Let’s talk cajun. We’re going to make one the basic items here in cajun’s cooking and that is the rich, dark mahogany roux that is used in making etouffee, gumbos. And you don’t have to make this in a cast iron skillet. As you see, this is a thick bottom skillet pan, sauté pan and we will be doing it in here with no problem.

This is ½ cup of vegetable oil in here and one cup of flour. I will be adding a little bit more flour to this. I don’t like to use the very loose roux in cooking because when you thicken up the items, there is no reason to have more fat content in it than necessary. As you see, the flame, moderate flame. Once you stop making this roux, you can’t leave it. It’s not the type of roux that you could just place in the oven and think, “Well, we’re get it a little brown in the oven.” It’s cooked on top of the stove. It comes out a very nutty flavor and the color has to be a nice, rich, mahogany looking. If you should have any black spots in the roux while you’re making it, you have to start all over because you did ruin the roux.

When this gets to the point where – I'm starting to get a little more color, I am just going to add maybe another tablespoon or two of flour. I will not be filming this in this entirety because it’s a rather long process and there is no reason to do it. As you can see–and please don’t burn this up. The roux with the flour is very hot.

When this is done, this mahogany roux will still keep cooking in here because of the intense heat. When you’re making a gumbo or an etouffee, if you make the right amount of roux, what you will do is add your vegetables into the roux at the very end. This will cool off the roux and prevent it from darkening anymore. It’s just one of those little secrets that you get. You have to spend three and a half years in New Orleans, really great city for food. I’ve spent my time down there at the Royal Orleans Hotel. The old Saint Charles Hotel when Sheraton took it over. The International Hotel and I work closely with Paul Prudhomme and the Chef’s Association. He being the President at the time in the lat 70s and I being the secretary. And I’ve picked up a few pointers from him.

I could see now that the roux is slowly starting to darken just a little bit. When it starts to darken just a little bit more, I am going to low the flame and we’re going to do this process nice and slow to avoid any black spots in the roux because I would hate to have to make this over again.

If you notice the texture, it’s still very loose, so we’re going to add, as I’ve mentioned before, more flour. That is one tablespoon. That’s another tablespoon. That’s two tablespoons of flour and I think I have just about reached the consistency now. Let’s make it three, three tablespoons of flour. And also, by cooking the roux this way, it has less of a thick.