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Dark Brown Cajun Roux
| Categories: |
Sauces>Miscellaneous |
| Yield: |
1 quart |
Read all about Cajun style rouxs from Chef John Folse
| Ingredients |
Amount |
Method |
Oil
Flour |
2 quarts
4 cups |
Proceed as you would in the light brown Cajun
roux recipe but continue cooking until the
roux is the color of a light caramel. This
roux should almost be twice as dark as the
light brown roux but not as dark as chocolate.
You should remember that the darker the roux
gets, the less thickening power it holds
and the roux tends to become bitter. This
roux is used most often in sauce piquantes,
crawfish bisques and gumbos. However, it
is perfectly normal to use the dark brown
roux in any dish in Cajun cooking.
This roux gives food such a rich character
that I sometimes make shrimp and corn bisque
with it, as well as a river road seafood
gumbo that will knock your socks off. Slow
cooking is essential to achieve that dark,
rich color.
Some time ago, I was discussing the
origin
of the dark roux with my good friend,
Angus
McIntosh, a chef and aspiring Cajun.
I've
always contended that because the Cajuns
cooked in black iron pots over open
fires
using lard as a base, the dark roux
was discovered
by accident when the fire got too hot
and
the flour over-browned. With their
lean pantries
in mind, the Cajuns kept the roux instead
of discarding it. They enjoyed the
flavor
and kept doing it that way.
Classical cookbooks written as far
back as
the mid-1500s state that roux is derived
from the French word "rouge"
meaning
"red" or "reddish"
in
color. Thus, the origin of the name.
Angus
felt that it developed during the Cajun's
less affluent years as a means of enriching
a soup or stew with flavor when the
pantry
was not as full but the number of chairs
at the table were many. Either way,
if properly
done, the dark Cajun roux enriches
food with
color and flavor that is so fantastic
it
could only be Cajun. |
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| Other Roux Recipes: |
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