What Is A Roux?
A roux (pronounced “Roo”) is a kitchen staple used to thicken a beef bourguignon, your grandma’s gravy, and a cajun gumbo. It is made by cooking flour with fat, usually butter or oil. In French cuisine, flour and butter are cooked together briefly until pale blond in color. This roux thickens without adding hardly any flavor. In Cajun cuisine, flour and oil are cooked together until a dark chocolatey color. This roux not only thickens but adds a toastiness to the dish that is the cornerstone of cajun flavor. A dark roux is the secret ingredient to a good gumbo, etouffee, and tomato gravy. Its that “spice” you cannot place. Its toasty bitterness acts similarly to dark chocolate in a good mole sauce.
A dark roux can take up to an hour of near-constant stirring. You can make a roux in the pot you are using to make gumbo and then add your cajun mirepoix (onion, celery, and green bell pepper) directly to it. However, it is such an investment of time, and focus to make a good dark cajun roux, that I prefer to make up a large batch ahead of time and add it to my gumbo towards the end of cooking. One batch of roux can make many batches of gumbo or etouffee and will keep in the refrigerator indefinitely.
Stages of a Roux
As a roux cooks it passes through several different stages of color and flavor. A white roux has a neutral flavor. A blond roux is buttery in flavor. A peanut butter-colored roux smells like popcorn. A copper-colored roux is rich and toasty. A chocolate-colored roux is dark and mysterious like voodoo magic; as hard to attain as it is to describe. A roux can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds. It takes almost a trancelike focus to make a chocolate roux. It is a meditation.
This may sound intimidating, and it is. I’m not going to lie to you; I have burnt many large batches of roux after an hour invested in close supervision and stirring. Roux splatter burns are no joke either (use a long wooden spoon and wear long sleeves). The good news is that you can stop at a safer peanut butter or copper-colored roux (many chefs do), and still make an excellent gumbo or tomato gravy. You can work up to the chocolate-colored stage and with time and practice, you will achieve a perfect dark cajun roux.
Secret Tip to Making A Cajun Roux
The basic ratio to any roux is 1:1 oil to flour. As a roux cooks, it loses its thickening power and may separate out in your dish. If storing roux for later uses, you may find you have split roux with the oil on top. You can pour or scrape off this oil or you can add more flour at the very end of cooking, which is what I usually do. Adding more flour at the end replenishes depleted thickening power and ensures a velvety sauce that doesn’t have a layer of oil on the top. The roux is so hot at this point that the flour cooks instantly you don’t have to worry about any raw flour flavor compromising your perfectly toasty cajun roux. My final ratio is closer to 2:3 oil to flour.
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How To Make a Dark Cajun Roux
- Cook Time: 45-60 minutes
- Total Time: 45-60 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: Kitchen Staple
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Cajun
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This dark roux is the cornerstone of Cajun Cuisine and is used to thicken and flavor gumbo, etouffee, tomato gravy, and beef gravy.
Ingredients
2 cups oil (with a high smoke point)
3 cups flour
Instructions
In a heavy bottom pan, stir together 2 cups flour and 2 cups oil. Set a metal pan or container that holds 1 qt or more near by.
Turn heat to medium and cook stirring every minute or so with a wooden spoon, making sure to get to the corners of the pan, until the roux reaches a peanut butter color and starts to smell like popcorn.
At this point, reduce the flame to low (2 out of 10 on your dial). Stir constantly.
Continue cooking until your roux passes through the copper-colored stage and becomes a dark chocolate color. Or stop at the copper-colored stage if you are unable to give your absolute full attention to it. Your roux will become thick and chalky looking at this point. That’s normal. When you take it off the heat and let it sit it will become smooth and glossy again.
As soon as you reach your desired darkness, stir in another 1/2 – 1 cup flour. This will add thickening power to your roux and drop the temperature a bit. Carefully pour the roux into the metal container that you set nearby at the beginning of this process to prevent overcooking.
When the roux has cooled down a bit but is still soft, transfer this roux to a sterilized glass jar for long-term storage.
To use this roux, add 1 tablespoon at a time to a simmering liquid (gumbo, gravy, etc) while whisking until you reach your desired thickness.
Notes
CAUTION: Your roux will be incredibly hot and if it splatters on you it will stick to your skin. Use a long wooden spoon, turn your pot handle in so it isn’t overhanging your stove, and be really careful stirring. If you have little kids, do this at a time they won’t be hanging around with you in the kitchen.
If you try to transfer your hot roux directly to a glass jar without letting it cool a bit, thermal shock will likely cause your jar to crack and break and create a hot mess in your kitchen.
Well I surely appreciate your effort to teach us. I grew up in Louisiana. I remember eating food with black roux. The meat was black. It all went over rice. It was incredible. Today I have returned to those kids I grew up with. I ask, do you know the recipes…the black roux. No they say. It was not passed on. Wow, what a loss. Now nobody can remember black roux food. I’m the only one and so I must have gone insane. Have you ever heard of black or almost black roux with the meats cooked in it and also looking black?
Not that it wasn’t black, but our memories do adjust over time. I’m wondering how a roux made with ghee would taste.
I tried it tonight w ghee and couldn’t get it to work. It separated almost completely at the end. The color was great but it didn’t work at all. Would love to hear about other people’s experience w ghee.
Hi Kellie,
I have not tried making this roux with ghee. That being said, sometimes a layer of oil will rise to to the top of the jar. This is normal. I just pour the oil off or scoop below it and the roux underneath works great.
I appreciate your comment, Paul. I recall it being black, too, but no one seems to cook it that way anymore. I just made some and wanted confirmation that my black roux worked. I’m moving forward with it, just knowing that you confirmed it.
Yours is the first roux recipe that does not add the flour to hot oil to begin the cooking. Have you done it both ways? If so, how do they differ?
I have not. This is just how I have always made it. If you try it both ways let me know.
We regularly make Gumbo for our restaurant, but use much higher heat and vigorous stirring to make a dark chocolate roux in about 6 or 7 minutes. Oil is heated until just starting to smoke, flour is added (by the copilot) while the pilot starts mixing as fast as possible, suited up like a fireman. It is a workout, and you need to add the Trinity and shut down the heat as soon as you reach desired color, but it beats stirring for an hour.
Will try making a larger batch and storing it. We want to be able to make more Cajun dishes without having to make Roux in the middle of dinner.
Sounds like Virgina is not talking about roux but talking about a dark brown gravy..
Let the oil get hot before adding flower…
Grew up in louisiana and still here… @ 44 lovely years old-
Oh my comment was for Mike not virgina.. sorry!