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Preparation: Tips for a perfect Roux:
Clarified butter is best in fine sauces because of its flavor.
Whole butter costs more but has better flavor than margarine.
Margarine is the most cost effective.
Shortenings and vegetable oils leave a sensation of a coating in your mouth. Bad!
Equal amounts of fat and flour by weight! Critical! A good roux should not runny, it should be stiff and pull away from the sides of a pan while cooking. Roux must be cooked so as not to impart a starchy flour-like taste to your sauce.
White Roux is cooked only a few minutes and is used in basic Béchamel and cream sauces
Blond Roux is cooked just a bit longer and used in sauces based on white stocks.
Brown Roux is cooked until it takes on a caramel color an has a nut-like aroma.
NOTE: The darker a roux, the less thicken power it has.
