What can you do with a Flour Roux?

When I was a chef it was an important thickening agent used in sauces, soups, in gravys and for making sauce bases.

There are 3 main types, the white, the blonde and the brown or dark roux, made by cooking the flour with the used fat until the raw taste is cooked out, in the case of the blonde and brown roux's they are just cooked longer to achieve a darker colour and flavour for the sauce they are made for.

In the south and with cajun or creole cooking the brown roux is used with etouffees, gumbos and other dishes, the other 2 are mainly for the less coloured or intense dishes. They can be used for any meat, poultry or fish to make a sauce. There is something called beurre manie, or also known a mixed butter, it is half flour and butter mashed together, and added at the last moment to a sauce to thicken, but it cannot be boiled or it separates and is very floury tasting, added like cream to enhance the sauce.

It is the basis of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: Sauce béchamel, Sauce velouté, and Sauce Espagnole. Butter, vegetable oils, or lard are common fats used. It is used as a base for gravy, other sauces, soufflés, soups and stews.