Jan 27 2014
Cineredman made a post, Power of the Roux, he knows how to make roux and it was a great post. I didn’t want to hijack his post so I am posting this link to Chef John Folse’s six basic roux’s. There are no photos but it is the best explanation I have seen of how roux fits in with Cajun and Creole culture, the cooking and the recipes.
http://www.jfolse.com/fr_rouxs.htmI have made quite a few pots of gumbo over the years and made the roux to start with using 1 cup of oil and one cup of flour. In my older age and getting more healthy cooking conscience; I thought that is a lot of oil for one pot of gumbo. I started cutting back to a half cup of each and found I still got good flavor. I ended up using only a few tablespoons of each. If I wanted the gumbo thicker I would add filet gumbo powder.
Now I am using oiless roux; which is just flour browned in the oven and then I make slurry of the flour and water and add it to the gumbo. I have a mason jar of it in the fridge now to use and it should last a long time.