Shelf · Sauces & emulsions · Medium heat
Roux
Cooking equal parts flour and fat together into a paste before any liquid is added.
Why it works
Coating every starch grain in fat first is what stops them clumping when liquid arrives — flour tipped straight into hot liquid forms lumps whose dry centres never hydrate. Cooking it also drives off the raw-flour taste, and the longer it cooks the browner, nuttier and weaker-thickening it gets.
The tell
A white roux smells like biscuits and looks like wet sand after a minute or two; a brown roux takes far longer and smells of toasted nuts.
- Runs off
- Coats
- Lumpy
How it fails
Adding all the liquid at once still makes lumps — go in a splash at a time, whisking to smooth between each. Black specks mean it has burnt, and burnt roux is bitter and has lost its thickening power entirely; start again.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
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