Deglazing
Adding liquid to a hot pan to lift the browned bits stuck to the metal.
Why it works
Those bits are concentrated flavour. Liquid dissolves them into a sauce instead of leaving them as burnt sugar on the pan.
How to do it
- After searing, pour off excess fat if it is a lake.
- Add wine, stock, or water. It should hiss.
- Scrape with a wooden spoon until the fond dissolves.
- Reduce until it tastes like itself, then finish with butter or the recipe's sauce.
Common mistakes
- Deglazing a burnt pan — you will taste carbon.
- Using a nonstick pan with nothing stuck, then wondering why the sauce is thin.
Recipes using this
Butter chicken
मुरग़ मखनी
Delhi restaurant gravy: tandoori-style chicken in a tomato-butter sauce. Famous, modern, and not a stand-in for 'Indian food'.
2 hr 5 minMedium🌶️
Chicken adobo
Adobong manok
Filipino chicken braised in vinegar, soy, garlic and pepper — a method more than a single official recipe.
1 hrEasyNo chilli
Paella
Paella
A wide-pan rice from Valencia — saffron, sofrito, and a toasted bottom. Not a dumping ground for every seafood in the shop.
1 hr 10 minA bit of workNo chilli