Roux the day I tried to make gumbo
Another approach is to cook the roux in the oven. At 350°F (180°C), an oven roux will take several hours to reach the chocolate stage. If you're trying to cook a pot of gumbo to eat the same day, that's likely too much time devoted to the roux. If you have lots of time near the kitchen, as I did one day when testing this recipe while working from home, it can be a great approach. It's largely hands-off, since the roux won't scorch nearly as quickly as it can over a direct heat source like the stovetop, and it's so slow that it makes it almost impossible to overcook the roux. (Go ahead, prove me wrong; I know someone has it in them.)
Link>> Cajun Gumbo With Chicken and Andouille Sausage Recipe
Well I guess I had it in me. Flour and oil were in a 350° oven for three hours, the last of which there was no appreciable darkening. The roux didn’t taste like much, just some gritty, slightly bitter oil. I took faith and continued on with the recipe, browning meats, sautéing the holy trinity, and finally adding stock and simmering that for a couple more hours. What resulted was nothing to be considered edible. I strained out the solids and hope to create something passable with them tonight rather than toss, but my goodness where the heck did I go wrong? Is it as simple as that I proved the recipe creator wrong by scorching the roux? My oven runs fairly close to set temp.
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I've tried everything! I still cant make my plant grow pitchers!!
Comments (32)Good to know! I almost gave it a buzz cut this morning!!! It looks so good in our bathroom (almost like a spider plant) but as I see the little pitchers growing, I wondered if the stems were not wasting the plant's energy to grow more. I often see pictures of pitcher plants with very few stem (only stems are the ones with pitchers attached) so I thought maybe this was the secret. I was ready to cut 3 off which would have broken the spell of the room. If it doesn't bother my plant I will let it be! :) Can you tell me which fertilizer you use? You mentioned a fertilizer with bat guano? You have a Source? A link? I don't trust the ones in store here (limited options)....See MoreWoo-hoo! I made roux!
Comments (19)Once I learned how to make a roux in the microwave, I stopped doing it on the stovetop. You CAN burn it in the microwave if you don't pay attention, but the microwave process tends to be more forgiving. Here's how I do it: Before starting the roux, get all your vegetables cut up--celery, onion, green pepper. Have them ready, because you'll be using them to 'quench' the roux and stop the cooking. Take a large Pyrex glass measuring cup (say, 8 cups)--it needs to be about 3 or 4 times bigger than the volume of roux you're making. So if you're making a roux of 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of flour, an 8 cup measure is ideal. The timings I indicate are based on a roux of roughly 1 cup each of flour and oil, but you need to see how much energy your microwave has; a powerful microwave will, of course, cook things faster, so be on the lookout. And smaller amounts cook faster than larger amounts. In the glass measure, mix roughly equal parts of flour and vegetable oil (I use peanut). Place it uncovered in the microwave, and microwave on HIGH for 2 or 3 minutes. It'll bubble and foam. (What you're doing is driving off the water molecules which are attached to the starch molecules.) Remove the measure, stir up with a fork, and return to the microwave and nuke for a minute. Once it stops foaming, then you need to pay close attention to the degree of browning going on. Remove it, mix it up again. As it starts to brown, cut back on the period that you nuke it--so you may be nuking it for periods of 3 minutes to start, then one minute for a time or two or three, then thirty seconds, then 20 seconds, 10 seconds, etc. until you reach the desired level of brown-ness. Then, when it's as brown as you want it, remove the measure from the microwave and dump a good amount of the veggies in the roux. BE CAREFUL: it will release ungodly amounts of steam, and watch out for spatters; they don't call that stuff 'Cajun Napalm' for nothing. At this point, the coldness of the veggies (and the water content of the veggies) arrests the browning and it'll never get any browner. Mix up well, then add more veggies to get them coated. Add some stock to loosen it all up and tranfer the mixture to the gumbo pot. I never bother being really precise with the amount of oil simply because about 10 minutes before the gumbo is finished I use a ladle and degrease the whole mess. (If you're cooking a gumbo with sausage, it will release a good amount of oil as well, so you need to do that degreasing step anyway. Oh, and don't bother making gumbo with one of those low-fat turkey sausages. It'll taste like hot dogs. If you're not going to use good sausage like andouille or good kielbasa, you're better off omitting the sausage, IMHO.)...See MoreQuadrupling a recipe that has a roux
Comments (7)Huge is right! How big is your pot? 9 cups of chicken stock plus all the food. I think you'd be better off doubling the recipe and making it twice than trying to make it work out with more. Remember the geometry of your pot will have some effect. Generally, with doubling one is wary of salt and strong seasonings. Also, you might need less stock for double. As to the roux, I don't generally measure, so can't really answer, but one makes a small roux for a small pot and a large roux for a large pot. I think your best bet would be to make the quadruple, especially if you're taking it to a good dark brown. That isn't something you want to do again in a rush. If you think it's too much, you can set some aside and see how it goes. Either add in later, if it needs it, or keep it in the fridge for a few days....See MoreDutch oven roux/gumbo?
Comments (15)Lucille, if your large Dutch oven has a perfectly flat bottom, it should be fine on your glass topped stove. (As long as you don't drop it on it.) But if it has a ridge around the bottom, I would check with the manufacturer of the stove before using it. It's been pretty cold here lately, Gumbo sounds so-o-o-o- good! Rusty...See More
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last yearlast modified: last yearWhen I make gumbo, I use 1 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp grape seed oil, and 1/3 cup flour, but I add extra oil, if I need it.
I have heard of the oven method for making roux, but I prefer to make it on the stove top, as that is tried and true for me, and I feel that it gives me more control. I do take the roux past the peanut butter stage, but only until it is deep reddish brown and not chocolate colored. My roux is between the last two in this photo from the page that you linked:
I consider the next to darkest in this photo to be the peanut butter stage.
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John Liu