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How to Make a Roux
Rate it! Votes (0) | Comments (0) By Marcelle Bienvenu Photos: Mitch Mandell Posted July 29th, 2007 Marcelle Bienvenu is the author of Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?, (2006, Acadian House Publishing)	Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?

To non Cajuns, rouxs can seem mysterious. Heck northerners often don't even know how to pronounce the word (roo), let alone how to make a roux.

But according to Marcelle Bienvenu, too many people have made too big a deal out of what is really a simple process, thereby intimidating the uninitiated.

A roux is nothing more than flour and fat, cooked together to form a flavorful thickening agent for cooking. Rouxs are used to thicken gumbos, stews, fricassees and other hearty Cajun dishes. Marcelle's mom's elementary Cajun cooking lesson was always, "If you make a roux, you have a stew."

"Paul Prudhomme fries his roux," says Marcelle, "but this is tricky and if you get it wrong you have a burned mess. The trick to making a good roux is to do it slow and easy."

Marcelle prefers cast iron for making roux, but she admits you can also use stainless steel cookware. Nonstick cookware just doesn't work well for making rouxs.

Block out a little time to make your roux. Marcelle warns that once you begin the roux making process you cannot even THINK about leaving a roux on the stove. Marcelle playfully claims that family members could have died writhing and screaming on the kitchen floor and still her mother wouldn't abandon stirring the cooking roux.

Microwave Roux
In addition to the method below, you can brown flour for roux in a microwave - start with equal parts oil (Marcelle uses regular vegetable oil) and flour. Cook the mixture, stopping to stir every 5 seconds or so, until browned to your liking.

Make Extra
You can make lots of roux, Marcelle usually does. Keep what you don't use in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator for up to three months.

Making Roux Step by Step

1.

1. Using a heavy cast iron skillet, heat equal parts oil and flour over medium heat (you can use the oil of your choice -- Marcelle used vegetable oil. You can also use lard like they did in the old days.

2.

2. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture, incorporating the flour into the oil and stirring until the mixture becomes smooth.

3.

3. Once the oil begins to foam, it begins to brown. Watch it carefully and stir constantly. When making roux, don't even THINK about leaving it. There's a fine line between a perfectly cooked roux and a burned mess and constant stirring is the key.

4.

4. Rouxs can be used at various stages of cooking -- from lightly golden to deep nutty brown. Your recipe will usually specify. The darker the roux, the more pronounced nutty flavor it will have. The photo above shows this advanced stage of cooking the roux. Marcelle used it to make a batch of her Chicken and Andouille Gumbo.

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