If you ask me, a dark Cajun roux is the secret ingredient that is the most important building block in Cajun cooking. Very important, for your convenience, we’ve developed a crunchy product we call Rox’s Roux – the deepest, darkest, richest commercial product. This product will add consistency and quality to any Cajun-based recipe.
Roxanne Graham and her friend Rox Rowe. (All photos: George Graham)
So, what’s all the fuss about roe cajon? To find out, we urge you to make a roux from scratch and discover the lost art of making roux, an essential cooking technique essential to Cajun and Creole culture. My wife Roxanne will show you how to do it in a step-by-step video that will give you all the secrets of making roxane. Take a look by clicking below.
Making a dark Cajun roux from scratch is a dying art. Not so many years ago, there wasn’t a Cajun or Creole home in southern Louisiana that didn’t have the strong, unmistakable aroma of dark roux, in all its glory, coursing through the kitchen. Home cooks were taught roux-making skills early on, and passing them on to the next generation was a rite of passage.
Times have changed.
With the proliferation of dried and powdered roux, as well as packaged okra mixes, the art of making roux is slowly fading away. Don’t get me wrong, some ready-made rouxes like Rox’s Roux are so good, I use them myself. But, there’s no substitute for the ritual of making homemade roux from scratch, and I believe it’s the obligation — no, the responsibility — of roux makers to pass this timeless craft skill to their children. I know my wife has it.
The dark abyss of a perfectly crafted Cajun roux is the depth of flavor in Roux Roux
Rox can make roux.
Deep and dark like blackstrap molasses and equally rich.
My wife Roxanne doesn’t cook every night nor does she claim to be an artisan in cooking, but she is one of the best natural chefs I know. For Roux, she follows a strict set of guidelines handed down from generations of good Cajun chefs before her. Born and raised in Jennings, Louisiana, it sometimes bothered her that her grandmother’s black iron pot and worn-out wooden okra spoon were her dowry. Truth be told, it is far more valuable than anything money can buy.
On a cold winter’s day, she can work magic in this pot with chicken roux and sausage okra like nothing else you’ve tasted. Roux is the base on which bamboo is built. Rox are nurtured and nurtured with serious attention to detail that defies logic. It is as if my wife is entering a semi-transparent state of consciousness that is mesmerizing. It moves and moves. It focuses on colour, texture and scent. For over an hour, I moved. No phone calls, no chats, no distractions whatsoever.
White, cream, beige, tan, brown, mahogany, and beyond.
There is an instinctive starting point – the point of no return that you cross. The less brave or sure cook will not reach perfection. She has the confidence and courage to pursue that dark, disturbing depth of rich, chocolaty roux. The Hershey’s chocolate bar is the final stop, and everything else is burned and ready for disposal.
With a wooden spade spoon in her right hand, the okra queen rules the kitchen.
Rox Row (Dark Cajun Row)
Recipe by: George Graham
Serve: 3 cups
ingredients
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 3 cups of oil, such as vegetable oil
directions
- Begin the Cajun roux in a large cast-iron saucepan over medium heat. With no distractions and about an hour of time at your disposal, start adding the flour and oil.
- With a long wooden spoon, start stirring. Constant stirring and swirling the flour around the bottom of the pot is key to browning the flour evenly to prevent burning. This early stage will slowly pass as you start to see the white flour turn beige and then brown.
- Continue to stir slowly and evenly, scraping the bottom of the pot and the circular notches to move the flour into the hot oil.
- After about half an hour, you’ll start to see a brown color develop and smell the first hints of toasted flour. This is where animation becomes more important.
- At this point, you begin to enter a rapid development phase where the slightest bit of inattention can result in burnt spots of flour—a sure sign that you’ve messed up your roux. Watch your heat and lower it if the roux is cooking too quickly.
- Constant stirring to prevent the flour from staying in one place for a long time prevents burning. You will start to smell softer when you see the color turn to dark mahogany. Most stop here, but you’ll keep working until you get a deeper, darker chocolate-colored consistency and color.
- Forget about time at this point because you are now cooking with instinct, sight, and smell. Maximum attention is needed to get you moving, and when you see that Hershey’s dark chocolate bar, you’ll know you’ve arrived.
- Turn off the heat but keep stirring until it cools down and stops cooking.
- Pour the roux into a bowl and let it cool.
notes
I like the neutral taste of vegetable or canola oil, but peanut oil will work just as well, but stay away from olive oil, grapeseed oil, or any flavored oil with a low smoke point. Refrigerate the roux in a glass jar for up to 1 year. My wife always makes more roux than she needs. Her rule is that as long as you spend an hour of your life stirring a roux, make enough okra for the next one, too. Be careful when stirring the roux—there’s a reason it’s called Cajun napalm.
3.5.3217
Where can I buy Rox’s Roux?
Rox’s Roux is available online at the Acadiana Table STORE or at the following retail stores in Southern Louisiana:
Heleaux Grocery
3002 Ferrot School Road, Lafayette, LA 70508
337-856-7872
Billod Grocery
111 E Main St, Broussard, LA 70518
337-837-6825
the kitchen
456 Heymann Blvd, Lafayette, LA 70503
337-264-1037
Champagne market in the oil center
454 Heymann Blvd, Lafayette, LA 70503
337-235-4114
Little Veron
403 Rena Drive, Lafayette, LA 70503
337-981-0098
Bonjour Gifts
124 N. Morgan Av., Broussard, LA 70518
337-330-4343
Itz market
819 E Broussard Rd Suite 101, Lafayette, LA 70508
337-565-3289
My wife rocks her roux too. Buy it by clicking on this picture.
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