re: School me on using a pre-made roux.

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Is awful. I had this when someone who is a good cook made it. It didn't taste like gumbo to me. No dark roux flavor. Was like a cross between a poorly made gumbo and some sort of bad chicken and sausage soup. I just don't get wasting the time to make gumbo with it, but it's a personal flavor and some folks apparently like it.

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I get that it's not your thing, but I think you're being a bit harsh. I use it often when I don't feel like cooking a roux, I've had gumbo made by others with it as well. I've never heard anybody complain. It's not as good as homemade roux but it's not near as bad as you make it sound.

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I had to look for a silver lining.

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Ding Ding Ding... We have a winner! Jarred roux and 72 virgins it is!

dude seriously? roux takes 15 minutes.

I make my own roux too. It's one of my favorite things to make. I like slowly stirring a pot and drinking a beer or four.

I have mentioned this before, but my favorite jarred roux moment was on TV. Troy Landry of Peirre Part, Louisiana and star of History Channel's "Swamp People," is talking about Cajun recipes handed down from generation to generation while at the same time spooning roux from a jar into his sauce piquant.

This guy catches alligators with his hands and and wear white boots. That's pretty damned cajun. He uses jarred roux.

I bet his sauce piquant would be better with a real roux though.

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roux is just flour and oil. So how is premade soooo bad?

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Not so much bad, just not as good. It's science actually. The oil coats the starches in the flour keeping your gumbo or gravy smooth. Those jarred rouxs have very little oil and there is none in the powder. Gris Gris already mentioned the flavors can be affected by the type oil you use. If you don't believe her, then you have never had a gumbo with a duck-fat roux.

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I bet yall use premade seasonings such as Tonys, Slap ya Mama, etc.

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Very very rarely. They're too salty for me, so I usually add my seasonings individually.

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Not that bad and I bet you can not tell a difference.

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Not everyone can tell the difference, but I can and I have known it right after the first bite of gumbo when friends have used the jarred. I use peanut oil most of the time when making my roux, so that's probably why I can spot the difference. The veggie oils used in the jarred rouxs included a variety of oils like rice and palm and some other ones. I can't recall all that were listed.

However, if you do as I suggested above and darken the jarred a bit, plus add another fat like pork, duck, bacon, sausage fats, you can disguise the flavor of the jarred roux somewhat. I might not catch it. You have to work at it, though, so I just make my own. Some of my friends in other states like to use the jarred and I mail it to them when they run out. It's not a crime to use it.

The dry dark roux in a jar made by Kary's is okay. You just have to learn how to use it properly. I use about a quarter of a jar per gallon of home made stock and it works fine. I don't really want to make a roux on the stove any more. I did it that way for years and got tired of doing it like that. In fact, for years we used to put leftover roux in a jar to use later and it always worked fine. I like the dry roux now because it cuts down on the fat in the gumbo.

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The dry dark roux in a jar made by Kary's is okay

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Kary's roux in the jar is excellent.

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bake at 350 for 4-5 hours

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Wow....that's a long time to make a roux.