This Roux Recipe is a Must for Home Cooks! (2024)

FAQs

What kind of roux that cooked just enough to cook the raw taste of flour? ›

White and blond roux are cooked for just enough time to eliminate the raw taste of the flour, but not so long that the roux starts to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. White roux is used to thicken sauces such as béchamel, cheese sauces and white gravy, as well as creamy soups and chowders.

If flour were simply added directly to a hot liquid the flour would form clumps or lumps. By " cooking" the flour the starches are allowed to expand and enables it to absorb the moisture added. Once cooked to the desired colour the roux should be used immediately.

What are the right ratios for a roux? Use an easy-to-remember equal quantity of flour to butter. This gives a good all-round thick, paste and makes it easier to incorporate the liquid. Your mixture will be less likely to go lumpy.

There are four varieties of roux: white, blond, brown, and dark brown. The different colors are a result of how long the roux is cooked; white is cooked for the shortest time, while dark brown cooks the longest. White and blond roux are the most common, used to thicken sauces, soups, and chowders.

There's no right or wrong to which fat you use; it just depends on what flavor you want. In a dairy-heavy sauce, like milky béchamel, butter is the common choice (and is also the more common fat in most French roux), while oil is often preferred in Creole and Cajun cooking.

Yes! Working with olive oil in a roux is the same process as making the roux with any other oil or fat. I put together a quick video to accompany the recipe.

Tips for Making a Roux

Don't use a thin pan and/or too high heat: We advise using a heavy-bottomed pan (Dutch oven, cast-iron skillet, heavy sauté pan) and cooking over medium-low heat. If you crank the heat up or use a thin pan, you risk burning the roux.

If you don't cook roux long enough (until it changes color) then it will taste like flour.

The longer a roux cooks, the less potent its thickening power, but what develops is a flavorful base that adds nutty, rich dimension to countless stews and sauces. This is why you'll see roux cooked to varying levels of doneness, including white, blond, medium brown, and dark brown.

What happens if you overcook a roux? ›

You're Turning Up the Heat Too Much

There's no coming back from a burned roux—it'll add an acrid, unpleasant note to the dish that you just worked so hard to make.

Darker roux is made by browning the flour in oil for a longer time and adds a distinct nutty flavor to a dish. They may be called "blond," "peanut-butter," "brown," or "chocolate" roux depending on their color. The darker the color, the richer the flavor.

The five French mother sauces are béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato. Developed in the 19th century by French chef Auguste Escoffier, mother sauces serve as a starting point for a variety of delicious sauces used to complement countless dishes, including veggies, fish, meat, casseroles, and pastas.

Gravy is basically a roux, elevated with meat drippings or stock added. While a roux is a neutral fat and flour combined, gravy takes it a step further by using drippings for the fat and stock for flavor.

You have to make sure you cook the flour with the fat long enough for it to become golden brown otherwise you're dealing with raw flour that is the reason it tastes like flour!

You'll want to cook it for a few minutes because raw flour has a doughy taste you won't want in your sauce. Cooking the roux for a few minutes helps get rid of that raw flour flavor. Beyond that, how long you cook the roux depends on what you're using it for.

It's called “Beurre Manie”. It's an uncooked roux.

Not cooking your roux the correct length of time.

On the other hand, for a béchamel, we need a white roux that's cooked just long enough so it doesn't taste like raw flour. Try this: Pay close attention to the cook times given on a recipe as a place to start, then rely on sight and taste for the best result.