Roux la la

"First, you make a roux..."

The Gumbo Shop cookbook I picked up during the last tax conference starts several of their recipes that way. While I know what roux is, the handy reference in the front of the book - with color pictures of what they consider "peanut colored" and "brown" roux - came in handy tonight. You do have to love any dish that starts with three quarters of a cup of butter.

The roux, however, didn't seem to want to change color. In the end, I dumped the veggies in when it was between peanut and brown. It had already been well over half an hour on the stove (and in the meantime, I cooked a pot of rice and browned all the sausage). I'm blaming the electric stove; honestly, it is either taking forever to heat up, or boiling everything over.

The gumbo is for company tomorrow, and I must say, I'm not impressed so far. We'll see what it's like after sitting in the fridge overnight. I would have been better off making jambalaya - and may yet do that tomorrow. This gumbo has been a bit of a nightmare (hello, Milwaukee? I realize we are all about the brats and italian (and a lot of chorizo on the south side), but is it at all possible to get andouille without having to have the butcher CUSTOM MAKE some for me?).

There's a bit of cooking to be done in the morning, and a quick vacuum, dust and bathroom wipe down. I just can't face anymore tonight.

With that, I'm off to bed. After I start the dishwasher...