How to Make a Roux

A roux is a cooked mixture of flour and a cooking fat, like vegetable oil, that is used to thicken sauces and gravies.

Difficulty: Easy

Things You'll Need:

• vegetable oils
• wooden spoons
• all-purpose flour
• All-purpose Flour
• Vegetable Oils
• Wooden Spoons

1. 
   
   
   Step 1
   Pour about ¼ c. of the oil in a small sturdy pan and place it over medium-low heat.
   
2. 
   
   
   Step 2
   When the oil is warm but not too hot, start stirring in flour with the wooden spoon until the mixture is thick - about the texture of wet concrete or plaster of Paris. Add more oil or flour until it's right.
   
3. 
   
   
   Step 3
   Stir continually with the wooden spoon over the heat so the roux cooks. The flour will gradually begin to brown. The roux can be used when the flour is light golden in color. The darker you cook the roux, the more flavor it will add to the sauce. Don't cook it past a mahogany color, though.
   
4. 
   
   
   Step 4
   Transfer the roux to another container to cool.
   
5. 
   
   
   Step 5
   Store roux in the refrigerator for a week, or freeze it in tablespoon-size wafers.
   
6. 
   
   
   Step 6
   To thicken a sauce with roux, let it cool so it won't splatter and whisk it in to your boiling sauce base, like broth or pan drippings.
   
7. 
   
   
   Step 7
   Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to whisk until all the roux has been absorbed.
   
8. 
   
   
   Step 8
   Simmer for at least 20 minutes to allow it the sauce to thicken and become smooth.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tips & Warnings

   • 
     
     
     Roux is usually equal parts by weight flour and fat, but most chefs make it by simply adding flour to hot oil and looking for the proper thick texture.
   • 
     
     
     Any cooking fat can be used to make a roux, including bacon fat or chicken fat.
   • 
     
     
     Butter can be used as well, but only for very light-colored roux. The dairy in the butter will burn easily if it's cooked too long.
   • 
     
     
     1 tbsp. of roux will thicken 1 c. to 1½ c. of liquid.
   • 
     
     
     For best results, reserve some roux and some liquid when making your sauce so you can adjust the thickness later.
   • 
     
     
     Roux-thickened sauces will thicken as they cool.
   • 
     
     
     Be very careful when cooking roux - the oil gets very hot and will easily burn if splattered.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     Making Roux, Step-by-Step
     
     

     By:   Kris Erickson
       
       Roux (pronounced "roo") is a thickening agent for soups and sauces with roots dating back more than 300 years in French cuisine.
     
     Made by cooking a flour and oil paste until the raw flavor of the flour cooks out and the roux has achieved the desired color, a properly cooked roux imparts silky-smooth body and a nutty flavor while thickening soups and sauces.

     1. Roux can be made with a variety of oils and animal fats. They are commonly made with vegetable oil, olive oil, or clarified butter, but can also be made with bacon grease or other rendered fats. Since an oil-based roux will separate as the flour settles to the bottom, clarified butter is the preferred fat to use when making a roux for future use, as it will harden when refrigerated, trapping the flour in suspension.
     
     

     There are four varieties of roux: white, blond, brown, and dark brown. The different colors are a result of how long the roux is cooked; white is cooked for the shortest time, while dark brown cooks the longest. White and blond roux are the most common, used to thicken sauces, soups, and chowders. Brown and dark brown roux have more flavor, but less thickening power than white or blond roux. These roux are primarily used in Cajun and Creole dishes, most notably gumbo and jambalaya.

     2. Begin making the roux by melting 1 cup of clarified butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is hot enough that a pinch of flour sprinkled into it will slowly start to bubble, proceed to the next step.

     3. Whisk 1-3/4 cups of flour into the clarified butter until a thick, rough paste forms. Whisk constantly while it bubbles over medium heat. As it cooks, the roux will become smooth and begin to thin.

     4. The white stage is reached once the flour looses its raw smell, after about 5 minutes of cooking and stirring. Although slightly grainy in texture, it is much smoother than it was at the beginning. The mixture is bubbling vigorously and the color is a little paler than when the clarified butter and flour were first combined.

     5. After about 20 minutes of continuous cooking and stirring, the roux will reach the blond stage. The bubbles are beginning to slow, and the aroma has taken on nuances of popcorn or toasted bread. The roux is now tan colored, very smooth, and thinner than it was at the white stage.

     6. Brown roux will reach a peanut butter-brown color after approximately 35 minutes of cooking and stirring. Its aroma is more pronounced and sharper than the nutty nuances of blond roux. The roux is now thinner, and the bubbling has slowed even more.

     7. Even darker than brown roux, the dark brown stage occurs after about 45 minutes of cooking, and is the color of melted milk chocolate. Its aroma will also mellow from the strong, roasted flavor of brown roux and will actually smell a little like chocolate. The roux is no longer bubbling, and is very thin.

     * Remember to keep stirring! Roux IS the perfect way to thicken gravy with-out getting lumps. Never just mix flour and water in jar and think you're going to thicken gravy. It's TROUBLE!