Sure looks easy, and if it's good enough for Alton Brown, it's good enough for me!

FIDO*98* said:

---

I'd rather knock out burn a roux in 15-20 minutes on the stove than have to babysit a roux in the oven for 2.5 hours.

---

Fixed it for me.

In the oven would be the opposite of babysitting for me. I can mow lawn, watch football, etc…… and just stir every 15 or 20 minutes.

Baked roux is as much a cheat as sous vide steak.



(See steak thread for reference)

The only time I've cooked roux on a burner in the last decade was the 2001 Ft. Bend County Fair where by the rules I had to (tbf I placed second in gumbo out of 80ish entrants).

I never do it at home, much preferring the ease of my oven.

So what's your gumbo recipe

what is the method of roux in the oven?

Scotts Tot said:

---

Baked roux is as much a cheat as sous vide steak.



(See steak thread for reference)

---

Call it whatever you want....I'll still cook 90%+ of my steaks in the sous vide....

I haven't tried making roux in the oven. But it isn't cheating if it turns out the same/better product with less effort. That's just called being efficient.

I am lazier than yall. I often make it in the microwave.

Can someone explain or can someone point me to a link that shows this oven method - curious about the less oil aspect of this roux

I have used a microwave method before

MichaelJ said:

---

Can someone explain or can someone point me to a link that shows this oven method - curious about the less oil aspect of this roux

I have used a microwave method before

---

https://www.seriouseats.com/cajun-gumbo-with-chicken-and-andouille-recipe

MichaelJ said:

---

Can someone explain or can someone point me to a link that shows this oven method - curious about the less oil aspect of this roux

I have used a microwave method before

---

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large cast iron skillet, whisk together the flour and oil to make a paste. Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 90 minutes to 2 hours for a dark roux, stirring every 30 minutes. Once the roux has achieved your desired color, transfer to a storage container or a gumbo-cooking vessel and proceed with the recipe.

You can also do this without the oil. Called a dry roux. Just put your flour in a cast iron skillet and bake it. Stir every 15 minutes or so to evenly v=brown the flour. Then Add chicken or seafood stock to the flour. I use this method because I tend to bad heart burn from the oil used in roux.

Do the baked dry roux all the time.

Play some poker and have a few drinks. Much easier and it doesn't stink up the joint.

MichaelJ said:

---

Can someone explain or can someone point me to a link that shows this oven method - curious about the less oil aspect of this roux

I have used a microwave method before

---

You don't need any oil at all for the roux. You bake the flour for 45min -1hr at 425



One thing to keep in mind is that it will get much darker when it's wet so it may be tough to judge the darkness the first time.

While the dry roux is progressing, you prep everything else.

Someone bump the gumbo thread, I posted pics from when I did it

I often cheat with this

I've never made a dry roux.

I also cant' remember the last time I used oil in my roux either.

It takes very little time and effort to make one on the stove for me, so I just go with a good traditional method. I prep things at the island counter while i'm checking on the roux, so its not wasted time or really any effort at all for me.

I make my roux in 15 minutes over medium high heat. It's constant stirring so it doesn't burn, but it's much quicker.

He may be referring to cooking the flour in the grease from the sausage or chicken

After years of making Roux from scratch, I gave in and now use Savoie's Old Fashioned Dark Roux in a bottle.

HTownAg98 said:

---

FIDO*98* said:

---

Using the term dry roux is the same as using the term air frying. Toasted flour is not a roux and you can't make a roux without fat/oil just like you can't fry without oil.

---

If the point is to brown the flour to add flavor and act as a thickening agent, and you can end up at the same result, what's the difference? I know air fryers aren't as good as frying in oil, but for a gumbo, can you tell the difference between a roux made with browned flour and one made with flour and oil?

---

It may be semantics to an extent, but I think the difference is words have meanings and toasted flour and a roux are two different things. Even if they can both be used interchangeably as an ingredient without most people telling the difference.

I'm sure there's a lot of people who can't tell the difference between real crab and imitation krab. But that doesn't mean you do away with the distinction.

HTownAg98 said:

---

I know air fryers aren't as good as frying in oil, but for a gumbo, can you tell the difference between a roux made with browned flour and one made with flour and oil?

---

The times I've been served it the gumbo wasn't very good, but then again I've never made a toasted flour gumbo so that could explain it as well

The difference is that fake crab isn't as good as real crab. The gumbo made with a dry roux is better than ones with a ton of pointless oil, in addition to being easier.

That's why it's called a dry roux

FIDO*98* said:

---

Using the term dry roux is the same as using the term air frying. Toasted flour is not a roux and you can't make a roux without fat/oil just like you can't fry without oil.

---

G'dammit....I agree with you, and that generally doesn't happen much.

Rattler12 said:

---

schmellba99 said:

---

I've never made a dry roux.

I also cant' remember the last time I used oil in my roux either.

It takes very little time and effort to make one on the stove for me, so I just go with a good traditional method. I prep things at the island counter while i'm checking on the roux, so its not wasted time or really any effort at all for me.

---

HUH ?

---

I use a fat of some sort, but haven't used any actual oil (canola, vegetable, olive, etc.) as the wet ingredient in a great number of years.

Semantics? Maybe, but lard, butter or tallow isn't oil.

And burnt flour without any fat isn't a roux - it's burnt flour. A roux, by it's very definition, requires a combination of a fat or oil and flour of some sort and it being cooked - in every culture of cuisine that fact remains the same.

Additionally, fats and oils add flavor to the roux that you wont' get with dry roux. The idea that a dry roux produces equally as good or better flavor is just not something I can ever agree with.