Had to scrap a whole batch of red chile stock last night

I was making a big pot of red chile stock for the restaurant, about 5 gallons worth, when I noticed the roux had clumped up from the heat being too high too fast. By the time I caught it, the whole thing was burnt on the bottom and smelled like smoke, so I had to dump it and start over from scratch. Has anyone else had a big kitchen fail like this that threw off your whole prep list?

3 comments

3 Comments

wilson.kelly1mo ago

Roux can be so tricky to get right, especially in big batches. Made a huge pot of gumbo once and the roux went from dark chocolate to charcoal in about 30 seconds flat. Had to triple check the heat for the next hour and ended up running way behind on service.

brown.gavin1mo ago

Stopped reading at "charcoal" because that's my worst nightmare lol. I burnt a roux once for a batch of jambalaya and the whole kitchen smelled like burnt toast for two days. You must have had your heart drop into your stomach when you saw that color shift happen so fast. Props to you for keeping your cool and not just dumping the whole pot.

jamie_white1d ago

You really think burning a roux is that big a deal? I've seen people act like they lost a family member over a scorched pot. It's flour and oil, not a gold ingot. You scrape out what you can and start over. Yeah, the smell sticks around but so does the smell of bacon. Life goes on. I get being annoyed but calling it a "worst nightmare" or saying your heart dropped seems a bit dramatic for something that costs maybe 50 cents in ingredients.