Oven Roux, Made at 350 degrees F (photos)

Some folks here make their roux in the oven at either 350 or 400 degrees F. I am a part of the 350 crowd, thinking that although it might take longer, it is almost impossible to burn a roux at 350 degrees.

Anyhow, I decided to record an experiment and to document the progression of a 350 oven roux.

I started with flour, vegetable oil, my 10 inch cast iron skillet, a room temperature oven and (as you will see) a lot of time on my hands.



I added 1 cup of vegetable oil to the skillet.





and 1 cup of flour





Mixed well



and placed into my room temperature oven on the middle rack.



Then I set the timer to 15 minutes and turned on the oven.



The oven came up to temperature within 12 minutes and I am sure the skillet did, just a little after that.



Then I pulled the skillet at the end of 15 minutes, took a photo, stirred the skillet and returned it to the oven with timer set at 15 minutes.



Time intervals for photographing and stirring were 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 180, 240, and 300 minutes

Here are the photos, showing the slow progression of my roux.



0 time (above)



15 minutes (above)



30 minutes (above)



45 minutes (above)



60 minutes (1 hour - above)



75 minutes (above)



90 minutes (above)



105 minutes (above)



120 minutes (2 hours - above)



180 minutes (3 hours - above)



240 minutes (4 hours - above)



300 minutes (5 hours - above)



The roux was pretty dark at 5 hours, but I was surprised when I drained away the oil, after allowing the flour to settle for maybe 10 minutes. This photo was taken at 315 minutes. Nice dark brown. Very thick - really nutty taste, with no hint of burnt flour. (photo below)



I discarded the oil and put the roux in the refrigerator, planning to either use it or freeze it within the next few days. (photo below)



So what do I think now? Obviously, 350 will make a pretty good roux although it takes a while. The upside is that if you don't stir it, the roux takes minimum involvement to make. I am uncertain if it even needs stirring as it cooks. I may do 400 degrees F next to see if it will be a lot quicker. My belief is that it will be significantly quicker.

Thanks for looking

edited to add - I could have done this with maybe 1/3 the 1:1 oil to flour ratio I started with.