Roux in 20 minutes

Looks good. I prefer more flour to oil. But, you hit that one out the park. Looking forward to see your gumbo.

Nice work. You can actually speed up the process even further by preheating your oil before adding your flour. I whip out a dark roux in 5 minutes usually.

This is Paul Prudhomme's quick roux method. You just have to put on your big boy pants and give this a try.

How to Make a Roux

"A few overall points may be helpful:

The usual proportion of oil to flour is fifty-fifty.
Roux can be made in advance, cooled and then stored in an airtight jar for several days, in the refrigerator or at room temperature. If roux is made ahead, pour off excess oil from the surface and reheat (preferred), or let it return to room temperature before using.


In general, light and medium-brown roux are used in sauces or gravies for dark, heavy meats such as beef, with game such as elk and venison, and with dark-meat fowl such as duck, geese and blackbirds. They give a wonderful, toasted nutty flavor—just the right enhancement—to these sauces and gravies. Dark red-brown and black roux are used in sauces and gravies for sweet, light, white meats such as pork, rabbit, veal, and all kinds of freshwater and saltwater fish and shellfish. In addition, black roux are best to use in gumbos because the darkest roux result in the thinnest, best-tasting gumbos of all; but it takes practice to make black roux without burning them, and dark red-brown roux are certainly acceptable for any gumbo.


You’ll notice that I make exceptions to these general guidelines in some recipes. These exceptions simply reflect my preference for the flavor of a particular roux with the combined flavors of the other ingredients in certain dishes. (For example, I prefer the flavor of a medium-brown roux in Grillades and Grits—a veal dish—and in Sticky Chicken, rather than a darker roux.)


My approach to roux derives from the tradition of Cajun cooks, who view roux as being essentially of two types—medium brown and black; and who also classify meats as basically of two types—heavy, dark, somewhat bitter ones, and light, white, sweet ones. Traditionally, Cajun cooks use light roux with dark meats and dark roux with light meats. This is because they know intuitively, whether they can verbalize it or not, that these particular combinations lead to wonderful-tasting food.

Working within this tradition, I’ve developed variations and given you in this book the roux-meat combinations which I think are best. You’ll find that as you gain more experience and skill in making roux, you’ll want to experiment with the endless combinations of roux colors and the flavors of other ingredients you’re using—especially meats—to find those combinations that excite your taste buds the most!
Several words of advice are essential:

Procedure

1. Cooked roux is called Cajun napalm in my restaurant’s kitchen because it is extremely hot and sticks to your skin; so be very careful to avoid splashing it on you; it’s best to use a long-handled metal whisk or wooden spoon.

2. Always begin with a very clean skillet or pot—preferably one that is heavy, such as cast iron (and never a nonstick type). If possible, use a skillet with flared sides because this makes stirring easier and thus makes it less likely the roux will burn. In addition, use a large enough skillet so that the oil does not fill it by more than one-fourth of its capacity.

3. The oil should be smoking hot before the flour is added.

4. Once the oil is heated, stir in the flour gradually (about a third at a time) and stir or whisk quickly and constantly to avoid burning the mixture. (Flour has moisture in it, and adding it to hot oil often creates steam—another good reason for using long-handled whisks or spoons.)

5. If black specks appear in the roux as it cooks, it has burned; discard it (place it in a heatproof container to cool before discarding), then start the roux over again—c’est la vie!

6. As soon as the roux reaches the desired color, remove it from the heat; stir in the vegetables, which stop the browning process and enhance the taste of the finished dish, and continue stirring until the roux stops getting darker (at least 3 to 5 minutes).

7. While cooking roux (bringing it to the desired color), if you feel it is darkening too fast, immediately remove it from the heat and continue whisking constantly until you have control of it.

8. Care and concentration are essential for you to be successful with this fast method of making roux. Especially the first few times you make a roux, be certain that any possible distractions—including children—are under control. In addition, have all cooking utensils and required vegetables or seasoning mixtures prepared ahead of time and near at hand before you start cooking."

Source: Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

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Nice work. You can actually speed up the process even further by preheating your oil before adding your flour. I whip out a dark roux in 5 minutes usually.

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I'll give it a try one day