How to Make a Roux
- Melt butter over medium-low heat in a pan on the stove. Once it melts, add in flour and whisk it through.
- Cook until the flour and butter combine completely. It will begin to thicken and bubble after about 3-5 minutes. If making a white roux, you can stop here and take it off the heat.
Does mac and cheese need a roux?
You don’t have to make a roux for mac and cheese. Many mac and cheese recipes call for a combination of butter and flour, known as a roux, to thicken the cheese sauce. While this maneuver works particularly well for baked mac and cheese, it just isn’t always required.
What is the ratio for a roux?
Roux Ratio
The ratio of flour to butter in a roux is 1:1. For example, if you use 4 tablespoons of butter, you would use 4 tablespoons (or ¼ cup) of flour.
Why is roux used in mac and cheese?
The roux thickens the sauce and helps the cheese melt smoothly into the sauce instead of clumping up as it melts. While there are ways to make a cheese sauce without a roux, taking this extra step definitely creates the creamiest, dreamiest cheese sauce for your mac and cheese.
Is a roux just butter and flour?
In the simplest terms possible, a roux is a mixture of equal parts flour and fat, cooked together over low to medium heat, to create a uniform thickening agent that’s deployed in saucy recipes like this extra-creamy Lasagna Bolognese, Chicken-Andouille Gumbo, and béchamel-soaked Croque Monsieur.
How is roux sauce made?
Roux is made by cooking equal parts flour and fat together until the raw flavor of the flour cooks out and the roux has achieved the desired color. Butter is the most commonly used fat, but you can also make roux with oil, bacon grease, or other rendered fats.The 4 Types of Roux
- White roux has a neutral flavor and is primarily used to thicken sauces, soups, and chowders.
- Blond roux has a nuttier flavor than white roux and is useful for sauces and soups.
- Brown roux has a nutty flavor, with less thickening power than lighter roux.
There are 4 distinct stages of roux, ranging from white with the most thickening power to almost black, with the least amount of thickening ability.
- White Roux:
- Blonde Roux:
- Brown Roux:
- Chocolate Roux:
What are the three stages of roux?
In French cuisine, roux is cooked to one of three stages: white, blond and brown. (New Orleans cuisine has even more shadings, including red and black.) The longer the cooking period, the darker the roux. Cooking the roux has two main benefits.
What are the 4 types of roux?
There are four varieties of roux: white, blond, brown, and dark brown. The different colors are a result of how long the roux is cooked; white is cooked for the shortest time, while dark brown cooks the longest. White and blond roux are the most common, used to thicken sauces, soups, and chowders.
How do I know when my roux is done?
White roux is cooked for 2–5 minutes, just long enough to get rid of the raw flour taste, take on a light tan color, and achieve the texture of wet sand. Butter is usually the fat of choice.
What are the four fats used for roux?
Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness. A roux can be white, blond (darker) or brown. Butter, bacon drippings or lard are commonly used fats.
What is a dark roux called?
Darker roux is made by browning the flour in oil for a longer time and adds a distinct nutty flavor to a dish. They may be called “blond,” “peanut-butter,” “brown,” or “chocolate” roux depending on their color. The darker the color, the richer the flavor.
What are the 2 main ingredients of a roux?
A roux is a cooked mixture of equal parts flour and fat. When flour is cooked in fat, the fat coats the flour’s starch granules. This helps keep lumps from forming when the roux is combined with liquid such as milk or stock, yielding a silky-smooth, uniform sauce.
What kind of roux is the strongest?
White roux: A white roux is the most common type of roux used to thicken sauces. The flavor is mild and it has the strongest thickening power of all three roux types. It’s most often used to thicken white sauces such as a béchamel, country gravy, and cheese sauce.
What is the difference between blonde roux and dark roux?
Roux are always cooked to a specific shade that can range from white to blond to peanut butter—and even darker. The darker the color the more pronounced the roux’s flavor. But at the same time that a roux darkens, its thickening power lessens.
What is black roux?
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.
What is brown roux?
Brown roux is a roux that has passed both the “white roux” and “blond roux” stages, and that is allowed to cook until it is a dark brown. It is used for some famous sauces in French cooking. In the 1970s, Larousse Gastronomique said: “Brown roux is used to thicken rich brown sauces like Espagnole and Demi-glace.
Why is gumbo roux so dark?
The heat from the stove is what helps turn a roux that deep, chocolate brown color typical of a gumbo roux. If your roux isn’t to your desired color yet, simply crank up the stove to medium heat and give it some more time to achieve the perfect dark roux.
What are roux sauces?
Roux (/ˈruː/) is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness.And once you’ve made them a few times, you won’t even need a recipe!
- 1 – Béchamel or Basic White Sauce. A white sauce is made by adding milk, salt, and pepper to a roux.
- 2 – Mornay or Cheese Sauce. Building off a white sauce is a Mornay or cheese sauce.
- 3 – Gravy.