Ever have one of those days?
A couple of days ago we shopped at one of the largest grocery stores in Jena, and there we found "Louisiana Crawfish", from China no less. Mark showed them to me and I offered to make gumbo for him. Poor gluten-free guy, his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning at the thought, so we grabbed some shrimp and sausage and this morning I set about the first step, making the roux.
Now, being gluten-free means Mark can't have ordinary old flour, so I have to use "alternatives". My favorite so far has been a universal mix that makes pretty good muffins, but was a poor choice for roux. As soon as the roux started to heat and change color, these little rock-hard crystals appeared. Not good for gumbo. Clean the pan and start again.
A couple of days ago we shopped at one of the largest grocery stores in Jena, and there we found "Louisiana Crawfish", from China no less. Mark showed them to me and I offered to make gumbo for him. Poor gluten-free guy, his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning at the thought, so we grabbed some shrimp and sausage and this morning I set about the first step, making the roux.
Now, being gluten-free means Mark can't have ordinary old flour, so I have to use "alternatives". My favorite so far has been a universal mix that makes pretty good muffins, but was a poor choice for roux. As soon as the roux started to heat and change color, these little rock-hard crystals appeared. Not good for gumbo. Clean the pan and start again.
Next, I pulled this lovely box of cornstarch out of the cupboard. It says it's great for cakes and desserts, so why not roux?
Well, I'll tell you why. After 30 minutes of heating and constant stirring it started to change color and then immediately began to make clumps of hard dough that reminded me a lot of dog shit.
So I washed the pan again and moved on to my third choice, some rice meal type of stuff that I got from the local co-op here. It cooked up beautifully dark and smooth.
Making roux is not hard, but it takes many minutes of constant stirring and produces a stinky, smoky kitchen. A project I started with the intention of finishing in 30 minutes ended up taking me almost three hours! I sure hope it tastes good.
P.S. Mom and Dad, please don't tell my Nana I tried to make roux out of cornstarch. She might very well revoke my cajun ancestry...
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