Name That Technique: How to Make a Roux!
Good Morning Real Women of Philadelphia!
The secret to a knock out dish is always in the sauce, and we’ve got one technique that will make your dishes sizzle! For day two of Essential Sauces week, we’re breaking down the rules of roux!
Part flour and part butter, roux is a thickening agent used frequently in French, Cajun and Creole recipes. A roux can be white, medium or dark in color depending on the dish, but here’s how you get started:
Photos courtesy of Food For Friends Oh Yeah, Mary Cokenour, Adventures of A Future Chef
- Make sure you have equal parts butter and flour.
- Preheat a skillet using low heat, and add butter. When the butter is melted, whisk in the flour. Add flour in stages in case it gets too thick. After about 5 minutes, you'll notice a nutty aroma. The texture should be smooth and free of clumps.
- To make a brown roux, Cajun roux or gumbo roux, you should use pork fat instead of butter and cook it until it reaches a dark brown, which could take up to 50 minutes.
CLAUDIA SIGNAL-LEON makes some pretty amazing Creole dishes, but we love her use of white roux in her CRAB, CHEESE & CHIVE GATEAU!
What Cajun or Creole dish do you love? Tell us which one is your favorite in the Comments below, or visit out RECIPE GALLERY HERE and tell us which dish you’d love to try!
A. Gumbo
B. Jambalaya
C. Etouffee
D. I’ve never had it!
E. My favorite dish isn’t listed!
Category
RWoP
34 comments
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Jambalaya!!!! I was one of those that ate it four times a day in Savannah!!! Claudia and I just made some in a microwave no less! It was delicious! I carried some home in a bowl for my husband and we had it for dinner that night and I had it for lunch the next day!!! Yes, I ate it three times in a row!!! I love it so much!!!! -
Hi Nancy,
We will send you a Private Message to assist you with the posting issue you experienced.
Thank you! -
♥♥♥♥Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler! Thank you, each of you, for your warm congrats, and also to the "powers that be" for taking notice of my Gateau. It is very much appreciated, y'all.
These are actually petite, savory cheesecake souffles, and are part of the Nouvelle Creole recipes that I have developed over the years. "Gateau" means "cake"!
So, what's my favorite Creole dish? I love seafood po'boys and just good, boiled seafood! What's my favorite Cajun dish? Turtle Soup! I made Jambalaya in Savannah last season, and it was all that everyone wanted to eat for those few days. They ate it for breakfast, lunch, as a snack, and for dinner.
Thanks, Donna Aveni, for letting me know. I was on the road (yes, traveling and cooking, still .. almost at the 75,000 mile mark) and would probably have missed this.
For those of you who have not had Creole food, well, my door is always opened and there is always a place for you at my table!♥♥♥ -
Congrats to you, Claudia! The only Cajun or Creole dish that I have had is the Jambalaya, so I guess that's my favorite as well. And it's YUMMY!!! -
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Congrats Claudia on the spotlight of your beautiful Gateau! My favorite are the Etouffee and Jambalaya! -
As a child my Mother always made soup for us when we were sick by boiling tomato sauce, lots of onions, potatoes and bacon grease. It's quick and it always tasted so good when we had a cold. -
Personally, I think it depends on what you are making for what you put in your Roux. The French way may have originally been with butter, but you can use alternate ways, like vegetable oil, for a little healthier, lighter colored, or even bacon grease for flavor (next time I make my creamy cheesy potato and ham soup I am going to try bacon grease). Some things you want browner, some things you want lighter. I really think it depends on the "finish" of what you are making. I've been cooking since I was 8 years old, and much of what I have learned is from the south, from my ancestors. I think Paula Dean would like the idea of bacon grease for my soup recipe. -
Well I write my message, hit submit and now it is gone! It even logged me out again! Strange.
I am an "A" all the way! Gumbo, Gumbo, and more GUMBO! Chicken, Seafood matter not the my roux in very very dark like my grandmother taught me to make!
Congratulations Claudia for having today's recipe showcase! -
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Claudia, I'm with Laurie on the drool factor! Crabmeat is one of my favorite seafoods and the combo above looks incredible! Can't wait to try it out. Roux has been a staple in my family all my life. The roux is what makes each pot of gumbo or etouffee different. Serious cooks from Louisiana, as Claudia mentions, use bacon grease in their roux. I worked with a young girl a few years ago and she said her Mom would gather her bacon grease in her grease can and when she had it full she would make large quantities of roux, cool it down, then pour into a large pan. She placed it in the fridge to harden. Next she would cut into squares and freeze in zip lock bags. That way when she was ready to make a fricassee, gumbo, gravy, etouffee, etc all she had to do was stir a few blocks into her broth and presto she was cookin'! I do that now. In Southeast Texas all good cooks had a grease can and when they fried bacon, pork chops, steak, etc they used the grease in the grease can to fry the meat. When they were done, they strained that grease back into the can. So as you can see many flavors were blended into that oil. Economics played a huge part of this method. You just didn't use that grease one time and throw it out, you reused it many times. I could go on and on but this is long enough already! I even have a one page article I wrote about bacon grease for young brides. I will begin a new forum and paste it there.
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Kathy-you have an awesome sense of humor! :)-thanks for making me smile today. Thinking of making appleyeah! A jambalaya of apples, fruits, spices and using oatmeal in lieu of rice. I guess raisins could be the red beans-LOL! Thank you RWOP for even more inspiration for the day-now off to the grocery store. -
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D. & E. But, Claudia, that looks and sounds simply delicious ! ... Roux, I do ! ... Probably not by anyone else's book, but I will make a Roux out of just about any skillet scrappings. We call it gravy in these parts ;) -
Gumbo is the best! I make quite a few pots once the weather cools down...I use cooking oil (like canola) instead of butter to get what we call a "hershey bar" roux. Just delicious! -
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This PA Dutchman never had any of the above, but I'm going to try a Gumbo because there were several recipes in the most recent Food Network Magazine. -
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Jambalaya - I love to experiment with it and use anything I have in the fridge for it. The spices stay the same but the meats and ingredients change every time I make it. -
Of course you could not mention roux and Creole cooking without the Creole Gourmet herself! Congrats, Claudia! -
I'm always making a roux....even just a simple pan of gravy starts off with a roux. Congrats Clauda!
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