How to Make a Cajun Roux

The process of preparing Cajun food is in no way hurried and involves a layering of flavors which allows each ingredient to maintain its own identity.

The foundation of preparing authentic Cajun dishes like gumbo, sauce piquant and etouffee is the Cajun roux (pronounced 'rue'). Good roux is neither undercooked nor overcooked. Undercooking will yield a less full-bodied flavor and overcooking to the point of being burned will yield a bitter taste.

The French roux is usually a blend of equal parts flour and butter cooked slowly until bubbly and well blended, but not browned. The typical Cajun roux is a blend of equal parts of flour and fat, cooked together in a heavy pot over high heat until a medium brown color is reached. Roux must be stirred constantly to prevent burning. Some people prefer a roux made with approximately one-fourth cup more oil than flour.

Most often, when Cajun roux is called for, finely chopped onion and bell pepper is added to the browned roux to arrest the cooking temperature and prevent the roux from scorching. This step begins the cooking of the desired dish, such as a gumbo or sauce piquant.

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup all-purpose flower

Preparation:

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy Dutch oven or 12-inch skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, add flour all at once; stir or whisk quickly to combine flour and oil. If necessary, use the back of a wooden spoon to smooth out any lumps of flour. Stir or whisk constantly, until roux reaches desired color (between a peanut butter and mahogany color) and has a nut-like aroma. Recipe yields a scant 1-1/2 cups of roux.

Recipe Notes:

(1) If small black or brown specks appear while preparing roux, it has burned and should be discarded. A burned roux will give a bitter or scorched flavor.

(2) Roux may be prepared ahead - cover, refrigerate and use within 1 week.

(3) To prepare extra roux for later use, batches may be prepared by increasing oil and flour in equal amounts.

(4) Freezes beautifully. (Freeze in 1-cup portions for up to 6 months.)

(5) Caution: Be extremely careful when stirring and handling roux during preparation. With a temperature exceeding 500F, roux splashed on the skin will stick and cause a severe burn.

Preparing an authentic Cajun roux is not difficult once you know how. If you follow the above recipe exactly, you will be able to successfully prepare a roux to equal that of any well-experienced Cajun chef.

Terms of Reprint and Publication Rules
This article is available for reprint at no charge. The requirements for publishing this article are: (1) You must leave the article and resource box unedited. (2) You are not allowed to change the context of the article in any way. Paragraph breaks must be retained where the author has placed them. (3) If you post this article on a website, you must set any URL's in the body of the article and most especially in the Author's Resource Box as hyperlinks. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Email to: bedrockpress-jfd@yahoo.com

About the Author: Janice Faulk Duplantis, author and publisher, currently maintains a web site that focuses on Easy Gourmet and French/Cajun Cuisine. (Visit Bedrock Press at http://www.bedrockpress.com) Janice also publishes 2 monthly complementary ezines: 'Gourmet Bytes' and 'Lagniappe Recipe' http://www.bedrockpress.com/subscribe.html

MORE RESOURCES:

RELATED ARTICLES

Ten Steps to Perfect Pasta
I'm amazed at how often I get e-mail from a disgruntled home cook, lamenting the fact that, once again, a dish of pasta has turned into a culinary disaster. I hear stories of overcooked, undercooked, tasteless pasta that may also be stuck together, or otherwise inedible.

Two for One Dinners: Turkey
If you find leftovers boring, uninviting or downright "yuck," then here are some ideas to put the "zing" back into mealtime. With a little creativity your home-cooked meal can easily become a delicious meal another night.

High Altitude Baking - A Cooks Guide
High altitude baking can be a real adventure for the cook, with a number of challenges to keep you on your toes. The higher you are in elevation, the less pressure there will be.

Emergency Bread: Can you Bake Bread Without an Oven?
What would you eat if you were stranded without power? It could happen; it does happen. A natural disaster, a breakdown in the delivery system as the Northeast experienced recently, or a terrorist strike against the infrastructure could leave you without power.

Eat your Veggies! Simple Cooking Methods
Vegetables add colour, taste, texture and bulk to our daily diet. There are dozens of different vegetables that can be prepared in literally hundreds of ways.

Cooking Lobster at Home
Lobster has always be one of those extravagant meals which few people ever try because of the high cost. With restaurants paying thirty dollars a pound, by the time they put their markup on it, you're easily paying sixty dollars for a ten ounce tail.

Seasoning An Oven
Untreated cast iron rusts, especially around water. To prevent metal from oxidizing in the presence of moisture, cast iron requires a process called ?seasoning?.

Herbs and Spices - the Essence of Flavor
In any number of cookbooks and recipes you will find advice on which herbs go with what. I'm not going to take that route.

10 Mind-Easing Ways To Make Sure Your Childs Bag Lunch Is Safe
Perishable food must be kept cold while commuting via bus, bicycle, on foot, in a car, or on the subway. After arriving at school or work, perishable food must be kept cold until lunchtime.

ServSafe Food Program in Montana a Success
Montana has a great program for restaurant employees. Each preparer of foods to the public must go through a special program where they learn at what temperatures food must be served and how to keep the place clean.

6 Steps to Grill the Perfect Steak
There's nothing better than a nicely grilled juicy steak.But how come I can't duplicate that restaurant, expensive, juicy, melt-in-your mouth, perfectly grilled steak?Well, I found out how to grill steak perfectly - and here's how you can too.

Food Poisoning--An Overview
What is Food Poisoning?Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration.

How to Bake: Bread on the Grill
One of the slickest tricks we know is baking bread on the grill. Once you get to know your grill, it's easy-like baking your favorite recipe in the oven.

Is Your Cookware Poisoning You?
For over 40 years scientists have known that the fumes from hot non-stick surfaces can kill pet birds such as canaries. So just how dangerous are they to you?Several studies have been conducted into health concerns surrounding Teflon, the coating invented and patented by DuPont.

10 Wide Open Tips For Food Safety In The Great Outdoors
Hiking, camping, and boating are good activities for active people and families. However, if the food isn't handled correctly, food-borne illness can be an unwelcome souvenir.

To Fry Or Not To Fry?
Here's a little known factoid - did you know that KFC changed its image by retiring the slogan Kentucky FRIED Chicken. Instead, they became known as serving up Kitchen Fresh Chicken.

Hot Apple Pie - The American Apple Pie Legacy
While each country might have its own preferred style, "American Style" apple pie includes your basic pie with apples in it, spiced up with cinnamon and/or nutmeg. Some folks top it off with a scoop of ice cream (such as vanilla) and this is known as "Apple Pie a la mode.

Cake Baking Tip Guide
Successful cake decorating is all about preparation. Baking and preparing your cake for decorating is a critical part of the total process.

50% Less Cooking
50% Less Cookingwithout hitting the fast food button! Don't you just cringe when some clever kitchen type tells you what you could be doing with the leftovers in the fridge, when it's plainly obvious the leftovers will stay there until they walk out by themselves!More often than not, saving money with leftovers, although a great idea, takes a lot of time in preparation and relies on many other ingredients being available. So.

How to Cook a Lobster
French chefs plunge them into boiling water; English ones, in an attempt to appear more humane, drive kitchen knives through their skulls before doing the same thing.No wonder the miserable creatures go red.