Roux is used to thicken a broth, sauce or gravy. It is a substance created by cooking flour and fat, traditionally butter, in equal amounts. In Cajun cuisine, roux is made with bacon fat or oil instead of butter and dark brown in color, which lends much richness of flavor, albeit less thickening power. Central European cuisine uses lard (in its rendered form) or more recently vegetable oil instead of butter for the preparation of roux. Light (or “white”) roux provides little flavor other than a characteristic richness to a dish, and is used in French cooking and some gravies or pastries throughout the world. Darker roux is made essentially by cooking the roux longer. Darker roux, sometimes referred to as “blond”, “peanut-butter”, “brown” or “chocolate” roux depending on the color achieved, add a distinct nutty flavor to a dish

I use roux to thicken my soups where necessary, such as for Ham and Bean soup, I also use it in stews to thicken the broth or gravy. I use butter, the butter will darken the longer you cook it with the flour, I usually pull it off the heat just as it is turning light brown.

Always start with an equal amount of butter and flour.  Melt ¼ cup butter in a saucepan, add ¼ cup flour.  Melt the butter over medium heat; slowly add the flour to the butter, whisking constantly. Within 2 to 3 minutes the roux will have a consistency of a cake frosting. A white roux is done when the flour loses its “raw” smell and begins to develop a toasty aroma. If you desire a darker roux cook longer, stirring constantly, until the desired color.

If you’re not adding liquid, or adding to liquid immediately remove the pan from the heat and transfer the roux to another container to cool. Be very careful: the hot fat-flour mixture can cause painful burns. Refrigerated or frozen roux will keep well for up to two months and can be added directly to soups or sauces for quick thickening. Increase your recipe and you can freeze your roux in ice cube trays for future use.

Ham and Bean Soup

I came home from a visit back east to an empty refrigerator and 4 degree weather. I do not feel like making the 45 minute trek to go food shopping. Everyplace in Montana is at least 45 minutes away from anything. So I remembered I had ham hocks and a package of cubed ham in the freezer and decided to make a pot of delicious, hardy ham and bean soup.

The secret to any good soup is the stock from which it is made. So first, the ham stock should be made first before adding any other ingredients because it takes a few hours to get the ham flavor fully out of the ham hocks. I might also mention I didn’t have potatoes but I did have a can of small potatoes in the pantry. If you have left over ham from the holidays, you will need about 2 cups of cubed ham for the soup, I would use ham hocks rather than a ham bone, but the bone will work too. I also added barley to the broth for some extra body. My soup turned out wonderful. I know yours will too.

Ingredients

• 2 ham hocks or a ham bone
• Enough water to cover the ham hocks
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 bag of dry navy, great northern, or cannellini beans, rinse well *1 cup of sliced celery
• 1 cup of sliced celery
• 1 cup or more of chopped carrots
• 2 cups of cubed potatoes
• 2 cups of chopped ham
• 1/3 cup of barley (optional)
• 2 chopped or grated garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• ¼ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. Place ham hocks in a Dutch oven and cover with cold water
2. Add chopped onion, celery, salt, bay leaves, and beans
3. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer – simmer for about 1.5 – 2 hours until meat is tender and can be cut off the bone.
4. Remove meat from bones, discard the bones and cut meat into small pieces add to broth, remove bay leaves from the broth.
5. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 45 minutes or until carrots are tender.
6. Serve with crusty bread

*My mom never soaked her beans, I don’t presoak my beans either, I just add them to the water while the ham is cooking, they become soft and flavor the broth.