Deglazing: What it Is and Why Do It
The Secret to Great Pan Sauces
Deglazing is a fancy and intimidating word that means to pour some cold liquid into a very hot pan to get up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Those brown bits are where all the flavors are, and it is called “fond.”
Fond is French for “bottom,” so let’s stick to calling it fond!
How To Deglaze a Pan
You probably deglaze all the time without even realizing it:
- When you pour water into the roasting pan to make gravy
- When you add some chicken stock to a pan of sautéed onions
- When you pour some wine into the pan that you roasted the pork in
Now that you know what it is, let’s make sure you are doing all the steps correctly.
- Make sure that there is nothing burnt onto the pan you are going to deglaze—you are looking for deep brown bits, not blackened bits
- Pour off most of the fat in the pan.
- Turn the heat up to high.
- Add cold liquid to the hot pan—the liquid will come up to boiling very quickly, bringing up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan
- Using a spoon or spatula, scrape up the fond as the liquid boils
- Once the fond is dispersed throughout the liquid, turn down the heat
Important Tip:
It is important you remove the pan from the heat when adding any liquids with alcohol so you don’t end up with singed eyebrows. You can now use this mixture to create a wonderful sauce to accompany your meal.
Deglazing Liquids
Almost any liquid can be used for deglazing, although you should stay away from dairy. There is a good chance that dairy products can curdle when boiling, so stick with clear liquids.
Here’s a good list to start:
- Red or white wine
- Beer
- Stock—fish, chicken, beef, vegetable, etc.
- Broth
- Cooking liquid (water that you cooked beans in, for example)
- Cognac/brandy
- Fruit juice
- Vinegar
Of course, you can also use water to deglaze, but why would you when there are so many other flavorful liquids that you can use instead?
Pan Sauces
The technique of deglazing is especially useful when it comes to making pan sauces after you saute a piece of meat, chicken or fish. You can read all about pan sauces and how to prepare them at home on my pan sauce page.
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- Hitting The Sauce | The Full Frontal Nudity of Food | February 13, 2014
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Very very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this lovely information…….highly appreciated:)))))
Beautifully simple explanation; thanks! (For all the cooking competitions I watch, I still wasn’t clear on why deglazing should be done, or when.)
You are very welcome Mary. Thanks for your comments.
Thanks for a simple explanation that I can understand!
O wow!I am a 62 year old great grandma fr the south and have been “deglazing” for 50 yrs!!!! Thanks for the simple explanation and giving it a “hoity toity” name :))
Fantastic! Much appreciated
One of the reasons to deglaze a pan with wine/booze is that alcohol will molecularly bind with fats and oils, in ways that makes sure that the flavors of whatever you’re trying to deglaze come out better, and it’s easier.
That’s why if you try to deglaze a pan with mushroom broth, it is so much freaking harder to get all the fond up and out than if you use white wine. The alcohol in the wine actually makes everything work just a little better- when I need to deglaze and don’t want the wine flavor as much, I just deglaze with a small amount of that first, then mix in my stock. Works wonders.
Thanks Bippy for your comments and explanation.
I write my own blog and I’m preparing a quick post about deglazing. In my experience you can use heavy-cream to deglaze as it can handle higher heats than other dairy. Let me know if you agree!
I googled “how to deglaze” and your site popped up. Thank you so much for your explanantion! After dinner I plan on perusing your site!
Thank you for giving us such an easy and understandable explanation of what “De glazing” means and the proper way to do it.
The little “nugget” you threw in about “Fond” was also something I never knew before.
Jackie Boy
so awesome! just tried it…yay successful. very cool. thanks so much.
I just did it using beer. Worked great & tasted great, and as a bonus, the pan was much easier to clean. Thanks!
Thanks for an explanation in plain English.
Ok, so for lasagne, after I deglaze the pan after browning the ground beef, what do I do with what’s left in the pan? Do I mix it back in with the beef, or add it to the sauce?
Valerie, I’m not sure what lasagne recipe you are referring too, but I would most likely add it to the sauce.
Thanks for the tips.
But you might want to amend this ..
Once the fond is dispersed throughout the liquid, turn down the heat
No one I ever asked could clearly explain “deglazing”. Thank you for getting me to the bottom of it. Fond regards, Terry
You are welcome. Thanks for contacting me.