A simple roux:
2 tablespoons of fat (I use butter, but I usually only need a blond roux; oil might be better if you need a darker roux)
2 tablespoons of flour
Melt or heat the fat on medium-low heat. Add the flour to hot fat, stirring. The roux should bubble up, then simmer down. Keep stirring, until the roux is the color of a blondie, or a biscuit, and has the viscosity (thickness) of oatmeal. Whisk in the liquid and bring the heat up to medium. After bringing the liquid to a boil, lower the temperature to low and mix in any additional ingredients. This roux will thicken 2 to 4 cups of liquid.
Hal’s Hint: I’ve discovered that if you want to caramelize some onions, garlic, or similar bulb vegetable, add the vegetable to the fat before you add the flour. You might consider changing the ratio to 3:2 fat-to-flour. That is, if you would normally use two tablespoons each of fat and flour, use three tablespoons of fat instead.
Last night I made a simple version of an alfredo sauce, which required that I make a roux. Let me tell you something-it took me three times to get it right! What went wrong:
Attempt 1
Plain and simple, I cooked it too long. I had the right proportions of flour and fat, but I was expecting it to seize up and then go back to a more liquid stage. It never seized up, so I kept stirring. And stirring. And stirring.
I was using medium heat and my fat was butter. Eventually, the butter just burned, so I had a brown roux. Also, somewhere in the middle of all this, I decided to test my roux to make sure the flour taste had cooked out. Here’s a hint: don’t use your bare finger to test a hot roux. My left index finger has not been happy for the last 15 hours.
So, attempt 1 down the drain.
Attempt 2
After attempt 1, I thought maybe I didn’t have the proportions right–I knew for certain there wasn’t more fat than flour. Maybe it was two-to-one flour-to-fat? I also reduced the flame to low (knowing on my gas stove, this is more like medium).
Well, it seized up like I expected it to… and never became runny again. No biggie, let’s add the milk anyway. Lump city.
Attempt 2 down the drain, too.
Attempt 3
We went back to what worked–attempt 1 had equal proportions of flour to fat, and that’s what I chose. The heat setting was somewhere between low and medium.
I melted the butter, added the flour, and WOW! I think this was the magic moment–the flour kind of “bloomed,” then went runny again. I stirred for another minute or so to cook the flour, then added my milk.
Success! But, damn you, Alton Brown, and your cooking shows that I can never seem to remember exactly and correctly!
