Deglazing is a cooking technique for removing and dissolving browned food residue from a pan to flavor sauces, soups, and gravies. When a piece of

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

roasted Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

, pan- fried, or prepared in a pan with another form of dry heat, a deposit of browned sugars, carbohydrates, and/or proteins forms on the bottom of the pan, along with any rendered fat. The French culinary term for these deposits is ''sucs'', ), from the Latin word ''succus'' (sap). The meat is removed and the majority of the fat is poured off, leaving a small amount with the dried and browned meat juices. The pan is returned to the heat, and a liquid such as vegetable or meat

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

, a

spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

, or

verjuice Verjuice ( ; from Middle French ''vertjus'' 'green juice') is a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, crab-apples or other sour fruit. Sometimes lemon or sorrel juice, herbs or spices are added to change the flavour. In the Mi ...

is added to act as a

solvent A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...

. Dairy, however, is not recommended for deglazing, as it may

curdle Curdling is the breaking of an emulsion or colloid into large parts of different composition through the physio-chemical processes of flocculation, creaming, and coalescence. Curdling is purposeful in the production of cheese curd and tofu; und ...

when added to high heat. The solvent allows the cook to scrape the dark spots from the bottom of the pan and dissolve them, incorporating the remaining browned material at the bottom of the pan into a basic sauce. The culinary term ''fond'', French for "base" or "foundation", refers to this sauce. (In the United States, ''fond'' may also be used interchangeably with ''sucs''.) The flavour is determined chiefly by the meat, the liquid used for deglazing, and any flavouring or finishing ingredients added, such as aromatics, herbs, or butter. This method is the cornerstone of many well-known sauces and gravies. The resulting liquid can be seasoned and served on its own (sometimes called a jus), or with the addition of aromatic vegetables, such as

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

shallots The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as th ...

, carrots, and

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, lea ...

, or used as the base for a

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

. The sauce can also be thickened by whisking in butter, through the addition of a

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

, such as

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

cornstarch Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or so ...

, or

arrowroot Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally ''Maranta arundinacea'', but also Florida arrowroot from ''Zamia integrifolia'', and tapioca from cassava (''Manihot esculenta''), which is oft ...

, or simply simmered down with a steady heat to form a rich, concentrated reduction. Deglazing can also be used while cooking vegetables, especially ones that have left sugars at the bottom of a pan. It is commonly used in caramelizing onions. Because vegetables do not produce as much fat, they do not need to be removed from the pan to pour off excess grease. Instead, the liquid can be added directly to the pan and stirred, allowing the fond to meld with the vegetables, rather than creating a separate sauce.

References

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External links

Deglazing: It works like magic, Leslie Brenner - Los Angeles Times
Sauces Cooking techniques Culinary terminology