Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Rout Cakes, Almond (Read's recipe). — Take one pound of sweet almonds and one pound of loaf sugar; beat your almonds and sugar quite fine, and make it into a moderate stiff paste with the yolk of egg (some use one egg and the rest yolk) . Make them into any shape your fancy may dictate. Use finely-powdered loaf sugar to dust your board or blocks. In making them, place them on clean tins that are slightly buttered, so as not to touch, or lay a sheet of whitey-brown paper on the tin to put them on. Let them remain in a warm place all night, or a day and a night, before they are baked. Put them in a rather brisk oven ; when lightly coloured over, they are done. Ornament them with nonpareils, candied peel, icing, &c., to fancy; make a mucilage of gum arable, and lay it, with a small brush, over the parts where you wish the nonpareils to adhere ; this is done after they are baked. If you wish to cut your paste out of blocks, put it in a stewpan over the fire ; keep stirring it with a spoon or spaddle ; stir it well to the bottom. When you find the paste does not stick to the sides of the pan, and comes altogether, it is done. Let it get cold before you cut it out. When the cakes are made in this way the impressions show much better. ROUX. — Roux is simply a mixture of flour and butter which, when baked, is used for thickening soups and gravies. It is frequently spoken of as a brown or white thickening ; it should be kept in a covered jar, and will remain good for months. A tea-spoonful is generally sufficient to thicken a pint of gravy. Roux {sec Gravy, Brown Roux for Thickening). Rous, Brown. — Dissolve half a pound of fresh butter, skim it well, let it stand for a minute, and pour it away from the impurities, which will settle to the bottom. Put the clear oily part into a saucepan over a slow fire, and shake into it about seven or eight ounces of fine flour, or as much as will make a thick paste. Stir constantly, and heat the preparation slowly and equally until it is very thick and of a bright brown colour. Put it into a jar, and stir a spoonful into soup or gravy as it is needed. A tea-spoonful will thicken half a pint of gTavy. Roux may be mixed with hot or cold stock. If cold, stir it over the fire till it boils ; if hot, moisten the roux gradually with the stock, and off the fire to keep it from lumping. Roux, Brown, or Thickening {see Brown Roux). Roux, Brown, for Immediate Use. — Put an ounce of butter into a saucepan over a slow fire, and when it is dissolved shake into it an ounce and a half of dried flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until it has acquired a light-brown colour ; this will take about ten minutes. Remove the roux from the fire for two minutes to cool, add a pint and a half of stock, stir this till it boils up, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and let the sauce simmer till it is smooth and of a proper consistency. Roux, White.— Proceed as above, but be careful to remove the paste from the fire before it has acquired any colour. White roux is used for white sauces. Roux, White {sec Gravy, White Roux for Thickening. Rowan. — The fruit of the rowan-tree or mountain-ash, when the bitter has been extracted by soaking it in water, may be made into a preserve which used to find favour in some parts of Scotland.