Roux

A roux is for thickening AND flavor enhancement. The darker the roux the richer the flavor. The photo here, with all due respect, is a peanut butter roux. To make a roux successfully it’s best to use a sauté pan with straight sides. You need vegetable oil and flour, and you should whisk constantly over medium heat to keep it from burning. Once it reaches the desired color, turn the heat off and KEEP WHISKING! Add the trinity to cool it down. Done.

An hour for a dark roux? I make a dark roux over high heat, and I don't think it's ever taken more than about 5 minutes. Ya gotta watch it closely, but I've never burned a roux. A trick I learned from Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen is to add the trinity to the hot roux to simultaneously cook the vegetables and bring down the temperature of the roux. BTW, Prudhomme refers to hot roux as "Cajun napalm". Don't let it splatter on your skin!

The continuing Colonization of etouffee by roux. Not everything has a roux. Original etouffees sometimes added flour near the end, others sometimes thickened with cornstarch and one heretical group uses a can of mushroom soup.

I make a dark roux often for gumbo, and I've found that using a metal whisk makes for easier constant stirring than the slanting wooden spoon I was using before.

I learned to make roux from the Paul Prudhomme cookbook, and it seems to work beautifully - instead of a wooden spoon, he recommends whisking vigorously the entire time your cooking it, until it reaches the color you desire.

Starting with a white roux and then placing in a moderate oven will make it easier. then depending your oven and keeping an eye on it you and take it to the darkness you like. Anothe trick that works for me if you rouz is very hot and it's going to get too dark adding flour and mixing it in off the head will cool it and stop the darkening. This and also leave your with more thickening power than it might because the color will be predominantly dark there is flour in the mix that has not been lon

I make a dry roux with no fat or oil. Pour yourself a nice glass of wine, take your time and stir stir stir in a cast iron pot till it’s dark enough. Keep stirring after you turn off the fire because the pot stores heat. Keep it in a jar in the pantry or refrig and use it as needed. My Cajun Big Mama did it that way so I’m not breaking no rules, cher.

In an ettoufe recipe I made recently - from this magazine I think - the author suggested first browning the flour dry in the pot before adding the fat. This is meant to reduce the time it takes to make the final roux. It worked for me. You still have to keep it moving in the pot both before and after adding the fat but overall time was shorter.

I only use a well-seasoned bare cast, cast iron skillet for roux making because of the way the skillet holds heat. The trick is pulling the pan off the burner a few seconds early, because the roux will continue cooking in the heat of the skillet. If you burn your roux, or it gets too dark, don't use it. Start over.

I am not a frequent maker of roux, but when I did make it, it took a solid hour for my roux to get this dark, it really does take some time so factor that in when preparing this dish.

I come from a long line of great cooks of creole cuisine. The darker the roux, the less effective it is as a thickener. A really dark roux has very little thickening power but does add a nutty taste. For most of my creole recipes, I cook the roux to be a tad darker than a paper grocery bag.

I had been taught to make roux with a something under double the amount of flour to oil by volume—a common ratio based on online recipes I have seen over the years. Always worked perfectly for me. But I might like this better because I think it will simply be easier to stir and be more consistent.

I always understood the ratio was 1:1 by weight, so half the amount of fat (to flour) by volume. I don't recall the source. My roux turns out well that way but I'll give this ratio a shot. Thanks for pointing out the reduced thickening of a browner roux. A beautiful brown roux is great for gumbos but won't thicken the Thanksgiving gravy very much.

Just for fun: The darker the roux, the less thickening power it has.

I met a Cajun lady that had perfected an oven toasted roux. She owns a restaurant and needs a lot. She uses a jelly roll pan, spreading the roux evenly in the pan and then watches until it's the right color.