How to make roux

I first learned about roux (pronounced roo) by my mother, only I didn't know then that it was called roux. She made us cream gravy on toast for dinner sometimes, it fed a family of seven children when needed. I discovered that many people eat biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Later I learned about roux from a cook at the Pig-N-Whistle I worked at on W. Colfax many years ago as a dishwasher. She used it to thicken her delicious homemade soup dished up at the restaurant on a daily basis.

First of all what is roux? Roux is simply a mixture of butter, fat or oil with flour, as a base for any kind of white sauce, chile, or soup thickener. I use it for many recipes, including my red chile recipe when preparing enchilada sauce, chicken mole', soup, chicken fettuccine alfredo, mac and cheese, gravy, etc. etc.

Usually one would use the same amount of butter, fat, or oil, as flour. In other words if for example you want to make about four cups of gravy you would use about four tablespoons of butter and four tablespoons of flour. You melt the butter, fat, or oil in a saucepan at a medium high temperature and when it is nice and hot add your flour. Mix it in thoroughly until the flour has turned a nice golden brown. (Be careful not to burn it) Make sure your liquid is right by your side ready to be poured into the roux and then whisk it together until your gravy or sauce is achieved. (I use the flat side of a spatula). Then turn down the temperature.

To make a red chile sauce you do exactly the same as above except you use slightly less flour and add your red chile powder (try one or two tablespoons) to the oil at the same time, it gives it a delicious flavor if you make it this way, especially if your red chile has the cumin already in it. If not make sure to add a bit of cumin to the flour and chile into the hot oil. It brings out a flavor not achieved otherwise. If you are making a chicken mole (Colorado style), you use chicken broth for the liquid and add shredded chicken. By the way, red chile comes in mild, medium, and hot, and you can get it mixed with other spices or just pure chile. I use New Mexico red chile.

By making a roux for all of your sauces you get rid of that pasty flavor that you get when you just mix flour with water or cornstarch with water.

You can turn that turkey broth into a hot bubbly gravy that everyone will want to pour onto their mashed potatoes. Or you can thicken your homemade potato soup, make sauce for your enchiladas, make gravy for a homemade chicken pot pie, the recipes increase as you begin to realize what a good roux can do for your cooking.

My personal way to make roux is a mixture of 1/2 butter and 1/2 olive oil. I love the flavor you get from using both. So start experimenting and see what you can cook up in your kitchen.