1 All-purpose flour (equal in quantity to the butter used)
Instructions
1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat, 2-3 min, until fully liquefied and beginning to bubble (foamy at the edges but not yet browning).
2. Add an equal quantity of flour all at once. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk for 1-2 min, until the mixture forms a smooth, pale paste (roux) that pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan and smells faintly nutty — this step is called making a roux: cooking fat and flour together before adding liquid to eliminate raw-flour taste.
3. With your soup at a full boil in a separate pot, add the roux to the boiling soup in small additions, stirring constantly after each addition, until the soup reaches the desired consistency, 3-5 min total. The soup is bound when it coats the back of a spoon and a line drawn through that coating holds its shape.
4. If the recipe calls for more flour than butter, or if the soup is made in a double boiler: instead of adding the roux directly to the soup, first temper the roux — that is, ladle a portion of the hot soup gradually into the roux, whisking constantly, until the mixture is fluid enough to pour. Then pour this tempered mixture back into the remaining soup in the double boiler, stirring until fully incorporated and smooth, 2-4 min, until the soup coats a spoon.
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