I don't blame you at all...it's not creepy to me because I saw what my real hand looked like after the auto accident...That's why that pic is tame to me. .
On second thought.... ....How do you do that again? :hihi:. (You know she's getting back at you for your phallic avatar that does everything except spit. Is it still eating Hatcher?) :lol:.
Technical question for Steve: I like a super dark roux and it takes a bit more time. Isn't it true that a roux's thickness is inversely proportional to it's color?
Well, I know the ratio of flour/oil is critical but I have always been told that the longer the roux was cooked the more the gluten was destroyed and thusly less thick. I have always tried to compensate by having more flour than normal because I cook mine to such a dark color.
I'm not sure. (I'm answering Dude's question here) I know that at first the roux thickens thickens a little, but after that, I don't know even though I've tried some real dark roux before. They all thicken when you add water...like the water in the onions that I add sometimes. I'm not sure how much of a role gluten plays in it. I bet it does break down in high heat. Gluten forms a type of compound that acts like a sheet in bread dough, but it forms by kneading so it's probably a physical reaction more than a chemical one facilitated by heat (like the onion acids turning into sugars). This sounds like a question "America's Test Kitchen ". Maybe Red or someone could ask the food scientists at LSU for an answer or opinion.
A little water thickens roux, and conversely roux thickens a watery stock...so I guess it depends on whether there's more roux than water or more water than roux. What I believe happens is roux suspended in the water thickens the liquid by it's mere presence. By the way I forgot to mention that I use mashed potato flakes and pearls to thicken cream based soups. This probably thickens like roux does. Adding instant mashed potatoes to a pot of runny red beans works great when you don't have time to cook the beans down by evaporating some of the water.
I tried to find out what's really happening with the chemistry of roux and what seems to be happening is that the flour dissolved in oil keeps the starch molecules separate and prevents clumping which would happen if you just add flour to a liquid stock. As you heat the oil/starch mixture (roux) in a stock, the starch molecules absorb the liquid and eventually some of the starch molecules burst and release amylose (which is a simple sugar found in flour. The Amylose, in turn, bonds with the starch molecules to restrict movement of the starch in the liquid. The starch thickens the liquid because it bonds physically with both oil and water to make a type of emulsion. The more you cook roux, the more polymerization of starch molecules occurs and this lessens the thickening action of the roux because more starch molecules are polymerized (become part of a longer chain) and fewer are available for emulsifying the stock (bonding with both the oils and other organic compounds in stock as well as with the oil). So lighter roux ends up thickening more than a darker roux. And I'll bet that gluten proteins are also degraded with the high heat of cooking too...decreasing the thickening (emulsifying) action of roux. So what does this all mean? 1) lighter roux thickens more than dark roux...so if you use dark roux and want a thicker gumbo, thicken it with some blonde roux as well or use a cornstarch slurry, or file , or okra. 2) besides thickening, another equally important function of roux is flavoring the stock...and the more you cook the gumbo, the more the flavor changes. The taste also changes with the amount of roux that you use. 3) There are so many variables in cooking gumbo that affect the final taste that make it very difficult to reproduce. Your method becomes very accurate when you can get a consistent taste at the end. Cooking really is an art that involves some science. I really wish a food scientist would come here and correct my thoughts on roux chemistry and explain it better.
