What’s Stu Cooking

Here’s a secret to some of my best gravies and sauces, a toasted garlic roux. Adding a bit of minced garlic to the roux just gives it that extra something. Use it as a base for just about any sauce you like: gravy made with drippings from a roast, tomato based creole, or a basic white sauce with milk.

To make simply add 1 part butter to 1 part plain flour in a heavy skillet (I only use cast iron) and stir often with a wooden spoon for 10-15 minutes. Then add some minced fresh garlic and cook for 5 minutes or so until the garlic is as brown and toasty as the roux. When the roux is nice and brown (like in the photo) slowly stir in your liquid, bring to a simmer and reduce until the desired thickness is reached. I included a photo to show you how brown I like to toast this roux. This colour is what the Cajuns call a peanut butter roux which is in between the blond and the dark.

Tonight I used this roux to thicken the drippings and deglasing liquid from a roasted chicken. I used about 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of flour, and a heaping teaspoon and a half of minced garlic. The liquid amounted to about 500 ml. I reduced it by about 1/3, steeped in a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary for a few minutes and seasoned with salt and pepper.