Techniques / Field guide
How to Make a Pan Sauce in Five Minutes
After you sear a steak, chop or chicken breast, the browned bits stuck to the pan are pure flavor. A pan sauce turns them into a glossy, restaurant-style sauce while the meat rests.
Photo: Deglaze-01 by techfun, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
What is fond?
When meat or vegetables brown in a hot pan, proteins and sugars react and stick to the bottom in a thin, dark layer. Chefs call it fond, from the French word for base. It looks like a mess, but it is concentrated flavor, and dissolving it into a liquid is the starting point for a pan sauce.
Stainless steel, carbon steel and cast iron build the best fond. Nonstick pans release food so well that little fond forms, which is good for eggs but less helpful here.
The formula
- Pour off excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan.
- Sauté an aromatic, such as a minced shallot or garlic, over medium heat for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Deglaze: add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of liquid and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen the fond.
- Reduce: boil until the liquid is reduced by about half and looks slightly syrupy.
- Finish off the heat with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cold butter, swirled in a piece at a time, plus any juices from the resting meat.
Choosing your liquid
Wine, stock, cider, beer, vermouth and even water all work. Wine and cider add acidity and depth; stock adds body. Many cooks use a mix, such as half wine and half stock. If you use wine, let it bubble for a minute so the raw alcohol taste cooks off.
Why cold butter?
Swirling cold butter into a reduced sauce off the heat creates an emulsion: tiny droplets of fat suspended in the liquid. This is called mounting the sauce, or monter au beurre. It thickens the sauce and makes it glossy. If the pan is too hot, the butter will melt into a greasy layer instead, so take the pan off the burner first.
Flavor combinations to try
- Pork: shallot, apple cider, whole-grain mustard, thyme (see our Seared Pork Chops)
- Steak: shallot, red wine, beef stock, a little Dijon, black pepper
- Chicken: garlic, white wine, chicken stock, lemon, tarragon or parsley
- Fish: shallot, dry vermouth, capers, lemon, dill
- Mushrooms: garlic, sherry, stock, a splash of cream
Troubleshooting
- Fond burnt black: discard it and start fresh; burnt fond tastes bitter
- Sauce too thin: reduce longer before adding butter
- Sauce too thick or salty: add a splash of stock or water
- Sauce separated: whisk in a teaspoon of cold water off the heat
Practice tonight
The next time you cook any piece of meat in a skillet, try it. Once you have made a pan sauce a few times, you will no longer need a recipe; you will taste, adjust and improvise with whatever is in the fridge.
General cooking information only. Follow food-safety guidance for your area and the instructions for your equipment.
