DeGlazing? Like…licking the delicious-ness of a glazed donut right? Mmmmmmm donuts.
No! That’s not what we’re talking about here. See what you’ve done? Now I can’t stop thinking about donuts. Bah.
N-E-Way, back to what we came here for. Deglazing. That is a cooking term. And if you learn what it’s all about, you are on your way to becoming a master saucier! or something, but don’t get ahead of yourself.
Brown bits. Not BrownieBites…which, BTW when you’re done here, head on over there for some delicious recipes!
Brown bits. That’s what we call them most often around our house. When you’re frying/roasting/searing something and all those brown bits get stuck to the bottom of the pan. You’re thinking “man, I am going to have to let this pan soak overnight”
No, no you’re not. What you’re going to do instead is deglaze that bad boy. Why? For multiple reasons
#1 – To get all those brown bits off the bottom of your pan (Yay! No elbow grease needed!)
#2 – To turn those brown bits into an explosion of flavor! (in this case, “explosion of flavor” means delicious pan sauce)
I’ll give you a classic example:
Say you’ve put a delicious pork loin in the oven on your roasting pan. You’ve smeared it with herbs and spices. And for the past hour you’ve heard the fat of the pork loin crackling under your oven’s intense heat. You hear it’s juices dripping down into the pan below, splashing and sizzling.
Finally, the timer goes off. You float into the kitchen, nose first like a cartoon character. Pull the pork loin out, set it aside to rest…and you have this absolute mess of a pan left.
Now it’s time to let it shine. You can use a wide variety of things to deglaze. Any type of stock, wine, ciders, fruit juices, a variety of liquors, etc. The key is in the acidity. It has what it takes to break up the bits. Careful if you’re using alcohol. Always remove your pan from the heat before adding in alcohol. We don’t want to melt your face.
- First, you’ll want to skim off any excess fat if there is any. Too much grease and the sauce won’t come together.
- Set the pan over medium heat. It should still be really hot, so this won’t take much time.
- Add in your liquid of choice. In the example above, red or white wine, beef or chicken stock or apple cider vinegar would all make great choices.
- Scrape the bottom of the pan while you stir (preferably a WOODEN spoon). You want to break up all of of those brown bits. It’s the purpose of this exercise
- Now you’ll want to let the liquid reduce by about half.
- Add in a few pats of butter to thicken it up. Salt & pepper and you’re done!
- *If necessary* you can run your sauce through a strainer.
awesome practical info boiled down (see what I did there??) into a compact explosion of knowledge, as always