Cajun Roux Gravy

A Cajun roux is nothing like a British one. You cook flour and oil together, slowly, for forty five minutes or more, until it goes from blond through peanut butter to something close to melted dark chocolate. It thickens far less at that stage but it tastes extraordinary, smoky and nutty and slightly bitter. There is no shortcut and no way to walk away from the pan.

Ingredients

Makes about 1 litre, enough for eight servings over rice

• 150ml (5fl oz) rapeseed oil a neutral oil with a high smoke point, not olive oil and not butter
• 150g (5oz) plain flour
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 green pepper finely chopped
• 2 sticks celery finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic crushed
• 1.2 litres (2 pints) hot chicken stock
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper or more, to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 spring onions sliced, to finish
• salt and black pepper to taste

Kit

• Heavy bottomed casserole or cast iron pan
• Flat wooden spatula
• Measuring jug
• Timer

Method

1. Chop all the vegetables before you start and have them in a bowl beside the hob. Once the roux is going you cannot leave it, and you will need to tip them in fast at the end.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy casserole over a medium heat until it shimmers. Add the flour all at once and stir it in with a flat wooden spatula until it is completely smooth and looks like thin batter.

3. Now turn the heat down to medium low and settle in. Stir constantly, dragging the spatula across the whole base of the pan in a figure of eight. For the first fifteen minutes very little will seem to happen.

4. Between twenty and thirty minutes it will go the colour of peanut butter and start smelling like popcorn. Keep going. Between forty and fifty minutes it will darken quickly to the colour of dark chocolate or an old penny. This is where most people burn it, so drop the heat lower and never stop stirring.

5. The moment it hits that colour, tip in the onion, pepper and celery all at once. The pan will hiss violently and the vegetables will stop the roux cooking any further. Stir hard for three or four minutes until they soften.

6. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, thyme and cayenne and stir for one minute. Then pour in the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring each one in fully. It will look alarmingly thin compared to a normal roux, which is correct, because a dark roux has very little thickening left in it.

7. Add the bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered for thirty to forty minutes, stirring every so often. It will slowly thicken and a thin slick of oil will rise to the top, which is a sign it is done. Skim that off.

8. Fish out the bay leaves, season well with salt and black pepper, and stir in the sliced spring onions. Serve over rice, or with chicken, sausage or prawns cooked separately and added at the end.

Tips worth knowing

• If you see a single black fleck or catch a burnt smell, throw the roux away and start again. Burnt roux cannot be rescued and it will make a litre of gravy taste like a bonfire.
• Use a flat ended wooden spatula rather than a spoon. It scrapes the whole base of the pan, and the base is where a roux burns first.
• The oil slick that rises to the surface at the end is normal and skimming it off is part of the method, not a sign you did something wrong.
• A dark roux thickens roughly half as much as a blond one, which is why the flour quantity here is high. Do not cut it back or you will end up with brown soup.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps five days in the fridge and freezes brilliantly for six months, and many people say it is better on day two. Reheat gently with a splash of stock, stirring, and never boil it hard or the oil will separate out again.

Questions people ask