Flavor – Making large amount of Gravy

Gravy is supposed to be opaque and is a result of using flour as the thickener. If you want clear gravy, like what you would get in a Chinese restaurant, then you need to use corn starch or arrowroot as your thickener. But the opacity is considered to be a good thing. It's the canned stuff you buy in the store that is clear.

Typically, you go for 1 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp butter for each cup of liquid. You may have to adjust slightly, but that's a good starting point.

After the quantity of roux, the next factor to thickening strength is cooking time. The longer you cook the roux, and consequently, how dark it gets, the less thick the final result will be for a given quantity of roux and liquid.

For a white sauce (i.e. Bechamel and Bechamel-based sauces) you want the roux to stay more or less white. For a Gumbo, you cook it until it's light brown (sometimes called red).