INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

On Tue, 13 Sep 1994 18:40:58 -0400 (EDT)  shurahaigh@delphi.com wrote: >
Many of the soups I used to make pre-vlf require a roux for thickening -
the > sort that requires 2-4 T of butter to be combined with flour. Does
anyone > have an adequate substitute, or know if there's one in the
archives?
It's the starch in the flour that does the thickening, not the butter.
Flour needs to be cooked to get rid of the raw taste and the butterfat
makes this easy to do without burning the flour.  However, it is possible
to brown flour without fat, it just takes more care. Furthermore, browned
flour is relatively shelf stable, so you can make a big batch and use it
over a month or two.  Other starches (cornstarch, potato starch, arrowroot,
etc) can be used as thickening agents as well. They vary in their strength,
taste, and temperature sensativity. See McGee's _On Food and Cooking_ for
comparison info.
For examples of using browned flour as a substitute for a traditional roux,
see Enola Prudhomme's _Low-Calorie Cajun Cooking_ and Paul
Prudhome's _Fork In the Road_. (which also contain instructions for
browning flour). Here's instructions for browning flour from the archives:
Date:    Thu, 21 Oct 93 13:23:44 PDT From: Michelle Dick <artemis>
From The Joy of Cooking:
BROWNED FLOUR
A variant used in gravies to enhance color and flavor [and as we now know,
to do fatfree cajun cooking].  The slow but inexpensive
procedure by which it is made is worth trying.  The flour, when ready,
should smell nutty and baked.  Place:
in a dry heavy skillet.  Stir constantly over very low direct heat,
scraping the flour from the sides and bottom of the pan.  Or, heat the
flour in a very slow oven, 200 deg F to 250 deg F, in a very heavy pan.
Shake the pan periodically so the flour browns evenly.  Do not let it get
too dark or, as with brown roux, it will become bitter and lose its
thickening power altogether.  Even properly browned flour has only about
half the thickening power of all-purpose flour.  It may be stored in a
tightly covered jar in a cool place.
Michelle Dick, artemis@rahul.net. Fatfree Digest [Volume 10 Issue 34],
Sept. 14, 1994. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34, TXFT40A@Prodigy.com
using MMCONV.
File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/fatfreex.zip

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