Find a Sunday afternoon when you have a couple of hours to spend in the kitchen. This is the perfect time to make a batch of roux! (Although some Cajun cooks would tell you that the roux you can buy in a jar is just as good, MoMo Fontenot would vehemently disagree!) She believed that a good Cajun cook should always have a batch of roux waiting to be used in the back of the fridge!
In a heavy saucepan, over a medium heat, begin to heat 1 cup of vegetable oil and 1 cup of flour, constantly stirring. Add flour or oil as necessary so that it is not too dry and not too wet. There is no specific way to measure this other than the eye of the Cajun cook.
You cook a roux till it "looks right".
Continue stirring and stirring until it turns brown... Can´t tell you what shade of brown other than "roux colored".
Again, you cook a roux till it "looks right"!
Remove from the stove when the color and texture are right. Add 1 cup of chopped yellow onion, stirring into the mixture.
Refrigerate in a plastic container and pull out what you need for each recipe.
Please help a poor idiot like me.. but what IS a roux? And what do you use it for?
ReplyDeleteYour cooking dummy,
Lady Fi!
It is the BASE or thickening agent for most cajun dishes... it gives the texture you need for whatever you are making.... a more liquid texture for gumbo, a thicker texture for things like etouffee, etc...
ReplyDeleteNo cooking dummies here... we are all learning together! ;o)