La Roux

While listening to some pre-workout jams consisting of Blink-182, Lady Gaga, and La Roux, I got to think about well, roux. You know, the thingy that makes soups and sauces thicken up? The basic formula for a roux is to heat butter, lard, alien fat, zombie, or other fat in a saucepan and slowly add an equal weight of flour. Then you have to gently stir until the flour granules evenly absorb the fat and the end result should be an even textured smooth paste. Then to add to the stock to make the sauce, you must slowly and gradually add the hot stock to the roux and whisk continually.

There are 3 types of roux; white,blond, and brown.
White roux is used to thicken white sauces, and you need to heat for a minute or two, only until bubbles devlop on the surface.
Blond roux is best for lighter sauces with chicken or fish entrees. To make just heat 3-4 mins till it reaches a pale blondish color.
Brown Roux is used for thickening brown sauces such as Bordelaise. Down in the good ol' South we like to use pan drippings instead of butter.

There are 5 mother sauces and, Marie-Antoine Carême, is considered the founder of french cuisine. He made the mother sauces, and then created daughter sauces by adding spices, herbs, wine, etc. Here's the family tree [I would die without "Paint"] Oh BTW you gotta click on it to actually view the size where you can read it.

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The Four Mother sauces are Bechamel [cream] sauce, Veloute [white] sauce, Hollandaise [butter] sauce, and Espagnole [brown] sauce.

Milk+White Roux= Bechamel sauce

White Stock+Blond Roux= Veloute sauce

Brown Stock+Brown Roux= Espagnole sauce

Clarified Butter+ Egg Yolk+ Lemon Juice= Hollandaise sauce

Now I like making a combination of mustard, butter, and flour to make a roux for my favorite mac n' cheese, then i take that roux and add milk, that makes it a Bechamel type sauce except then i melted various types of cheeses in it.

This post is kinda pointless because the only reson i'm posting this is because i was reading 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School last night like a toon.

WOOOO AWESOMESAUCE