Alan Holbrook wrote:
>
> Every once in a while, when I get the feeling that my arteries are still
> too flexible and my heart isn't working hard enough pumping blood, I'll
> make a large skillet of sawmill gravy and pour it over biscuits for
> breakfast. The recipe I follow says, as do all the other recipes I've seen
> that involve making a white sauce, that once you have the roux the color
> you want, you should take the pan off the heat to add the milk. I've often
> wondered why that is and what would happen if you added the milk directly
> to the pan containing the roux while it's still on the burner. Rather than
> risk seven years' bad luck or something similar trying it, I thought I'd
> ask. Can any of the RFC intelligentsia enlighten me?

First, to answer your question: I've never removed the roux from heat
before adding the milk. I first looked up "white sauce" in the dandy old
Betty Crocker cookbook so many years ago. That book was my "cooking
101" textbook. I just looked again this morning and it does say to
remove from heat, stir in milk, then return to heat. huh. I must have
missed that part. I've always left it right on the burner and never a
problem.

I also use a very tiny wire whisk for making this. I just measured and
it's only 3/4 inch at it's widest. This gets into the rounded corners of
the smallest saucepan. It's perfect for stirring roux.

Also consider this sometime if you're making a gravy to put on
something. I also let the roux brown a tiny bit (it enhances the
flavor). More importantly, I don't add all milk. I like to add chicken
broth to replace some of the milk. I usually mix in 2/3 chicken broth
and 1/3 milk. Try it.