After I posted the sausage recipe I had a few friends IM or email me asking what a roux was. The Simplest explanation I can give of a roux is equal amounts of a melted fat ( butter, oil or melted vegetable shortening) mixed with an equal amount of flour and cooked to one of three varying degrees in the pan. ** Margarine does not a good roux make.. too much water in margarine for it to work efficiently.**
1. Light or White Roux... the roux is cooked until there is no longer a flour smell to the roux, but a slightly warm, nutty smell... this only takes about 30 seconds to maybe a minute, and the roux is still white in color. Depending on what oil or fat you used, it might be more of a light blonde. (This is what you are looking for in the sausage gravy. Adding enough flour to the grease until you have a nice smooth, still semi liquid type of substance, you do not want "chunks" in the bottom of the pan, you have added too much flour, however, there is a remedy for that. When you add your liquid to the pan, add a little at a time, and you whisk very , very quickly and efficiently until the lumps are gone and the sauce is smooth. But you will have to continue whisking even after all the liquid is in just to make sure no lumps exist. If you dump too much liquid in, and you have these gargantuan chunks floating around, start removing them, any small or tinier chunks will cook out, but, i dare say, it takes constant, constant stirring, and it takes a loooooooooong time for the lumps to dissolve and cook out. And especially working with milk, you stand a chance of the milk burning. The good thing is if you do this while you are making a clean sauce (no meat, vegetables, fresh herbs in it) you can take it over to another pan and using a strainer, strain the lumps out and use a slurry if necessary to thicken the rest. However, if you start with a roux, it fails, and you are using a slurry to thicken it.. do not use corn starch and water, use flour and water to keep the taste consistent.
2. Blonde Roux.. the roux is cooked past the white stage until it reaches a blonde/light beige color. This type of roux is often used in creole dishes. I would cook from the white stage to the blonde stage over a medium low to low heat. This one only takes a couple of minutes.
3. Brown or a Brick Roux... At this point you want to confront the roux, with your wooden spoon. ( No metal, even heat proof plastic spatula I would shy away from) Stand bravely over it, turn the heat down to low and stir thoroughly yet slowly, showing it who is in charge. Be brave, I know you can do this!! This is when the roux is past the Blonde stage, and it turns into a brownish/red color. This is very popular in Cajun Cooking. This takes anywhere between 5-15 minutes and you want to do this over a low flame for safety sake. The roux will become incredibly hot and bubbly at this point, because the flour and butter are breaking down even further, and the roux actually becomes more like a liquid.
You have to constantly stir it at this point, otherwise it will burn very quickly or it will bubble, splatter and burn you very nicely! Even with constant stirring, you have to be careful, at this stage the roux turns to bitterness or black on the drop of a dime. When the roux is brown you turn the heat off, take the pan immediately off the heat, (have your gloves ready, do not go running to another area of the kitchen for them, you are inviting possible trouble), and transfer the roux to another heat proof container until you are ready to use it, or continue with your recipe. If your roux turns black.. DO NOT throw it away into a plastic garbage bag, DO NOT place the pan under cold running water or any water of any kind. This is why grease traps and dumpsters are a blessing in restaurants... If you can place it into an dry, empty soup or vegetable can, and dispose of it that way, after the roux has cooled in the can. If you do not, the safest way would be until the roux and pan cools down, and you run hot water into the pan with plenty of dish soap to clean it out. Please put on a chefs jacket or something with long sleeves that will protect your arms if you ever need to make a Brick Roux.
Now that I have thoroughly psychologically scarred you for life from making Brick or Brown Roux, it is something that just takes time and practice. Remember, low and slow is the way to go on this roux. Pretty soon either on your first or a couple of tries, you will be making it like a professional in no time. This is one of thee main bases of Cajun Cooking, and if you ever want to go down that culinary Cajun corridor, you are going to have to confront a Brick Roux. One of these days when i figure out what I have to buy to tape a video of me cooking in the kitchen, and how to transfer it from there to here, I will post one of me making a roux from white through brown stage! Also on the lighter side of the news, most of the recipes on this blog will only use a white or blonde roux , tapioca, or a slurry (equal amounts of corn starch and a liquid, combined together and whisked until smooth. The slurry is then usually added to a hot, rapidly bubbling liquid that you are stirring or whisking away at, while slowly pouring in the slurry. It is what thickens whatever you are cooking. This is used in Chop Suey, Stews, etc.) Alrighty, it is 4am.. the time change has messed with my body too much, and what thought was going to be a simple explanation has turned once again into a novel.. ahhh, true to form that I am!! Good Night World... and Happy Roux Making!!!
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