Chef Secret: That Brown Stuff on the Bottom of the Pan

The brown sticky bits left in the bottom of your pan once you’ve seared and removed meat from it have a name: fond.

Have you been throwing it away? Stop it! Fond has value, and that value is in flavoring sauce. Here’s how:

If there is excess fat in your pan, discard it (or pour it into a heatproof container and reserve for another day—bacon fat is gold!). Then, over moderate heat, deglaze the pan with red wine. “Deglaze” is just a fancy word for loosening the the brown bits; hit the pan with wine and scrape up the stuff with a wooden spoon while the liquid simmers. (Wood won’t scratch the pan.) Once the wine is reduced by about half, stir in 1 Tbsp. or so of unsalted butter. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook until you feel that all the components have come together and you’ve reached the consistency you want. A fun trick culinary students learn: If the sauce coats the back of a spoon, i.e. it’s not so thin that it slips off immediately, then it’s ready. Remove the pan from the heat, pour the sauce on top of the meat, and serve.

You can do the same thing with drippings from your Thanksgiving turkey to make a sort of flourless gravy; just use white wine instead of red. 

More saucy stuff:
5 Ways to Use Worcestershire
How to Make Hollandaise
Sunday Pasta Sauce with Sausage