BLOND ROUX

I like sauce and gravy — and lots of it. You can thicken sauces and gravies with a paste of flour (or cornstarch) and cold water, or make a beurre manié the way the French do, by blending softened butter and flour with your fingers or a spoon, and stirring in bits at the end of the cooking. You have to be very careful with the methods, though, because if you don’t cook the sauce long enough, it will have a raw flour taste. But you will never have this problem if you make a blond, or white, roux, as cooks do in Louisiana. In a blond roux, the butter and flour mixture is cooked, and it thickens without imparting much flavor and with little risk of lumps forming. Unlike the more time-consuming dark roux used for gumbo, this cream-colored roux is hard to mess up and takes only a few minutes to make.

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted

butter

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Melt the butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the flour all at once and whisk vigorously until smooth. When the mixture thins and starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, whisking slowly, until the mixture smells nutty and toasty and is still lightly colored. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool at least to room temperature before adding to hot liquids.

The roux stores well, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

For 1 cup roux: 12 tablespoons butter and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (Thickens 3 quarts liquid.)

For 1/4 cup roux: 3 tablespoons butter and 4 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (Thickens 3 cups liquid.)

Per tablespoon: 113 calories (percent of calories from fat, 72), 1 gram protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 9 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 23 milligrams cholesterol, 88 milligrams sodium.