The number one reason to use a roux is to make gravy. Couple cups of Beef Stock, couple tablespoons of the roux, salt and pepper to taste and you have beef gravy. Need chicken gravy use Chicken stock. If I am in a hurry I like to add a couple bouillon cubes to kick up the flavor.
Here is my favorite thing. In a double boiler add a couple cups of whole milk or light cream. Let it heat up. Once the milk has heated, add some of the milk slowly to 1 or two table spoons of the roux until you can pour the rouz mixture back into the rest of the milk. You just made a Mother sauce..
Now the fun. Slowly add grated cheddar cheese to the mix. Let the cheese melt before adding more. Stop adding the cheese when the sauce tastes more of the cheese than the milk. Pour this mixture over 3-4 cups cooked elbow pasta in a baking dish. Cover lightly with bread crumps or crushed corn flakes. Bake in your oven at 350 degs till golden. Viola Homemade Mac ‘n’ Cheese.
You can substitute cooked bulk sausage for the cheese and make sausage gravy..
Guess what all you that gave a need for speed – The sauce and what you make from it freezes well..
Next: Roux – Blond or Brunette.
Share on Facebook
Most folks are afraid of making gravy from scratch because they aren’t sure how to make gravy without big clumps of flour. This is where the Roux comes in. Fancy french word for a thickening agent. It consists of a fat and flour. Butter is the best fat for a Roux, but people have used vegetable or olive oil. Doesn’t matter as long as you have equal measures of fat to flour.
How much Roux you make depends on how much gravy you want to make and how thick you like it. Typically it’s one tablespoon of Roux to one cup of liquid.
Best way to make a gravy that is not lumpy is to slowly add some of the liquid you want to thicken to the Roux. This will temper the Roux to your broth. Once you get the roux to where it can be easily poured, then pour it into the rest of your broth and wisk until the gravy starts to boil. Once the gravy boils remove it from the heat. It will thicken as it cools.
Now for you people that need to be in a hurry, Roux can be kept in your refrigerator for a couple weeks or even frozen and thawed when needed.
Next: What do I use Roux in?
Share on Facebook
After years of riding in the back of an ambulance and ham radio I have develop a keen sense of hearing. This is good for hearing a heart beat with motor and siren noise, or picking out a distant voice in all the static. It is not so good when in public places. Restaurants, malls, and grocery stores get me aggitated as my brain tries to process everything my ears send its way.
My answer to that has been to learn how to dampen the noise when I need to; however, that has its own problems. My wife calls it selective hearing. I can be in a crowded noisy restaurant and focused on what my wife is saying, and the noise is in the gutter. This will include the waiter trying to take my order.
So what does this have to do with the lost art of cooking you ask?
I was walking around the food section of our Local Super Walmart* the other day. Happily ignoring peoples voices as they walked around me. Every now and then a voice will break through the cone of silence. “Do you see any canned gravy? I need a can of chicken gravy!!”
My thoughts went to Chicken Stock, Roux, Gravy.. s looked around I say people getting ready made stuffs. People in the cooler sections getting pie shells already in a pan, Bertoli Ready made meals and salads in a bag. I heard a lady proclaim, “What in the he** do you do with these?” I looked and she was holding one of natures wonders, a pomegranate. My mind went to a pomegranate infused glaze on a nice piece of pork tenderloin ir spread over several slices of smoked turkey breasts. Her mind put the fruit back with disgust.
So I have deleted all the random thoughts. I will still publish them, but they will be under their own section. The main pages of this blog will go back to basics. For my friends who do cook maybe you’ll find a recipe you’d like. To my friends who think they are cooking maybe I will inspire your culinary imagination.
Home cooked food can be more tasty than anything you can buy in a store.
Share on Facebook
Reflections | Celtic Wolf December 17, 2009 | 
Comments (0)