Prepare and Freeze Some Roux for a Light Turkey Sauce
On Thanksgiving, rou plays a small but irreplaceable role. It’s the thickener in my turkey sauce , but more importantly, it’s the key to my daily turkey gumbo preparation . Making a light or even golden brown roux is pretty quick and painless, but a dark gumbo roux takes a little longer. In any case, there’s no reason why you can’t make a whole bunch of roux (and any color) ahead of time and freeze it until you need it.
At the very least, it’s nice to have an extra roux on hand to fix a sauce that’s too thin. While butter cubes tossed into flour can have a similar thickening effect, they don’t provide the same toasty, nutty flavor that brown sauce gives to your sauce – a flavor that’s very important to me.
The easiest way to cook a lot of roux at once
If you are going to mix and freeze, you can also mix a bunch. And while you can certainly cook a whole bunch on the stovetop , I usually only go down that route if I’m making a pale roux or I only need a couple tablespoons of golden roux. You can also microwave the dressing, but not much at a time. For a lot of brown (and darker) roux, I use the oven.
Easy roux in the oven
Ingredients:
- Flour
- Fat (oil of your choice)
Weigh out equal parts of fat and flour. I use 8 oz each because if we’re going to do it, we can do it . Whisk the two ingredients together in a roasting pan or similar vessel, then cook in an oven at 350℉, whisking every half hour, until your sauce is the color you desire. (The wider your dish, the more your roux can spread and the faster it will cook.) For a golden roux, this takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or two, depending on the size and width of your cooking dish; for a dark chocolate roux, this can take several hours. Follow this.
Once your roux is the color you want, remove it from the oven and let it cool completely. Hot gas station is hot – it caused the worst burn on my tender flesh I’ve ever had – so don’t rush to chill. Store the pasta in a jar in the refrigerator where it will keep for several months, or divide it into ice cube trays and freeze, or transfer to a freezer bag and freeze flat. Roux will keep in the freezer for at least a year.
How to use frozen roux
Heat the desired amount of roux over low heat until it melts (or reheat if you have kept it in the refrigerator), then proceed to prepare your recipe (be it sauce or gumbo) as usual. You can also toss the roux into the sauce as needed to make it thicker – just add one dice or small piece at a time and give it enough time to melt and warm before adding more so you don’t put too much in. a lot at once. (When in doubt, try the plate test .)