Big oven roux questions

Provided you have a large enough cast iron pot, yeah you will be ok doing it all at once. Just stir it every 15-20 mins.

Yea I would want to do it in a pan but I don't have one big enough to hold that much roux.

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Yea I would want to do it in a pan but I don't have one big enough to hold that much roux.

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then how are you going to cook 6 gallons of gumbo?

Also, that seems like a lot of roux for only 6 gallons of soup. Are you using 8 cups of flour and 8 cups of oil or just 4 and 4?

For the last year or so I have been cooking my roux using high heat like Prudhomme suggest and I'll never do it any other way. I can get a dark roux in under 10 minutes.

I have a related question.

I've never made a roux ahead of time like this. Normally I make the roux, add the trinity to the hot roux and stir for a few minutes, transfer that to the gumbo pot and add the broth.

I've learned from here to add the liquid a little bit at a time.

okay, make that 2 questions.

1: if you make the roux ahead of time, do you just heat it up and then add liquid a little at a time?

2: when making a gumbo as big as the OP, how do you add the liquid? seems like adding 6 gallons a little at a time would take a very long time.

If I make roux ahead of time, I heat it up. I've already added the trinity most of the time, so all I need to do is heat it and start adding it slowly to my simmering stock. I have very rarely added stock to the roux before I've added the roux to the stock. The trinity has already provided some moisture to the roux.

If I make the roux ahead of time and need to reheat it, I usually do it in the oven so I don't have to spend time watching it and stirring a lot. I get an good even reheat without too much stirring. Works for me, but everyone has their preferences.

If I were using a jarred roux and I have tried it a few times long ago, I would add a little oil to the cast iron skillet because I find the jarred to be so thick. Then, I would add the roux and start to melt it and I would try to get it hot enough to add the onions to brown them a bit and then add the rest of the trinity, sauteing them just as I do with a homemade roux.

So, I'm doing it backwards adding the stock to the roux?

I followed the steps in this thread LINK

A few times and finally got it to come out pretty good. But, I never thought to add the roux to the stock.

I've seen people at our tailgate make as much as 40 gallons of gumbo. They always seem to start with making the roux in the big pot and add the trinity and stock to that.

Then I got the tip to add the stock slowly and it made me wonder how you would do that on a much larger scale.

I'm obviously a novice. honestly, i had not even attempted to make gumbo until i read that other thread. It always seemed too intimidating.

I may try this again this weekend and try doing it the other way around and see how that works. I didn't like the way the roux and stock seemed to separate. Maybe adding roux to already heated stock will help with that?

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I usually don't even need to skim it at all.

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You shouldn't have to skim the oil from the roux unless it separates. I have to skim because I use sausage/andouille and chicken, sometimes fried chicken. I don't have to skim seafood gumbo, though.

I can't say I use a 1:1 ratio. I use more flour than oil. I don't necessarily measure. I put in the amount that looks right, but I've made it so much that I'm usually on target. I normally make extra roux.

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more flour than oil

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interesting. when i first started with the steps from the other thread it was like 2:1 oil to flour. But, it definitely worked better when i changed to 1:1. So much for not teaching an old dog new tricks.

I overcooked a roux once and it separated badly when I added the liquid

Turned out to be a huge disaster