Has anyone tried making roux in the oven? If not, you should.

[Arkansas Granny]

I wanted to fix dinner for my daughter for her birthday last weekend and she requested homemade gumbo. I had seen Alton Brown make roux in the oven on the Food Network and decided to try it. It works! The gumbo turned out great and the flavor was the same as the stove top method of making roux.

You mix equal amounts of flour and oil in a cast iron skillet or other oven proof pan and bake at 350F for 1 1/2 hours or so or until it develops the desired color. I suppose you could stir it every once in a while if you want to, but it's not necessary. Much easier than standing at the stove with constant stirring and no danger of burning it. You can even make a big batch and store the extra in the refrigerator for months.

[Warpy]

1. Best roux I ever made was on a woodstove

when I was called away for a cat emergency and returned to find a perfect, nut brown and intensely flavorful roux.

I've never been able to duplicate it. That woodstove was exactly the right temperature.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Isn't that the way it goes. With my luck, I would have come back to a

smoking, smoldering mess.

[wryter2000]

3. That's interesting

I don't have any trouble with a dark brown roux on the top of the stove. I've never had the courage to make a black roux. It's so much faster on the stove, so I'll probably keep doing that for brown roux. For black roux, maybe I'll try the oven.