Roux
Roux () is flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness. Butter, vegetable oils, bacon drippings or lard are commonly used fats. Roux is used as a thickening agent for gravy, sauces, soups and stews. It provides the base for a dish, and other ingredients are added after the roux is complete.
J. F. Roux
In keeping with Hahn’s teaching and, before that, the methods taught by Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, Roux would begin every landscape painting by closely observing his subject. Standing in the veld next to his easel, he would examine the spatial relations between the foreground he would typically use to draw the viewer into the painting and objects further away. Often, he would get to know his subject by first painting a watercolour or simplified oil-on-board picture. This also helped him to determine the tonal effects he wanted to capture. Once he had understood his subject through close examination in this way, he would map out the main features of the landscape onto flax canvas. If a subject was particularly complex, he would draw gridlines on the canvas to assist him.