Deglazing
Deglazing?
I frequently deglaze my pans when cooking with either sherry or white wine as I want to preserve the gastronomical delights of all the brown bits. There is a show called “Worst Cooks in America” where Ann Burrell and another chef/cook team up to teach seemingly awful home cooks to make a suitable meal. One term she says constantly is “ brown food tastes good”. She literally has the phrase on a T-Shirt. While I won’t be making a fashion statement and wear the shirt, she is correct. I wouldn’t want any of that deliciousness to get lost to the pan, so I deglaze, which brings all the misplaced brown yumminess back into the dish or used to make a base for a gravy or sauce.
What is deglazing?
All those browned bits, which are proteins, browned sugars, and carbohydrates, that are left in the pan, actually have a name! Just like many other culinary terms, it comes from the French, and it’s called “sucs.” Deglazing the pan uses a solvent such as wine, sherry, other spirits, stock, and even just plain water to loosen up that sucs and create a base called “fond” (yup, also from the French meaning foundation) for a sauce, gravy or simply reincorporating the flavors back into the dish. Deglazing is most often used after searing or roasting a piece of meat but it is also used with aromatics such as after you sauté onions. There are some differences between deglazing meat sucs and vegetable sucs.
How to deglaze a pan?
First, choose your solvent. Yes, that sounds like we are either in chemistry class or you’re trying to remove nail polish or paint, but in the simplest way, a solvent is simply something used to dissolve something else. You can use wine, sherry (my personal favorite), beer, really any flavorful spirit, stock, juice, or even water. You want to choose the liquid that will pair nicely with the dish so it elevates it. So, whilst you can use water, it really doesn’t add anything and can actually dilute the flavor of the dish, sauce, or gravy that you’re trying to make.
Next, remove any burned bits and pour out any fat left in the pan. If you are simply deglazing after using vegetables or a quick sear that didn’t produce much liquid fat, there is no need to drain it from the pan.
Then, place the pan on your stovetop and, if needed, heat the pan to medium-high heat. Once heated, pour in your choice of cold liquid. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up the sucs, allowing it to be surrounded by the liquid so it can fully release its flavor. The amount of liquid you use is dependent on what your goal is. If the recipe does not have specifics, make sure 1/4 of an inch of liquid covers the entire bottom of the pan.
Lastly, cook the fond until it reduces by about half. I will mention that in my recipes, I use deglazing many times as a method to reintroduce the sucs back into the meal. In this case, I am only simmering it for a few minutes to cook off some of the alcohol since that is the primary solvent that I use, as opposed to it reducing by half.
Below is a video of deglazing the pan with the goal of reincorporating the sucs back into the dish.