Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy

Step 4 Roux -- The basis of European sauciness

I don't know much about classic sauces, but I have learned the key to good gravy: mix the fat with the flour first. Then cook it. Then add the liquid.

So, equal parts fat and flour. For this recipe, about 4 tablespoons of butter and 1/4 cup flour. (Yes, those are equivalent amounts. Silly Imperial system.) Melt the butter in a new pan (everything will end up in this pan at the end, so it should be reasonably big) over medium heat. Mix in the flour. It'll bubble oddly. It looks and smells like Playdoh. Kind of gross, right?

Keep stirring. And stirring. And stirring. You don't want to burn it, but you do want to brown it. So medium heat is good. Lots of stirring. Thick bottomed pans are better here for an even heat.

I can usually tell that my roux is ready from the smell more than the color. It goes from smelling like Playdoh to smelling like baked pie crust. And basically, that's what it is, cooked butter and flour. It just happens to be liquid instead of solid.

Comments

[middlenamefrank]

Just a quick note on the highly technical side...butter is only about 80% fat, the rest is mostly water, which quickly boils out of a roux. So in reality, you're only putting a little over 3 tablespoons of actual fat into this recipe. Which is fine, but if you ever try this with oil (like if you want to make your gravy vegan), you'll want to reduce the amount of fat slightly or it will cook up differently than you're used to.

[jforbess]

Thanks for the tip. Good point.