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roux+stews by MARCELLE BIENVENU

up. (Plus, this allowed her precious quiet time during which she enjoyed a couple of whiskey sours.) I know some cooks use more flour than oil, and some like to get the oil smoking hot before adding the flour. So, whatever floats your boat, right? My mother believed that gumbos and stews made with seafood should have a roux the color of peanut butter because of the delicacy of shrimp, crab and oysters. Others go for a darker roux — the color of chocolate. Again, it’s a matter of personal taste. Ella Brennan always said that she didn’t care how something was cooked as long as the result tasted good. Now, is a stew the same as a fricas- see? Julia Child, in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, describes a fricassee as “halfway between a sauté and a stew” in that a sauté has no liquid added until later in the preparation, while a stew includes liquid from the beginning. In a fricassee, cut-up meat is first lightly floured and sautéed (but not browned), then liquid is added and it is simmered to finish cooking. The flour, rather than a roux, thickens up the mixture. I think of a stew as a thick, soup-like broth (thicker than gumbo) in which some kind of meat is cooked along with assorted vegetables.The French sometimes refer to this type of dish as a ragout, which can be made with meat, poultry or fish, and with or without vegetables. In North-

ern Italy, it’s called a ragù (thus, perhaps, the commercially made Ragu spaghetti sauce?), and it too is made with meat — usually ground beef — tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, wine and seasonings, and served typically with some sort of pasta. My father, an avid sportsman who usually cooked outdoors over a wood fire, had a certain large, cast-iron Dutch oven that he used for making fricassees, especially chicken “fric” that Mama loved for a Sunday dinner. His version always began with a dark roux, to which chopped onions and bell peppers (no celery) were added and caramelized before warm chicken broth was added. While that mixture simmered, a roasting chicken, generously seasoned with salt and cayenne and cut into serving pieces, was browned in a large skillet before being added to the simmer- ing pot. Of course, the thick, fragrant stew was served over rice with a side of potato salad made with Mama’s homemade mayonnaise. When Papa cooked for his buddies at monthly male-only suppers, he liked making a pork fricassee, which also began with a thick, brown roux. A generous amount of pork shoulder chunks that had been roasted in the oven was added and allowed to cook long and slow. If turnips from Mama’s garden were available, they were chopped and added to the pot. Papa offered both rice and chunky mashed

ONE-POT DISHES (LIKE GUMBO AND JAMBALAYA) are mainstays of our South Louisiana cuisine. The creative and innovative Cajuns figured out that preparing a meal in a large, preferably cast-iron pot made it easy to stre-e-etch the dish to serve however many folks “dropped in” for a meal. The cook was always prepared to add an extra handful of shrimp or oysters to the gumbo, quickly put together an étouffée made with whatever was at hand, or shove an extra chicken or duck into the oven, just in case. Rest assured, a big pot of cloud-white rice was always at the ready. Whoever is stirring the pot can always swing open the kitchen screen door and whatever flies, crawls or swims by will end up on the table.This is what I call the cuisine of “let’s make do.” Most one-pot dishes begin with a roux. How do you make your roux? I always use equal parts of all-purpose flour and vegetable oil, which I learned from my mother, but everyone seems to have their own preferred ratio. Both ingredients are put into the pot and slowly stirred over medium-low heat until the desired color is reached. Sometimes, it took Mama 30 to 40 minutes to make her roux. She always announced to the family that she was not to be disturbed while she slowly stirred the mixture. One could have died at her feet, and she would’ve never looked

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