disperse in a hot liquid, roux making has three other useful effects on the flour First, it cooks out the raw cereal flavor and develops a rounded, toasty flavor that becomes more pronounced and intense as the color darkens Second, the color itself — the product of the same browning reactions between carbohydrates and proteins that produce the toasty flavor — can lend some depth to the color of the sauce Finally, the heat causes some of the starch chains to split, and then to form new bonds with each other This generally means that long chains and branches are broken down into smaller pieces that then form short branches on other molecules The short, branched molecules are less efficient at thickening liquids than the long chains, but they’re also slower to bond to each other and form a continuous network as the liquid cools The sauce is therefore less prone to congeal on the plate The darker the roux, the more starch chains are modified in this way, and so the more roux is required to create a given thickness It takes more of a dark brown roux than a light one to thicken a given amount of liquid (The industrial version of roux making to make a starch more dispersable and stable to cooling is called dextrinization, and involves heating dry starch together with some dilute acid or alkali to 375ºF/190ºC.) Outside of France, roux are especially prominent in the cooking of New Orleans, where flour is cooked to a number of different stages from pale to chocolate-brown, and where cooks may use several roux in a single gumbo or stew to lend their distinct layers of flavor Starch in Classic French Sauces In the code formalized by Auguste Escoffier in 1902, there are three leading mother sauces that are thickened in part with flour: the ...starch chains are modified in this way, and so the more roux is required to create a given thickness It takes more of a dark brown roux than a light one to thicken a given amount of liquid (The industrial version of roux making... to make a starch more dispersable and stable to cooling is called dextrinization, and involves heating dry starch together with some dilute acid or alkali to 375ºF/190ºC.) Outside of France, roux are especially prominent in the cooking of New Orleans,... gumbo or stew to lend their distinct layers of flavor Starch in Classic French Sauces In the code formalized by Auguste Escoffier in 1902, there are three leading mother sauces that are thickened in part with flour: the