Dark Brown Roux
Ingredients
- 3/4 c vegetable oil (or peanut oil)
- 1 c Flour (Plain)
Method
To make a roux, one must constantly stir the contents of the pan, scraping the bottom, edges, and sides of the pan as you go. You can use anything from a wire whip to a wooden spoon or any number of inventions made to make the perfect roux. If you talk to 10 Louisiana cooks you'll get 10 different ways to do this. We suggest you find the tool that works best for you.
1. In a heavy skillet or saucepan, heat the oil to very hot.
2. Add the flour a little at a time, whisking or stirring it in as you go until all flour is added and mixture takes on a thick consistency.
3. Continue to whisk or stir the mixture over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Reduce heat to medium-high. Never stop scraping the bottom, edges, and sides of the pan as you watch the flour turn into different colors of brown and stages of texture.
4. If the mixture smokes a lot, reduce heat a little more, always scraping the bottom of the skillet or saucepan.
5. When mixture reaches a chocolate brown color, remove from heat and continue to stir 5 minutes longer, assuring that the mixture cools enough not to burn even after you remove it from heat.
Notes
Notes from source:
This can be used to flavor and darken many sauces, and is the basis for gumbo.
You can add 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion to the roux as you remove it from the heat, to quickly cool and flavor the roux. Virtually anything you use a roux in will also have onion, so the additional flavoring will just contribute to the recipes you use it in.