked for my roux recipe, well, here it is:
Equal parts all purpose flour and a fat. Whisk flour into fat and cook over med high heat stirring with a wooden spoon constantly until desired color is achieved. That's it!
CI is my preferred pan for this and the reason I found this forum was that I wanted to clean up my crusty skillet to make a roux for a super bowl gumbo.
Roux is one of the simplest and least understood, some say intimidating things to make and use. A chef that grew up in tiny Bunkie, Louisiana gave me some tips when he was my guest chef at a beer pairing dinner on a Fat Tuesday some years ago.
-Any fat will work, veg oil, canola, butter, bacon fat. Olive oil will work, the flavor will influence your roux. My preference is butter, I do add some pork fat, smoked if available or bacon fat. Maybe a couple T. Clarified is good, not a deal killer, unsalted preferred, if you only have salted just don't add any more salt until final seasoning of the end product.
-Measurements are weight, a cup of butter does not equal a cup of flour. If you do not have a kitchen scale 1 C butter is abt 1.5 C flour.
-Use a heavy bottom pan that will distribute heat evenly, especially if your burner is a small diameter one. CI is the best, hands down.
-Turn off your phone, remove distractions, it is ok to open a beer for consumption while stirring.
-Have all ingredients at hand next to your range. Melt the butter or heat your oil in the pan over medium heat. This balances the heat across the bottom of your pan. If you are making a dark roux for gumbo have the chopped onion, green bell and celery, plus seasoning. I use Tony Chackere's, about a T(tablespoon) for a 1 C oil batch.
- Slowly add the flour into the oil, stirring it in constantly. WOODEN SPOON! Let your eyes and nose tell you how it is cooking. Stir slowly, splashing hot oil on your hands or bare feet, I cook in flip flops at home is not good. Do not stop stirring, figure 8s, scrape the the walls and edges of the pan. The flour will clump, then relax and slowly start coloring with a wonderful aroma coming on as it turns brown. Remove from heat when you have your color and continue to stir as it cools. Always let it cool down some before putting it in a storage container, use glass or stainless, not plastic.
-The beauty of making roux is it can be stored, well sealed, in the fridge or even frozen. White roux, abt 10 minutes of cooking just to get rid of the raw flour taste, for white sauces and gravy, brown, abt 15+ min for hearty meat gravy. You can remove some from your batch for each color to have ready anytime you need it. The no lump rule is simple. One must be hot, the other cold. If your stock is hot, the roux must be room temp or cold, or, if roux is hot, stock room temp or cold.
-For gumbo, I make the dark roux ahead a day or two and keep it in the fridge, sealed to keep out unwanted flavors. And, the Bunkie Chef tip for getting as much depth to that roux without burning the flour is to take the pan off the heat when you reach chocolate color, stir in seasonings, then stir in a big handful of the chopped veggies to shock the temp and keep it from burning allowing you to take it as dark as possible.
All that said it is truly a simple ingredient that will keep and be available for you to use everyday. Leftover french fries from where-ever, heat em up in oven, put em in a bowl, crumble some bacon over them, grated cheese if you want, drizzle with brown gravy and float a sunny side up egg on top. Breakfast of champs, pair with a bloody mary. AND, if you do burn a batch, you only lost maybe $2-3 worth of ingredients, not like you overcooked the $100 rib roast.
We have to eat food to stay alive, why not enjoy it!

[KevinE]

Great post! Thank you! I've cooked roux just a few times and my biggest concern was not burning it and to keep stirring it while cooking. I didn't realize the measurements were based on weight and not volume. This adds some depth to my limited knowledge.

[Doug D.]

I have read of but not tried a technique which alleviates the need for constant stirring by placing the oil and flour mixture in an uncovered CI pan in the oven at 350F for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Purportedly from Alton Brown.

[JMoss]

My friends cajun wife taught me to make it in the microwave. Much faster and you only stir it every few minutes when you check the color.

Here is the like link to Alton Brown making roux in the oven.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/goo...d-0196676.html

Jack

[Doug D.]

When I need a very small amount of light to medium dark roux, a cup or so, I do it in the microwave.

[SRFrancis]

Alton Brown says it, it's true. He is good. I'm a touchy feely cook, like to watch and let the food tell me what to do next, plus, my wife doesn't complain about my beer drinking and herbal medication when I'm cooking. Every comment made on this thread works, one of the beauties of cooking, there is usually more than one path to results.
One more tip about gumbo, after all ingredients are in the same pot, don't heat on anything above med heat, I use med low, and stir frequently. If anything sticks to the bottom, do not scrape it, it will put burnt flour flavor in the pot. Always use a wooden spoon.
http://imgur.com/a/WO7MQ

[DonnaM]

SR--Thanks for posting your recipe; it sounds and looks so delicious! I'm going to try this.

I am amazed at you guys' cooking abilities-- I have known very few men who cooked. Wish I were your neighbor!

[GCrawford]

Originally Posted by SRFrancis

Let your eyes and nose tell you how it is cooking. Stir slowly, splashing hot oil on your hands or bare feet, I cook in flip flops at home is not good.

Flip flops . . . Heck I use steel toe boots when cooking with CI