ROSE FLOWER WATER— Rose water
needs no description. It is a delicious
scent, and is very commonly handed
round after dinner in order that persons
may dip the comers of their napkins
into it and use it for wiping their lips,
moustache, or beard. The scent is ex-
tremely delicate.
ROUX, BROWN. — Brown roux is one
of the most simple and at the same
time most useful substances used in
cooking. It seems a most extraordinary
fact, but it is none the less true, that the
majority of English women-cooks are
absolutely unacquainted with the exist-
ence of brown roux, a substance, on the
other hand, that the French cook uses
fifty times a day. Brown roux is used
for thickening every kind of soup and
brown gravy. In England women-
cooks are in the habit of thickening
their soups and gravies with butter and
flour. Brown roux is butter and flour,
but every grain of flour used in its com-
position has been first fried a light
brown colour. It is wonderful what a
difference the frying or baking of the
flour first makes in the flavour of the
soup. There is just as much difference
between the flavour of soup that has
been thickened with brown roux and
soup thickened with ordinary butter
and flour, as between the rich taste of
puff paste after it has been baked and
a piece of raw pie-crust. It is astonish-
ing that English cooks will either not
believe this or will not take the trouble
to make brown roux. Till they do so
the majority of English people must
put up with the absence of the flavour
in their soups and gravies, but I have
no hesitation in saying that brown roux
is absolutely essential to all even mode-
rate cooking. Brown roux is very easily
made, and if the cook only knew, it is
also a great saving of trouble. It can
be made in large quantities and will
keep good for months, and when cooks
are making soups and gravies they wall
find it very much better than butter and
flour. When brown roux is once made
it is always ready to hand. To make
brown roux act as follows. I will de-
scribe how to make a small quantity for
the benefit of small households. Take
half a pound of flour and see that it is
thoroughly dry. Then sift it. The
best mode of drying flour is to spread a
large newspaper in front of a fierce fire
and sift the flour on to the newspaper.
It dries much better when spread out
in this way. Next take half a pound of
good butter and clarify it. Butter is
clarified as follows : Place half a pound
in a stewpan over the fire till the butter
is oiled. The cook will now observe
that on the top of the butter there is a
slight amount of scum, and at the
bottom there wall be a milky substance,
which is the dregs. Remove the scum
by skimming the butter. Then pour off
the butter, taking care that all the
dregs are left behind. This is now
butter properly clarified, and is the
snbstance that is used for covering over
every kind of potted meat. Next mix
the half-pound of flour into the butter,
place it in an enamelled stewpan, and
stir it over a fierce fire till it begins
to turn colour. Directly it begins to
turn colour the cook should be careful
not to burn it. It is best to remove the
stewpan from the fire and continue
stirring and then to replace it on the
fire. As soon as the whole mixture has
assumed what may be termed a light
fawn colour, it should be removed from
the fire altogether.✪ Brown Roux
Page 197 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1880. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
ROSE FLOWER WATER— Rose water needs no description. It is a delicious scent, and is very commonly handed round after dinner in order that persons may dip the comers of their napkins into it and use it for wiping their lips, moustache, or beard. The scent is extremely delicate.
ROUX, BROWN. — Brown roux is one of the most simple and at the same time most useful substances used in cooking. It seems a most extraordinary fact, but it is none the less true, that the majority of English women-cooks are absolutely unacquainted with the existence of brown roux, a substance, on the other hand, that the French cook uses fifty times a day. Brown roux is used for thickening every kind of soup and brown gravy. In England womencooks are in the habit of thickening their soups and gravies with butter and flour. Brown roux is butter and flour, but every grain of flour used in its composition has been first fried a light brown colour. It is wonderful what a difference the frying or baking of the flour first makes in the flavour of the soup. There is just as much difference between the flavour of soup that has been thickened with brown roux and soup thickened with ordinary butter and flour, as between the rich taste of puff paste after it has been baked and a piece of raw pie-crust. It is astonishing that English cooks will either not believe this or will not take the trouble
to make brown roux. Till they do so the majority of English people must put up with the absence of the flavour in their soups and gravies, but I have no hesitation in saying that brown roux is absolutely essential to all even moderate cooking. Brown roux is very easily made, and if the cook only knew, it is also a great saving of trouble. It can be made in large quantities and will keep good for months, and when cooks are making soups and gravies they wall find it very much better than butter and flour. When brown roux is once made it is always ready to hand. To make brown roux act as follows. I will describe how to make a small quantity for the benefit of small households. Take half a pound of flour and see that it is thoroughly dry. Then sift it. The best mode of drying flour is to spread a large newspaper in front of a fierce fire and sift the flour on to the newspaper. It dries much better when spread out in this way. Next take half a pound of good butter and clarify it. Butter is clarified as follows : Place half a pound in a stewpan over the fire till the butter is oiled. The cook will now observe that on the top of the butter there is a slight amount of scum, and at the bottom there wall be a milky substance, which is the dregs. Remove the scum by skimming the butter. Then pour off the butter, taking care that all the dregs are left behind. This is now butter properly clarified, and is the snbstance that is used for covering over every kind of potted meat. Next mix the half-pound of flour into the butter, place it in an enamelled stewpan, and stir it over a fierce fire till it begins to turn colour. Directly it begins to turn colour the cook should be careful not to burn it. It is best to remove the stewpan from the fire and continue stirring and then to replace it on the fire. As soon as the whole mixture has assumed what may be termed a light fawn colour, it should be removed from the fire altogether.
Records on this page
Brown Roux