Roux and Zatarain's

no doubt... shocking!

Dont make fun of the noob    lol.  I burn grilled cheese sammiches if that give you any indication where I stand on the whole cooking matter LOL.  But I guess I need to learn, and start somewhere!

Dont make fun of the noob    lol.  I burn grilled cheese sammiches if that give you any indication where I stand on the whole cooking matter LOL.  But I guess I need to learn, and start somewhere!

Awww... you can learn! You might even like it once you get started. Why not get a cookbook that has some easy recipes to start with and challenge yourself to make one new recipe each week? As the brilliant and dead-sexy director Robert Rodriguez says "Cooking is like [insert f word here], you are going to be doing it the rest of your life, so you may as well be good at it." 

No, no!
It was more a matter of being shocked that some company decided to market roux!  A 50/50 mix of flour and butter/lard!  

I guess it means you can't be the 'only one' out there!  
I'm sure you'll do fine.

Don't feel bad Navie! A roux for a gumbo can be quite time consuming depending on what darkness you want it to be, lots of people make a real dark roux for a gumbo which is quite a lot of stirring and making sure it doesn't burn, it's a bit different from making a 2 minute white roux for a cheese sauce.

If you're cooking cajun then I would tend to use a fat with a higher smoke point than butter (if you're going for a dark roux for a gumbo) or at least use clarified butter!
 
Also, remember to invite me round for gumbo!

Don't feel bad Navie! A roux for a gumbo can be quite time consuming depending on what darkness you want it to be, lots of people make a real dark roux for a gumbo which is quite a lot of stirring and making sure it doesn't burn, it's a bit different from making a 2 minute white roux for a cheese sauce.

If you're cooking cajun then I would tend to use a fat with a higher smoke point than butter (if you're going for a dark roux for a gumbo) or at least use clarified butter!
 
Also, remember to invite me round for gumbo!

Yeah, I thought gumbo roux was a bit more complicated....one of those things that your grandma has as her secret recipe kind of thing! 

Shows how little i know!
I thought a roux was a roux was a roux!
I didnt know there was a different/ trickier one for gumbo!

Shows how little i know!
I thought a roux was a roux was a roux!
I didnt know there was a different/ trickier one for gumbo!

Well a roux is a roux is a roux, but the colour of the roux is important in different types of cooking.

In gumbo a darker roux is generally accepted as the way to go, some people call this a black roux, but really it sort of looks a chocolate colour or dark brick red.

You can either do a dark roux safely, or quickly I choose safely and it takes about an hour to get a roux dark enough to use for gumbo, using either oil or clarified butter and patiently stirring (if you let it sit, it burns, if there's anything on the whisk or pan it burns etc.)
If you want to do it quickly you can heat oil to boiling, dump the flour in and whisk like hell and possibly explode it on yourself - NOT recommended!

You tend to use white rouxs in french cooking or just generally, for instance when I make gravy I make a light (blonde or peanut butter) roux and then whisk in stock (with juices from the roasted bird) and  thus I make a velouté sauce Which is basically a light stock based gravy.

So yeah, if this is really good dark roux, it might be worth buying!

Well, yes, a dark roux like the ones used for gumbo is different than a light roux like that for a gravy - but they're not any more *complicated*, they just take longer!!  As long as you're patient and don't. even. think. about not stirring, even for a moment, anyone can achieve any colour of roux with a little practise - and it's not like the ingredients are so exotic that you can't afford to practise!

FYI, if you can stand Jamie Oliver (I can't) his show tonight is in Louisiana and they're cooking gumbo. It's on now but I expect you can watch a replay on the ch4 website.