Roux

[bustercat64]

I'm cooking in the Gumbo contest at the Delta Wings Festival next weekend and was wondering what type of oil people used in making Roux. I have used butter the few times I've made gumbo but most of the recipes I've looked at call for vegtable oil.

[The Captain]

Wesson Oil is what we've always used .

[donia]

usually use vegetable oil, but the best tasting i've made was with bacon grease from cooking a pack or 2 of bacon. if there isn't enough grease to make the amount of roux you need, add a little veg oil...the flavor will still be there.

[eldorado]

usually use vegetable oil, but the best tasting i've made was with bacon grease from cooking a pack or 2 of bacon. if there isn't enough grease to make the amount of roux you need, add a little veg oil...the flavor will still be there.

Bacon grease is about all I use for roux.

[deltadukman]

Man yall post up some good gumbo recipes.

[southernvaughan]

Ifry up a pack of bacon, then slice my sausage or andoulle and cook it in the grease then at peanut oil to get my 1:1 ratio. Right when its dark enough I throw in chop bell peppers but be cargill cause they gonna make it turn real dark real quick. Burnt roux is ruind gumo!

[augustus_65]

I usually use lard to make my roux. Most of the old gumbo recipes call for lard.

[pondman]

Bacon grease has always worked for me.

Pond

[Alex]

I think butter has a great flavor but have never used bacon grease. It seems that bacon grease wouldnt have as high a smoke point as vegetable oil but I could be wrong. The longer you cook your roux the better its going to be therefore the more heat it has to withstand. I put my vegetables in the roux right before i get it to the color I want and cook them down for a while as well before adding anything else. Just what I do but Im sure there are other gumbo chef's on here. Good luck !

[donia]

Man yall post up some good gumbo recipes.

these are both good guides to go by...i rarely use a set recipe, mainly use them for the basics of the recipe and tweak it to my liking.
*i've started using a dead guy ale for half of broth (and use both beef and chicken broth - beef broth is usually from roast in slow cooker)

In the amount of time you all go searching through your local super market to find pre-made roux, you could have already made it at home from scratch!

As stated twice, roux is 1 to 1 ratio of oil and flour. Other than that, all you are making is a stew/soup, but the roux gives it a dark, thickening base. After you have made your roux, you throw in the gumbo holy trinity which consist of onions, bell peppers and celery. The trinity is your second gumbo base. The last "base" will be okra as that is what gumbo means and is used as a thickening agent. Other than that, you can throw in whatever you want; hence the name of your gumbo: sausage and shrimp gumbo, sausage and chicken gumbo. Get the idea? Gumbo is roux, trinity and okra. What ever precedes "gumbo" are the other main ingridients, but they are not set in stone.

Notice that no one has given specific amounts of any item to put into your gumbo. This is because gumbo is something that you sort of create on your own, with the exception of your three "bases". Depending on the size of your pot, you will scale down/up your portions. So, it isn't just a set recipe with specific amounts of this or that.

Usually 3/4 to 1 cup of a 1 to 1 (3/4 cup of flour to 3/4 cup of oil or 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of oil) ratio on your roux is a good rule of thumb for most pots. It should take you on medium to medium high heat with constant stiring and one slow drinking beer to get your roux made. Once my roux looks like dark peanut butter, I through in my trinity. Once the water has sweated out of the trinity, remember to KEEP stiring or your flour will burn and all is wasted, and the onions are clear, I pour in my chicken stock. You can use water or beef stock, but I prefer chicken stock. After this, add in all of your other ingredients to include base #3, your okra!

If things are thinner than you like, just leave the top off of the gumbo and let some of the moisture cook out, if things are too thick, add more chicken stock/water. I like my gumbo's sort of thick, not soupy. I also do not add tomato's in mine, but I have eaten gumbo with tomato's and it tasted good. As a mater of fact, Rum and Boogie on Beale St. has really good gumbo and theirs has tomato's in it. It just isn't the way I was taught, so I leave them out.

Oh, and don't forget the rice! Good luck.

[donia]

I've been wanting to make some good gumbo for awhile now, I love the stuff but have never tried to make it myself; after reading this thread it convinced me to try and make some up. So saturday afternoon I make the trek to the grocery store and get the required ingredients. Initially, I had thought that I would cheat a little bit and go ahead and pick up some pre-made, store-bought roux to save on time. As I'm strolling the aisles of Kroger in search of the roux in the jar, a fellow says..."don't buy that stuff." Curiously, I look over at him, and he says..."it's easy to make, and that stuff in the jar is no good." He says he's making gumbo tonight and will use the oven method for his roux, from some recipe he found online. So I put it back and decided I would just make it from scratch. So Sunday mornin comes early (1 am up and at 'em for a draw hunt), after starting the day at 1 am, the morning hunt, taking the boy to D2 soccer practice and unloading all my gear, I'm exhausted. So I get a shower and a beer in me, and I catch a second wind. After perusing this thread once again and compiling some other recipes that I found online, I'm armed and ready to go. I decide that I'm gonna do this the way I usually do things, which is the old fashioned way, and made the roux on the stove...BTW, you boys were right, roux is easy to make on the stove, you just gotta make sure your standing over it and stirring it the entire time, and it didn't take too long. The best gumbo that I've eaten (that I could get a recipe for) was at Mary Mahoney's resteraunt in Biloxi, so I basically used a recipe for their's with a few modifications :

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons flour
~ 8 strips of bacon
2 onions, chopped fine
1 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 bell peppers
1 small head garlic, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
6 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
6 bay leaves
2 pounds shrimp (fresh or frozen), peeled
1-2 pounds crab meat (fresh or frozen), picked over to remove shell or cartilage
1 package of andouille sausage
4 duck breasts (2 ducks, breasted out and cut into small strips)
Leftover turkey thighs and wings (picked from the bone)
1 (16-ounce) package frozen cut okra
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon file’ seasoning, or more to taste

Instructions:
Put your bacon in 6 or 8-quart stockpot and fry it, just to render the fat from the bacon. Remove the bacon from your pot. (If you’re real anal about it, you should have about 6 or 7 tablespoons of bacon grease.) Start browning your flour in the bacon grease over medium heat to make a caramel-colored roux, stirring constantly (it will burn if you don’t) for about 6 or 8 minutes. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and bay leaves. I threw in a big turkey bone to add a little flavor. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. While your base is simmering, have a few beers and snack on the bacon. If it's too thick add a little water, if it's too thin simmer it a little longer.

(At this point, the recipe I used for a guideline suggested that you divide the gumbo base, which will total about 12 cups. Continue cooking some with a proportional amount of the remaining ingredients, and refrigerate or freeze the rest of the base for another meal. But I didn’t do that.)

Now for the meat!: Add shrimp, crab meat, sausage, duck, turkey and frozen okra. Remember, it's your gumbo, put what you want in it. Now raise your heat to bring back to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer an additional 20 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce and file’ seasoning, remove from heat and stir well. Serve over hot rice with cayenne pepper and Tobasco sauce for people who like it hot! Oh, and enjoy....ahhh eeeeeeey!

Notes:As the previous posts have stated, the bacon grease can be substituted with oil or another rendered fat; just use a 1:1 ratio, basically. If your real hardcore, and you got the time, pluck the ducks, dress ‘em out and boil ‘em for your stock or broth. Chicken broth works for me, just don’t have the time to pluck ducks and boil ‘em. As previous posts mentioned, you can leave out the tomatoes; just add more broth or water to it. My recipe here, turned out great, IMHO; it was real meaty, if you prefer, you may reduce or modify the meat portions of the recipe to your liking, as other posts have suggested. (You could easily take one or two of the meat ingredients out of this without changing anything else and it would turn out just fine.) Some of the best coon booty (no offense) friends I have that make gumbo just use whatever meat they have (example – goose, duck, deer, crab, oysters, fish, fish eggs, all kinds of chit; some stuff, I wouldn’t wanna eat). If using oysters, add them during last 5 minutes of cooking.

Quoted from the recipe I used: “Like many restaurant recipes, this one feeds a crowd. Its 24 cups make 16 generous main-dish servings over hot rice or 24 or more first-course servings. While it can be halved easily, why not stretch your effort by making the base up to the point of adding seafood, then dividing it. Use part to continue with the recipe today and freeze the rest. All you'll have left to do is add the seafood and okra, simmer 20 minutes, stir in Worcestershire and the gumbo's on.”

Recipe was adapted from: "A Passion for People: The Story of Mary Mahoney and Her Old French House Restaurant"
Mary Mahoney’s gumbo recipe that I used for a guide can be found online at: http://projects.eveningedge.com/recipes ... ood-gumbo/
Ideas that helped create this recipe were from fellow DuckSouth contributors that posted on this thread, some Cajun friends, my mom, and my Great Grandmother that lived in New Orleans.

[donia]

Duck Gumbo
Broth:
5 to 6 ducks
2 large yellow onions, diced
2 large bell peppers, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
Water, to cover the ducks
Roux:
1/2 pound bacon
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil (if needed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Gumbo:
Reserved duck broth
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons mango-tamarind spicy Jamaican pepper sauce (recommended: Pick-a-Peppa brand)
1 large package smoked pork sausage, diced and browned
Reserved chopped duck meat
1/2 cup finely chopped reserved bacon
1 package frozen okra, cooked to package directions, drained
1 pound raw shrimp, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons gumbo file
White rice and French bread, as accompaniment



Broth:
To a large stockpot, add the ducks, onions, bell peppers, garlic, bouillon, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and enough water to cover the ducks. Bring to a boil and cook the ducks for about 1 hour, until tender. Remove ducks and pull the breast meat from the bones and chop them into small pieces - use only the breast meat and discard the rest of the bird or save for another use. Strain the broth and save. Set aside the chopped duck breast and broth to use later.
Roux:
In a large, deep, black skillet or kettle, fry the bacon. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the grease in the pan. To the hot bacon grease, slowly add the flour, if the mixture is of a paste consistency, add more bacon grease or oil until it's loose and easy to stir. Stirring constantly, flour-grease mixture should cook on medium heat until a dark caramel color is obtained. Add the salt and pepper and stir. As soon as the salt and pepper are stirred into the roux, add the remaining ingredients to make the gumbo.

To the hot roux, add broth, then the onions, peppers and tomatoes. Add the seasonings. Then add sausage, duck, bacon pieces and okra. Next add the shrimp, cook until shrimp is pink. Finally, add the gumbo file and stir. Let gumbo simmer for about 1 hour. The longer it simmers, the better it gets.
I usually add deer sausage also.

[pondman]

Duck Gumbo
Broth:
5 to 6 ducks
2 large yellow onions, diced
2 large bell peppers, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
Water, to cover the ducks
Roux:
1/2 pound bacon
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil (if needed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Gumbo:
Reserved duck broth
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons mango-tamarind spicy Jamaican pepper sauce (recommended: Pick-a-Peppa brand)
1 large package smoked pork sausage, diced and browned
Reserved chopped duck meat
1/2 cup finely chopped reserved bacon
1 package frozen okra, cooked to package directions, drained
1 pound raw shrimp, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons gumbo file
White rice and French bread, as accompaniment



Broth:
To a large stockpot, add the ducks, onions, bell peppers, garlic, bouillon, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and enough water to cover the ducks. Bring to a boil and cook the ducks for about 1 hour, until tender. Remove ducks and pull the breast meat from the bones and chop them into small pieces - use only the breast meat and discard the rest of the bird or save for another use. Strain the broth and save. Set aside the chopped duck breast and broth to use later.
Roux:
In a large, deep, black skillet or kettle, fry the bacon. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the grease in the pan. To the hot bacon grease, slowly add the flour, if the mixture is of a paste consistency, add more bacon grease or oil until it's loose and easy to stir. Stirring constantly, flour-grease mixture should cook on medium heat until a dark caramel color is obtained. Add the salt and pepper and stir. As soon as the salt and pepper are stirred into the roux, add the remaining ingredients to make the gumbo.

To the hot roux, add broth, then the onions, peppers and tomatoes. Add the seasonings. Then add sausage, duck, bacon pieces and okra. Next add the shrimp, cook until shrimp is pink. Finally, add the gumbo file and stir. Let gumbo simmer for about 1 hour. The longer it simmers, the better it gets.
I usually add deer sausage also.

This is my base recipe. It always changes every time I cook,but it is a good base to work from.

Pond

[bustercat64]

Never noticed it before but some recipes call all purpose flour I've always used self risen in the past I know the difference between the two but does it make a difference roux.

[donia]

Never noticed it before but some recipes call all purpose flour I've always used self risen in the past I know the difference between the two but does it make a difference roux.

i always use all purpose unless a recipe calls for self rising, specifically.

according to jacques, it can be done in the microwave, if you don't get it wet (????)- http://www.realcajuncooking.com/2009/07 ... ux-no.html
...and then there are countless others that say use it just like you would all purpose for the roux, as the oil counteracts the baking powder action.