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Roux, Brown
Dissolve half a pound of fresh butter, skim it well, let it stand for a minute, and pour it away from the impurities, which will settle to the bottom. Put the clear only part into a saucepan over a slow fire, and shake into it about seven or eight ounces of fine flour, or as much as will make a thick paste. Stir constantly, and heat the preparation slowly and equally until it is very thick and of a bright brown colour. Put it into a jar, and stir a spoonful into soup or gravy as it is needed. A tea-spoonful will thicken half a pint of gravy. Roux may be mixed with hot or cold stock. If cold, stir it over the fire till it boils; if hot, moisten the roux gradually with the stock, and off the fire to keep it from lumping.
A brown roux made in bulk and kept in a jar — the Victorian kitchen's thickening reserve. The method is sound; only the pace and the storage need comment.
- Clarify properlyThe first step is clarified butter: melt, skim the foam, then pour off the clear fat and leave the milky sediment behind. Those milk solids are what scorch and turn a brown roux bitter, so do not be tempted to skip it.
- ProportionsHalf a pound of butter yields rather less than 8 oz once the sediment is poured away, so against 7–8 oz of flour this is at or slightly past equal weights — close to the standard ratio still used. Half a pound of butter is about 1 cup; 8 oz of flour is a scant 2 cups by volume, so measure by weight if you can.
- "Slow fire" means slowLow heat and constant stirring, and expect 30–45 minutes for a genuine bright brown. Rushing it over high heat gives you scorched specks rather than colour, and a burnt roux cannot be rescued.
- The hinge: no lumpsCold stock goes onto the roux and is brought to the boil while stirring; hot stock must be added gradually with the pan off the heat. Hot liquid poured fast onto hot roux gelatinises the starch on the outside of each clump before it can disperse.
- Thickening powerA teaspoon to half a pint of gravy is a light thickening — roughly a teaspoon per 10 fl oz. Browning breaks down starch, so a dark roux thickens noticeably less than a pale one; add more, or reduce further, rather than expecting flour-paste body.
- StorageButter-and-flour roux keeps well because there is almost no water left in it. Cool it, cover, and refrigerate rather than leaving the jar in a warm larder as the original assumes; it will hold for weeks chilled and months frozen.
Roux takes its name from the French for a reddish-brown colour, after the appearance of the cooked flour and butter. The instruction to keep it in a jar reflects a kitchen that expected to thicken soups and gravies repeatedly and did not want to begin from butter and flour each time — a standing kitchen store rather than a dish, in the same spirit as glaze and stock.