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Fat-Free Roux

Category: Misc

Author: The Savvybearcat

Date: 1/1/2007

Rating:

(3.0) by 1 users

Ingredients:

None

Instructions:

On Tue, 13 Sep 1994 18:40:58 -0400 (EDT) shurahaigh@delphi.com wrote:
> Many of the soups I used to make pre-vlf require a roux for
thickening - the > sort that requires 2-4 T of butter to be combined
with flour. Does anyone > have an adequate substitute, or know if
there's one in the archives?

It's the starch in the flour that does the thickening, not the butter.
Flour needs to be cooked to get rid of the raw taste and the butterfat
makes this easy to do without burning the flour. However, it is
possible to brown flour without fat, it just takes more care.
Furthermore, browned flour is relatively shelf stable, so you can
make a big batch and use it over a month or two. Other starches
(cornstarch, potato starch, arrowroot, etc) can be used as thickening
agents as well. They vary in their strength, taste, and temperature
sensativity. See McGee's _On Food and Cooking_ for comparison info.

For examples of using browned flour as a substitute for a traditional
roux, see Enola Prudhomme's _Low-Calorie Cajun Cooking_ and Paul

Prudhome's _Fork In the Road_. (which also contain instructions for
browning flour). Here's instructions for browning flour from the
archives:

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 13:23:44 PDT From: Michelle Dick

From The Joy of Cooking:

BROWNED FLOUR

A variant used in gravies to enhance color and flavor [and as we now
know, to do fatfree cajun cooking]. The slow but inexpensive

procedure by which it is made is worth trying. The flour, when ready,
should smell nutty and baked. Place:

1 cup flour

in a dry heavy skillet. Stir constantly over very low direct heat,
scraping the flour from the sides and bottom of the pan. Or, heat the
flour in a very slow oven, 200 deg F to 250 deg F, in a very heavy
pan. Shake the pan periodically so the flour browns evenly. Do not
let it get too dark or, as with brown roux, it will become bitter and
lose its thickening power altogether. Even properly browned flour
has only about half the thickening power of all-purpose flour. It may
be stored in a tightly covered jar in a cool place.

Michelle Dick, artemis@rahul.net. Fatfree Digest [Volume 10 Issue 34],
Sept. 14, 1994. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34, TXFT40A@Prodigy.com
using MMCONV.