maybe we are in agreement. When you stop the roux at chestnut brown, it still continues to get darker. If you cook the roux to dark dark chocolate, that is too much...i don't care if you are talking about Cajun or Creole...it is still flour and oil. Pole...show me one other recipe in existence that calls for cooking flour and oil to that color. If it was magical flavor, we would see it in other recipes.
yeah, add milk to it and you have the King of All Sauces. So is milk more the sauce or the roux? You're right, I do know this, because it is an even bigger hobby of mine that BBQ...a history hobby as well as cooking. I know when flour and oil taste their best. Black is not it.
we are talking about oil and flour. You say there is a magical flavor of cooking oil and flour that no one else uses in any other recipes? The magical flavor is well known to chefs...make no mistake.
It's a Cajun thang Heypartner, you don't have to "get it"--that's okay. And although most Cajuns can trace their lineage back through Canada all the way to France, I doubt seriously there are any truly French chef's that would use something as bombastic as a dark chocolate....or even darker roux, and even if I thought they might, I wouldn't care to look for any recipes. I find it can be pretty magical, and apparantly some highly regarded chefs in my favorite food city in the nation do as well. That's good enough for me. rimrocker, one year on the way back from NOLA, we did an andouille tour hitting all the spots that are supposed to make the best.......this was our favorite: http://www.cajunsausage.com/
No one said black. Black is burnt. I said dark chocolate. And what you call bechamel, others call country gravy. Although they are the same, they are uniquely different.
My brother-in-law is a Cajun from Kaplan, Louisiana who is an outstanding cook. He does it the way his Mama did and her Mama, and so on. While his roux is dark, it isn't dark dark, if you know what I mean. Looking on the net for something similar to the color of his gumbo, I thought this was pretty close. That's a chicken and Andouille sausage gumbo. He makes it, and it's wonderful, but he usually makes a superb seafood gumbo. He says the trick with the roux is not to burn it. Take it close, but stir often and stay away from the edge of burning it, which ruins a roux, of course. His gumbo isn't really thick, certainly not as thick as some I've had, but the flavor is wonderful. I always eat several bowls when I get the chance. With some rice stirred in, naturally. I'm salivating thinking about it!
I do the roux in the same cast iron skillet I use to cook up the sausage and chicken. Sausage first, then chicken, then roux. Also, add a little bacon grease to the roux. The roux should be a dark tannish color.
It's all about clarified butter and flour. Best roux ever. Oh and roast some chicken livers and throw them in to the pot. Instead of all bell peppers, swap out one for a poblano.
you definitely don't want to get that too dark. I once used my chicken fat from the stock to make the roux. I can see why rimrocker puts bacon grease in it.
I've never had Gumbo in my life. Not yet. But I do like that picture above. Looks like something my tummy would appreciate.
And I said dark dark chocolate is burnt. make no mistake. christ...we are not talking about bechamel. I merely mentioned that to Pole, because he was not so nice to my knowledge like I am to his. the sauce we are talking about is roux and stock. and it is not just Cajun. what makes it cajun vs creole is the spices..not the roux.
Captian Tom seafood and oyster bar on FM 1960 have the best gumbo in town. Don't just take my word for it. Check out their gumbo rating here. Rated # 1 in houston http://www.dishtip.com/d/tx/houston/captain-tom-seafood-and-oyster-bar/bowl-of-gumbo/1497976
I'm not trying to be a meanie, but even Wikipedia agrees with me. By the way, seeing as you seem to appreciate French cuisine, did you know that many of today's finest French inspired chef's are awarded the Merité-Agricole by the government of France for promoting French culinary practices. The first American chef to be awarded this honor was Paul Prudhomme. Here's a quote from chef Paul: "In general, light and medium-brown roux are used in sauces or, gravies for dark, heavy meats such as beef, with game such as elk and venison, and with dark-meat fowl such as duck, geese and blackbirds. They give a wonderful, toasted nutty flavor-just the right enhancement-to these sauces and gravies. Dark red-brown and black roux are used in sauces and gravies for sweet, light, white meats such as pork, rabbit, veal, and all kinds of freshwater and saltwater fish and shellfish. In addition, black roux are best to use in gumbos because the darkest roux result in the thinnest, best-tasting gumbos of all; but it takes practice to make black roux without burning them, and dark red-brown roux are certainly acceptable for any gumbo." So if you can't make a proper truly dark roux, it's all good........I'm sure your gumbo is wonderful. (OK....maybe I'm a bit of a meanie)
My gumbo is just good, not great, and it's because I can't get the roux dark enough without burning it. There's a little bit of voodoo that goes with making great gumbo. I can make decent gumbo. I get all the right ingredients. I have sausage connections better than anyone, but I can only get my roux to a brown color. My mission this year is to learn to make great gumbo, and the roux is the trick. I'm going to learn the voodoo that they do to make a really dark brown roux.
French food is inferior to Cajun food in many ways, but this is one of them. Cajuns figured out how to use roux as more than just a thickening agent.
Someone had a bacon roux at the Clear Lake Crawfish Festival this past Saturday (3/24). The festival had a little bit of everything: oysters, crawfish, crab, shrimp, chicken, chicken and seafood, gator, chicken and andouille sausage, and hopefully next year will have more diversity! Mark it down on your callender next year. $5 gets you in the gate and another $5 gets you a bowl to sample the gumbo. FYI, come with a hungry stomach because with the 10+ entries they had this year it was more than enough for a full days worth of gumbo eating; avoid buying crawfish - no spicy, enough for me.
