Gumbo - should the roux

[Alexandra]

be made with butter or vegtable oil? My recipe calls for oil but to my thinking butter would be tastier.

I have not had a successful gumbo experience (only horrible failures) and would love any tips or advice. DH adores it.

Thanks!

[Ashleen]

Well, the lady who beat Bobby Flay on Throwdown definitely used butter.;) (My younger son is a Food Network fanatic, so I see way too much of it!)

[Ashleen]

Here's Bobby Flay's gumbo recipe. The woman who beat him on the show does not have her recipe on the website. They do have a recipe by Paula Deen

[langfam]

I vote butter for roux.

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

b

[Kimber]

I've only used oil. The idea of butter makes me shudder. I've never seen or eat a roux with butter.

 

Btw, I cheat and buy mine in a jar. :D

[Cricket]

I've only used oil. The idea of butter makes me shudder. I've never seen or eat a roux with butter.

 

Btw, I cheat and buy mine in a jar. :D

 

I've never heard of roux made with butter either. I would think butter would burn too easily. Come to think of it I was at a book signing with Paul Prudhomme years ago and someone asked about this. He agrees with me. :DMy Cajun aunt always made roux with oil.

[Mrs Mungo]

The Cajun husband of my MIL (they married after we did so he isn't really my FIL but that's another story) uses butter. He taught me to make gumbo so that's what I do. You brown the roux in the oven instead of the stove, that's how you keep it from burning. eta: also this is how Alton Brown does it if I need a chef with credentials. ;)

 

So, the short answer to the OPer is: you can do it either way.

[clwcain]

Grew up in NOLA, fwiw.

 

Always make my roux with butter. Same with my stepmother, and all the venerable relations who actually still know how to cook.

 

I've gotten a bit experimental in the last few years, though. Sometimes I'll use a mixture of coconut oil with the butter. It doesn't brown as well, but that's fine, depending on what I'm cooking.

 

Just remember that if you use butter you'll need a bit more flour than you would with oil/shortening because of the water content in butter (about 20% of the volume).