Roux

The standard dictionary of literary Czech defines jíška as flour browned in fat and zápražka as flour cooked with fat for thickening soups and sauces. It lists jíška, zápražka and zásmažka as synonyms and draws no distinction in meaning between them.

French roux, literally russet, has denoted a sauce of flour mixed into browned butter since 1762. From the same proportion of 8 oz (≈ 227 g) clarified butter to 9 oz (≈ 255 g) flour Escoffier makes three grades: white roux, cooked only a few minutes to remove the taste of raw flour; pale roux, taken off as soon as its colour starts to change; and brown roux, cooked to a light brown with a scent of hazelnut. He warned against fierce heat: burnt starch thickens poorly and makes the sauce bitter.