Makes 4.5 Cups
Ingredients:
· 17.2 ounces fat
· 17.2 (up to 20) ounces of flour
Preparation
1. To promote better flavor building (toasting) of the flour, what I like to do is combine my fats in a heavy bottomed or cast iron pan. This is where the thermometer comes in handy. You want to bring your oil up to 385 to right under 400 degrees over medium high(ish) heat. 6/10 if using an electric or induction stovetop. It will be smoking, at that is ok. When the fat is at temperature, slowly in a couple of additions, add the flour, making sure it is stirred in after each addition. It may be a bit lumpy, but there will be plenty of time to work the lumps out. Now… I recommend having the TV on to your favorite show or movie, because for the next hour you aren’t going ANYWHERE. You have 1 job, and it is stirring. Ok, the flour is in the pan. What I like to do is start for 6-7 minutes by stirring on 6. Stirring aggressively and completely constantly. This is going to start the flavor development of the flour right out of the gate. After 6-7 minutes of stirring on 6, turn the heat down to 4 and continue stirring for another 5 minutes. You should notice that the roux has been wisping a bit of smoke. This is ok and will fill your house with a wonderful aroma. Keep Stirring. Now that you are 11-12 minutes in, turn your heat down to 2 (medium low) and continue stirring for 20 minutes. This will take you to the 30 minute mark. You will notice that the roux is starting to turn a color of peanut butter and the smell is starting to intensify slightly. You should also still be wisping a little smoke. A little smoke is good… A lot of smoke is bad. Now, why is the constant stirring of the utmost importance? Because there is a fine line between making a dark roux and a burnt mess. If you notice even 1 speck of black rise to the top of the pot when stirring, your roux is burnt and ruined and you must start over. Alright, back to the roux. About 30 minutes to go. Keep Stirring. You cannot for 1 second stop stirring. For about 10-12 minutes, you may notice a stall in the turning of the color. This is ok, keep stirring. The color will start turning a shade or two darker every couple of minutes now. This is when the magic starts happening. The color preference after 45 minutes is up to you. When I make my dark Cajun roux I like to take it 1-2 shades past dark chocolate. This is a very tricky thing for the home cook to do, so I would say to stop cooking your roux at a color in between milk chocolate and dark chocolate. There will be plenty of flavor at that point anyway. If you want to test the flavor of the roux very quickly remove a drop or two from the pan and place on a plate or cutting board. Wait for it to cool and give it a try. If you think a deeper flavor is needed, continue stirring in a couple minute increments and keep trying. If you think the flavor is good, move on, and if you think the roux is slightly burnt, but not all the way burnt tasting, you are right on the money. The vegetables will balance this flavor now. I’ll get to that in a minute. How does your arm feel? Probably needs a break right? Well, you have 2 options now. You can either remove the roux to a stock pot and continue on to the next phase of the Gumbo making process or you can remove the roux from the heat and let it cool and store it in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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