Roux (pronounced – Roo) is used as a thickening agent, and can be found in a variety of soups, sauces, and gravies. For instance, it’s used in three of the mother sauces in classical French cooking: espagnole sauce, béchamel sauce, and velouté sauce. Roux is made by cooking flour and fat together. Traditionally, butter was used but other commonly used fats are vegetable oil, lard, and bacon or sausage grease.
Typically, it is made from equal parts of flour and fat, measured by weight and not volume. Roux used in Cajun cuisine is made with oil or bacon grease as opposed to butter and cooked until dark brown in color. The dark brown roux adds a rich flavor to their sauces and gravies, but with the drawback that it contains less thickening power.
Light roux, sometimes called “white” roux doesn’t provide much flavor apart from thickening the dish and adding some richness.
Darker colored roux is achieved simply by cooking the mixture longer. There are various names such as “blond”, “brown”, or “chocolate” depending on how long the roux has cooked and been allowed to darken. Dark roux is also usually made with vegetable oils because they have a higher smoke point than butter (unclarified butter that is, as clarified butter has a higher smoke point) lending itself well to Cajun and Creole cooking.
White Roux
Blond Roux
Peanut Butter Roux
Brown Roux
The lighter the roux, the more thickening power it contains. Darker roux such as a chocolate roux only has about a quarter of the thickening power as that of a white roux. Sometimes when the need arises, an alternative for roux can be created by mixing water and flour together to form a thickener. This works because the heat from the boiling water releases the starch from the flour. The downside to this though, is that the temperature isn’t high enough to get rid of the floury taste. This mixture of flour and water to create a thickening agent is sometimes called “cowboy roux”and is usually avoided by any kind of upscale restaurant since it adds an unwanted flavor to the dish.
In addition to roux (wheat flour and fat) one can also use slurry as a thickener. Slurry is made by combining corn starch (called cornflour in some places overseas such as Ireland and the United Kingdom) with some sort of lower temperature liquid such as water. Depending on the dish, slurry may be the thickener of choice, since as it cooks, the mixture becomes somewhat glossy or translucent looking. Many well known Chinese dishes (the popular ones found in America at least) like sesame chicken, Mongolian beef, and sweet and sour sauce all use slurry to achieve the well known look of these dishes.
Be careful as always in the kitchen, especially when working with hot oils and fats, because unfortunately accidents can and do happen. Oils and fats will stick on the skin and can potentially cause serious burns. If you have younger children that might possibly be around the stove when you are cooking, try keeping roux and frying oils on the back burners and out of reach of young hands.
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