Pan sauces are made from concentrated flavorings left in the bottom of a pan after cooking meat, vegetables, or fish. They are intensely flavorful and can be made by dousing the pan with liquid and adding ingredients like butter, herbs, and spices. They are also convenient for cleaning pans.
A pan sauce is a sauce that is made with the concentrated flavorings left in the bottom of a pan after cooking meat, vegetables or fish. Such sauces are the cornerstone of many cuisines, because they are intensely flavorful and can be manipulated in a wide variety of ways. In addition to being tasty, these sauces are also convenient, as they effectively remove caked-on material from pans, making them easier to clean.
When pan-cooking foods, they tend to caramelize as they cook, especially when cooked over high heat. The result is a thick, dark crust at the bottom of the pan. Cooks unfamiliar with pan sauces may make the mistake of discarding this crust, after struggling to clean it off, but in reality most of the flavor in a dish is often concentrated in the material left behind, known as fond”. Sauces use the affective to create a sauce for food that has just been cooked in a pan.
There are several ways to make a pan sauce, and some get quite complex. The simplest version is made by simply dousing the pan with a liquid such as wine, water, broth or fruit juice. When a pan is frosted, the liquid is poured into the pan while being kept moderately hot and the liquid loosens the caramelized fudge, dissolving it and creating a flavorful sauce that can be concentrated by reducing, cooking the sauce until thickened.
It’s also possible to add things to a pan sauce, such as butter or oil, concentrated broth, dried vegetables that will have a concentrated flavor, and pan drippings and other skimmings from the food as it cooks. Some cooks also add things like herbs, cream, and spices to their pan sauce to create a specific desired flavor.
Because a pan sauce contains the concentrated essence of a food, many cooks like to keep it simple, letting the natural flavor shine through, rather than obscuring it with a long list of ingredients. Skillet sauce can be made with skillets and even baking sheets; stir-fry sauces are great with things like roast chicken and turkey, concentrating the flavor of the dish and helping to keep the meat moist.
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