Nice article. Would like to see what happens next with a nice dark roux.
Cajun Roux
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Credit: André Baranowski
One Saturday morning 25 years ago, I stumbled on a TV show called Louisiana Cookin' just as the host, Justin Wilson, was proclaiming that he was going to make a roux for a gumbo. In my world, roux was flour and butter that you stirred in the skillet for a few seconds to thicken a sauce. What was the big deal about that? Wilson combined lard and flour in a stockpot and cooked the roux slowly, stirring constantly for a very long time. As he did so, he said, "If you see black specks in de roux, throw it out and start over. It burned." It wasn't until the roux was a dark chestnut color that Wilson removed it from the fire and dumped in the rest of his gumbo ingredients. Years later, I learned that, in Louisiana, the method for making roux is handed down as an heirloom. Each family prides itself on creating traditional foods, from gumbo to étouffée, with its own, time-tested roux. It's the backbone of flavor for their cooking. Now it's part of mine. —James Morgan, Scottsdale, Arizona
Comments (3)
Cooking Cajun food without a good roux is like making chicken soup with those salty little bouillon cubes -- it gets the job done, but it won't be inspirational.
I've done a little Cajun cooking and there is an Art to it. And like the article says, you CAN burn the roux in a heart beat..... Good article.
