Many French or Cajun recipes start with a roux. It is an indispensible part of these cooking cuisines. I learned to make a roux from my mother, though I didn’t know that’s what it was called at the time. It is the first step in making gravy, a white sauce or any classic French sauce like béchamel. The roux is the thickening agent.
The ingredients are simple enough: equal parts flour and fat. The fat can be oil, lard, bacon drippings, or rendered fat from cooking meat. When making gumbo, the roux is made with the oil in which the chicken and sausage are sautéed for extra flavored. You may want to filter rendered fat to remove any particles that will burn at high heat. I have made a roux with butter, but it is trickier since butter burns at high temperature. The French use butter to make their sauces, but they first remove the butter solids, called clarifying. Clarified butter is also called ghee.
Roux
1 cup flour
1 cup fat or oil
Have all ingredients available when you begin because you can’t walk away from the pan once you start. In a skillet, heat the oil/fat until hot. Some cooks heat the oil to the point of smoking. While this adds a wonderful flavor, you can’t do this with un-clarified butter or unfiltered rendered fat. If you choose to heat the oil this hot, make sure to use an uncoated skillet, rather than a non-stick pan, since the coating can be ruined (or at least not improved) by high heat. Add the flour about a third at a time. Stir constantly making sure to incorporate all the flour and scrape the entire pan so that nothing burns. Make sure the flour is thoroughly cooked or it will have a pasty flavor. The longer you cook, the more brown the roux will get. A dark roux will add a nutty flavor, but isn’t quite as good at thickening. A lighter roux is better for a delicate sauce. Once the roux reaches the desired color, you are done, but you need to immediately stop the cooking to avoid burning the flour. If you are making a white sauce or gravy, immediately add the milk or liquid, a small quantity at a time, to stop the cooking. If you are making gumbo, add the vegetables now.
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