An ambitious and enthusiastic cook, Jacquelyn D. Kirkland has been learning about ingredients and cooking styles since she was young. Weekly shopping trips with her family taught her the importance of fresh ingredients as well as how to enhance the flavor of not-so-fresh food. While she is eager to learn all styles of cooking, Jacquelyn D. Kirkland is particularly partial to Cajun cooking, which often relies on roux to thicken gumbos and other sauces.
Roux is a mixture of equal parts of flour and fat that is used to both thicken sauces and impart a special flavor to them. Despite this seeming straightforwardness, there are many different ways to make a roux. For example, some cooks use animal fat or lard, some use clarified butter, and some use vegetable oil, while still others rely on various combinations. By the same token, some cooks season the flour with various spices. There is agreement, though, that roux is best prepared in a skillet over low to medium heat. Most cooks first heat the fat in the skillet and then add the flour. The longer the roux cooks, the darker and more flavorful it will become; however, the darker the roux becomes, the less thickening ability it has. How long a roux should be cooked depends on the recipe in which it will be used, but it absolutely must be cooked long enough to remove the bitter taste of raw flour. When making roux, cooks cannot leave it to simmer, but must monitor and stir the mixture constantly, scraping the bottom of the skillet. If roux is not stirred adequately, the flour will char and impart a very unpleasant flavor to the food. Roux should not be added to a liquid to thicken it; instead, a liquid or other ingredient at room temperature should be slowly added to the roux and mixed thoroughly. At the beginning of this process, the mixture may become very thick and hard to work with, but as more liquid is added, the more workable it will become. Like many Americans who have cultivated a passion for cooking, Jacquelyn D. Kirkland began her culinary adventures with a regional specialty. Attracted by the nuances of Cajun cuisine, she experimented with one of its better-known dishes–gumbo. Inspired by a gumbo recipe published by Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, Jacquelyn D. Kirkland learned to master the production of a roux, traditionally used as a thickening agent in French cooking. However, in Cajun cooking, this necessary ingredient serves a purpose beyond thickening. It enhances gumbo by imparting smoky and nutty flavors to the dish.
A dark roux is the signature ingredient in authentic Cajun gumbo. Roux typically consists of approximately equal parts flour and oil, but many cooks use more flour than oil. In the technique used by Paul Prudhomme, a cook heats the oil to the smoking point, rapidly whisking in the flour. He developed this method to cut down on the cooking time. The high heat browns the flour quickly, and the cook’s challenge is not to burn the flour. Similar to preparing risotto, roux requires constant whisking. Until cooks master this method, they can adjust the heat to a lower setting and allow the roux to form more slowly. To prevent burning, some cooks add some of the essential gumbo ingredients, such as celery, onion, and bell pepper, to cool the roux and continue cooking it until it reaches the desired color. For easy instructions on making Cajun roux, readers can watch a You Tube video produced by Paul Prudhomme (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np3uGcdQNUw) or read one cook’s easy guide (www.grouprecipes.com/20066/making-cajun-roux.html). Homemade roux can be prepared before using it in recipes. After the freshly made roux is cooked and cooled, it can be stored in the refrigerator for days. |
AuthorJacquelyn D Kirkland Archives
December 2016
Categories
All
|