4

I needed to make gumbo for someone with a gluten allergy, so I used glutinous rice flour in the roux instead of wheat flour. At first it looked ok:

click any image for full size
roux_1 roux_2

When I added the "trinity," though, this happened:

roux_3

Basically, the roux split, and the rice flour formed disgusting blackened clumps. Here's a close-up:

roux_4

Yeah, I didn't like looking at that either. I tried again with tapioca flour, and that did work, but I'm still wondering why that happened with the rice flour. Could it have been some kind of thermal shock when the veggies went in? Or maybe a reaction to some chemical in the onion?

Tetsujin
  • 28,646
  • 4
  • 72
  • 111
crmdgn
  • 1,572
  • 3
  • 18
  • 31
  • idk the actual answer, but 'glutinous' rice is a misnomer - it contains no gluten, so your roux can't be a roux & won't react like one. – Tetsujin Jan 01 '21 at 16:34
  • @Tetsujin Tapioca flour also contains no gluten, but it worked just fine. – crmdgn Jan 01 '21 at 17:08
  • 1
    I've successfully made roux with rice flour before (not specifically glutinous). It's the starch that matters for roux so rice flour should be fine. It looks blackened through rather than burnt, is that so? – Chris H Jan 01 '21 at 18:09
  • @ChrisH I'm not sure of the difference between blackened and burnt, but as soon as I put the veg in, the roux separated and the solids clumped up and turned black. It was like watching milk curdle when you put in lemon juice. – crmdgn Jan 01 '21 at 18:12
  • I think for 'generic cajun' the colour isn't bad; it seems to be a matter of taste as to how dark to cook the roux. Personally I like a little lighter as I find it tends to overpower if too dark, but again, personal taste. I'd have been interested to see if it would recover texture as more liquid was introduced later in the process, like cornflour would so long as you never let it cool. – Tetsujin Jan 01 '21 at 18:16
  • 1
    Burning will always start at the surface and take time to propagate. You'll probably smell it, and it's highly unlikely to happen in contact with wet ingredients. Crucially it would have to dry out, and your example looks wet – Chris H Jan 01 '21 at 18:56
  • I've made Gumbo with standard (non-sticky) rice flour and it comes out just fine. – Lee Daniel Crocker Jan 04 '21 at 19:56

1 Answers1

2

After the starches are cooked with oil, and you added the vegetables, as the vegetables cooked they would have released moisture, which the starch absorbed and caused the formation of the lumps (like miniature dough-boys).

Some tips to prevent this from happening:

  • make the roux and sweat the vegetables separately
  • allow the roux to cool (off the heat) so when it is used then the absorption is less intense, you can increase the heat after the roux has had some amount of liquid to it. traditionally it is thickened continually while adding liquid but the cheating method is to leave the roux cool and add all the liquid, then keep stirring (to prevent sticking to the bottom) while over high heat and until the mixture comes to a simmer
  • if browned colour or freezing (leftovers) is not required then consider using mashed potatoes, mashed potato flour (NOT potato starch) or plain rice instead.
  • avoid glutinous rice starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch for roux. the end product is not as good mouthfeel as other starches, and they can make the mixture like glue/slime.
Mr Shane
  • 651
  • 1
  • 12