Thursday, April 23, 2009

How Do You Rue?

As I was flipping through the local newspaper this morning, I came across a delicious recipe for Shrimp, Corn, and Tomato Stew. I clipped it out of the paper and started reading the recipe to see if I had the necessary ingredients, and was surprised to see that this recipe calls for 1 cup - yes, that's 2 sticks!! - of butter. Now I must confess that I've never made a stew that calls for a rue, but 2 sticks of butter seems like a lot for a recipe that's only supposed to serve 8 people! Does anyone know of a lighter alternative for making a rue that doesn't compromise the taste and texture of the dish?

And just for fun, here's a recipe for "5-minute chocolate cake in a cup":

In a large coffee mug stir together 4 T flour, 4 T sugar, and 2 T. cocoa. Add 1 egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in 3 T milk and 2 T oil and mix well. Add a small splash of vanilla extract, and if desired, add 3 T chocolate chips. Mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't worry, it shouldn't make a mess :) Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. You may decide to share this with someone if you're feeling generous!

*Note: Both recipes were taken from the Houston Chronicle, 4/22/09.

6 comments:

Gina said...

how much flour does the rue recipe call for?

dixie said...

A roux made of one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of flour will thicken one cup of liquid. Any more butter than that is just to make the stew rich and creamy and can be sacrificed.

JesusThroughMary said...

A classical roux is equal parts flour and fat. A stick of butter is approximately equivalent to a cup of flour, so if the recipe called for two cups of flour, that sounds right to me.

Anonymous said...

I make a roux with a 1:1 ration of flour/butter.

JesusThroughMary said...

I honestly don't know how you can make it lighter, except maybe using a healthier type of oil. I don't think you can get around that ratio and have it come out right.

Elizabeth M said...

I'm with the others in that you can't "mess with" the roux ratio of fat to flour. However, I can't imagine a shrimp stew that would need enough liquid that would require THAT much roux to begin with. I'm usually making roux for gravies or things that require less thickener than 1 cup to 1 cup.