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
Roux’s still lifes constitute the most classical part of his oeuvre. Divested of their dates, they could be nineteenth-century works, their sole purpose being their mastery of technique to create images of enduring beauty. The exceptions to this general rule are two or three paintings of found objects – twisted bits of wood or dried indigenous plants. These paintings mimic the abstractionism that Roux’s landscapes found in natural forms and could not have been painted anywhere else but Southern Africa.