Browned Flour
Put a pint, or more, of flour in a skillet over a slow fire. Stir constantly, being careful that it does not scorch, use a wooden paddle, and when a dark brown, remove from the fire, put in a covered vessel, and use for sauces, soups, gravies, etc.
A pantry staple rather than a dish: dry-roasted flour, kept on hand to give soups and gravies colour and a toasted flavour. The whole thing hinges on constant motion over gentle heat.
- The hingeFlour scorches in seconds once it passes deep brown, and a scorched batch is bitter beyond rescue. Keep the pan moving and pull it from the heat while it is still a shade lighter than you want, since it will darken from residual heat in the pan.
- "A pint of flour"Measured by volume, a pint is 2 cups, roughly 8 to 9 oz of all-purpose flour. It shrinks and darkens but loses little weight.
- "A slow fire"Low to medium-low on a modern burner. In a thin pan the flour will colour unevenly; use heavy cast iron or a thick-bottomed skillet so the heat spreads.
- Oven methodAs a modern alternative, spreading the flour in a shallow pan in a moderate oven and stirring every few minutes gives a more even colour with less attention, though it takes considerably longer than the skillet.
- Thickening powerToasting breaks down some of the starch, so browned flour thickens less strongly than raw. Expect to use more of it than a recipe calling for plain flour, or accept a thinner sauce.
- StorageCool it completely before it goes into the covered vessel, or condensation will clump it. Kept airtight and dry it holds its flavour for several months; a stale, fatty smell means it is past use.
- YieldTwo cups of flour makes enough browned flour for a great many gravies. Half a cup is a more realistic first batch.
Dry-browned flour was the thrifty cook's shortcut to the colour and flavour of a long-cooked brown roux without standing over fat. It appears in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American household books, made in quantity and stored in a tin, so that brown sauce, hash gravy or a plate of soup could be finished in minutes. In Louisiana kitchens dry-roasted flour is still used for gumbo by cooks who want the roasted flavour without the oil. The instruction to use a wooden paddle rather than a spoon is practical rather than quaint, since a broad flat edge scrapes the whole floor of the skillet, which is where the flour burns first.