Rouxing the Day: Lessons from a cranky old German woman who scared the hell out of me

It is always interesting what things cross your mind when you have been driving for 7 hours by yourself. I was heading down to New Orleans on business and my mind wondered to of all things where a good roux fits into the grand scheme of life.

I guess the first thing to do is to just lay out what a roux is:

Roux
The most classic Cajun creation made by cooking flour and oil together. The popular phrase, “First you make a roux” is used to create dishes such as gumbo, fricassee stews, courtbouillion, and sauce piquant, even spaghetti sauce and other dishes

As I crossed the Louisiana state line, I rolled down my window, the air was cleansed by a ton of rain compliments of Tropical Strom Claudette. The smell of the brackish water from Lake Pontchatrain was as sweet as any I can remember.

I thought back to the times I spent with my brothers and sisters at the Jolly Green Giant- My Grandparents fishing camp on Chef Menteur Highway in the Ricolets between Lake Pontchatrain and Lake Catherine. One of my most vivid memories is my Grandma Bella yelling at me because I didn’t stir the roux for her crab stew evenly and it burned.

I tried to hide my indiscretion by adding flour to the burned mixture to no avail. Bella had the nose of a bomb sniffing dog and knew what happened long before I realized I had messed up. At 8 years of age I had to sit through a detailed lesson on why a roux is important and why people who don’t have patience to make a roux or people who don’t see the importance of a properly executed roux ought to eat hamburgers their whole life.

It was one of those moments that in hindsight shape your life, your opinion of food and your opinion of a cranky old German woman who scared the hell out of you but I couldn’t get enough of her advice and stories!!

I guess Grandma Bella’s lecture came to mind because of a conversation I had with a gentleman (from North of the Mason dixon line) the afternoon I left for New Orleans. Rev. Jerry came in for a late lunch that day. He and I got to discussing the Laboucherie sauce that we use in the Steak Laboucherie that is on our small plate menu. I was giving him the readers digest version of how it was made and when I mentioned a roux, he sat up and said what is that.

I tried to explain but he was perplexed as to why we just wouldn’t use corn starch to thicken the sauce. I wanted to give him the lecture that I received 37 years earlier but decided against it because he is older than dirt and he is from the North and deserves to eat plain hamburgers the rest of his life unless he comes into Copeland’s and orders one of our wonderful roux based sauces!

My favorite roux based recipe is the Etouffee Sauce at Copeland’s. It was developed over 25 years ago but could have been developed 125 years ago. It has all of the ingredients of the classic Cajun sauce, slow cooked with onions, garlic and bell peppers. The smell of the roux cooking is unbelievable, the only problem is that when a roux is cooking you know that you are hours away from tasting the dish. The best advice I can give when cooking a roux is to not be in a hurry and don’t be afraid to start over. It sounds easy and is once you have made a roux a few times.

This is copied directly from a great website www.realcajunrecipes.com.  A universal recipe for a roux

• ½ cup All Purpose Flour
• ½ cup of Vegetable Oil

Heat the oil and slowly incorporate the flour. Cook over a very low heat, stirring often. You will notice a wonderful nutty smell permeates the entire house. The roux will brown as it cooks, if you see specs throw it out and start again- if you used a burnt roux it will give an off taste to your dish. Brown the roux as dark as you like. As long as you stir and cook over a very low heat you can get the roux very dark without burning.

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