So how many people hate making roux? I’m fine with making blonde roux, mostly used the thicken things, but when it comes to making penny-roux, the deep dark, meant-for-flavor type of roux used to make things like gumbo, I either lose patience (because it takes so long) or I mess it up by burning the whole thing. Either way, it isn’t my favorite thing to do, so when America’s Test Kitchen demonstrated a dry roux (by placing plain old flour in the oven for an hour), I was really happy. That photo isn’t of cinnamon, it’s flour! And it turns out to work well, at least in making this Chicken and Andoille Sausage Gumbo. At the end of the day, it takes about the same amount of time (2 hours), but you can also toast the flour weeks or even a month or two ahead of time. Game changer! (Oh, and in addition to the technique, the Gumbo is pretty dang tasty too!
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