What is a roux used for in French cuisine?

In French cuisine, a roux (equal parts cooked flour and fat, usually butter) is primarily a fundamental thickening agent for sauces, soups, and gravies, forming the base for classics like Béchamel and Mornay, but it also adds subtle flavor and a smooth, rich texture as it cooks to different stages (white, blond, brown).

Is roux used in French cuisine?

Roux is used in three of the five mother sauces of classic French cooking: béchamel sauce, velouté sauce, and espagnole sauce. Roux may be made with any edible fat. For meat gravies, fat rendered from meat is often used. In regional American cuisine, bacon is sometimes rendered to produce fat to use in the roux.

What exactly is a rue?

A roux (pronounced "roo") is a fundamental cooking thickener made from equal parts fat (like butter or oil) and flour cooked together, forming a paste used as a base for sauces, gravies, soups, and stews, changing color and flavor from white (least cooked, most thickening) to brown (nutty flavor, less thickening). If you meant "rue," it's a strong-smelling, bitter herb with medicinal uses, or a verb meaning to deeply regret something.
 

What does "roux" mean in French cooking?

A roux is a combination of flour and fat which is commonly used as a thickening agent in cooking of stews and sauces. A roux can also be used as a base for various Classical French sauces, such as Bechamel or Velouté. To make a roux the fat is melted and an equal part flour is stirred into the fat until incorporated.

What is the difference between French roux and Cajun roux?

Basically, a roux is an emulsion made with flour and fat, the classic French version finds it's base in butter, but the Cajun and Creole roux is made with oil, because you can take the roux to a much darker color without burning the fat.

What is a Roux and how to Make it? - White, Blond and Brown Roux

What does toot toot mean in Cajun French?

In Cajun slang, "toot toot" (from French "toute toute") means "my everything," "my special one," or a cherished significant other, like a girlfriend, wife, or even a daughter, representing someone lively and dear. It's a term of endearment, famously used in Rockin' Sidney's song "Don't Mess with My Toot Toot" to mean "my all" or "my favorite person," often used to describe a beloved partner. 

What is the point of a roux?

When used in soups, sauces, and casseroles a roux provides creaminess and density, helps incorporate other fatty ingredients like cream or cheese, and generally binds things together into a cohesive finished product. And gravy, this season's MVP, is made by adding stock and/or meat drippings to a roux.

What are the 4 stages 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.

What are common roux mistakes?

While practice is the key to perfecting a smooth roux, Bon Appétit says that the most common mistake is not paying enough attention to its color and aroma. For its aroma, roux should be cooked until it stops giving off the smell of raw flour.

Is roux French or Italian?

Roux has been thickening savory dishes for centuries. Its first incarnation was in France and made with butter and flour. This mixture is only heated for a few minutes—just enough time to cook the flour—and is the base of many sauces (including white or béchamel sauce) as well as soups and stews.

What are the three ingredients in a roux?

A roux is composed of just 2 ingredients: butter and flour. You use equal portions of each ingredient. So if you're using 2 tablespoons of butter, use 2 tablespoons of flour.

What do you call it when you mix butter and flour together?

A mixture of butter and flour cooked together is called a roux, a fundamental thickening agent for sauces like béchamel or gumbo, while a similar mixture of softened butter and flour kneaded into a paste for later use is called a beurre manié (kneaded butter). Roux involves cooking the fat and flour first to remove the raw taste and develop flavor, while beurre manié is added raw at the end and cooked out in the sauce, say Food Network.
 

Can you eat roux by itself?

You don't eat roux by itself. Roux is a base that you add ingredients to and is used in all kinds of cooking, all around the world.

What dishes need a roux?

Roux forms the base for three of the five French mother sauces (velouté, espagnole, and béchamel) and many signature dishes of the American South, like gumbo, mac and cheese, and sausage gravy. It's also a critical component of Thanksgiving turkey gravy.

What's the difference between Cajun French and French?

Language evolution

In some cases, Cajun French has maintained words, structures and pronunciations which the French have long ago abandoned. For example, Cajuns have maintained the original chevrette to refer to shrimp, while the French adopted the Norman regional variant crevette as their standard word.

What is the secret to making a good roux?

The secret to a good roux is patience, low heat, and constant stirring in a heavy-bottomed pan with equal parts fat and flour (by weight), cooking out the raw flour taste until it reaches your desired color (white, blond, or dark brown) without burning, using a whisk for smoothness and gradually adding warm liquid.
 

What is the 1234 rule in baking?

It gets its name from its original recipe: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs. That recipe, while pleasingly simple, is not particularly tasty, and the addition of milk, baking powder, and vanilla gives the cake a better flavor and a moister, fluffier crumb.

What are the three C's in cooking?

In cooking, "3c" most often means 3 cups, with "c" or "C" being the standard abbreviation for a cup measurement, but it can also refer to the "3 Cs of cooking": Cost, Cooking time, and Calories, or even the "3 Cs of recipe development": Cut, Cook, and Create. 

What kind of oil for a roux?

I use vegetable oil such as canola oil. Don't use peanut oil (it gets too hot) or olive oil (it doesn't get hot enough and the flavor is wrong). Then cook the flour-oil mixture, stirring constantly, until it is the color of a dark mahogany. Most cookbooks will tell you to cook the roux over a low flame.

Can you refrigerate a roux?

In general, it doesn't hurt to make too much roux because you can always store it in the fridge and use it later. Roux keeps very well in a sealed, airtight container. You could make it and store it for a week or even up to a month before you use it.

Is roux basically gravy?

A roux is the foundational thickener (fat + flour) for many sauces, including gravy, while gravy is the finished sauce made from a roux, elevated with flavorful liquids like meat drippings and stock. Think of a roux as the essential starting mixture (fat + flour) that prevents lumps, and gravy as the complete, savory dish you create by whisking broth and other seasonings into that roux. 

Why is a roux used in mac and cheese?

I make my cheese sauce from scratch—no shortcuts—and that means we begin with a classic roux: equal parts butter and flour, cooked into a golden paste that thickens the sauce like magic. The roux is the foundation of flavor and texture—and once you nail it, your cheese sauce will never separate again.

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