Techniques - Deglazing

     Since I talked about deglazing in my first convenience foods post, I might as well go over it in my first techniques post.  See, I have a theory about the reason that a lot of people consider fairly simple recipes "fancy," "gourmet," or "difficult."  It's that they don't have the tools or techniques to perform the task.  If you make sure that you have a tool to do the job and you break down these difficult-sounding techniques, they're actually quite easy.
     Technically speaking, "deglazing is a cooking technique for removing and dissolving caramelized food residue from a pan to make a pan sauce."  (Source)  This sounds pretty awful when you read or hear it the first time, until you realize a few things:
1)  Deglazing uses liquid to take the stuck-on parts of what you just cooked out of the pan
2)  Deglazing captures the extra oils and flavors that are usually lost in the pan
3)  Deglazing makes a great sauce
4)  You've probably deglazed before

     Here's how it works.  You cook something in a regular, not non-stick pan and there are bits that are bound to stick to the bottom of the pan.  These are caramelized parts of what you've cooked.  This is especially present when you've cooked meat in the pan and have left it on one side or another for more than a few seconds.  Because we season the outside of meat, the caramelized pieces now contain all the seasoning that was on the surface.  That means you lose the seasoning!
     Easy fix.  Usually the recipe you're using tells you to deglaze the pan and with what liquid.  For example, Saltimbocca (recipe to come) requires you to deglaze with vermouth, while the beef broth recipe I gave you asks to use water.  Some ask for wines, and others ask for milk.  Usually, you're not going to be flying blind here.  However, if you ever are, use 1/4 c. of white or blush wine.
    Now, with deglazing, you'll need to work quickly as you usually add so little liquid that it will begin to boil immediately.  Use a rubber spatula and rub it along the bottom of the pan loosening each of the pieces that have become stuck to the bottom individually or as a group, depending how well they're stuck.  Do this until everything's off then follow the rest of the recipe as to what to do with it.  If the deglazing isn't in the recipe, you can either add the liquid directly to the dish or thicken it with a cornstarch slurry which, sorry, we haven't gotten to yet.  Unfortunately, we can't cover everything at once, but I'll put a link to it once I get it up.
    Deglazing works best when you have a pan that isn't non-stick pan, but you can do it if all you have is a non-stick skillet.  You won't get as much of the caramelized parts on Teflon, but you will get some of the oils and spices.  It works the same way, no matter what type of pan you have.

What do you want to learn to do? Comments? Questions? Tweet to @cookingcheap