How to make ANY pan sauce

pan sauces are probably the easiest way to spice up practically any dish and the best part is that there's actually a foolproof formula you can follow to make a perfect pan sauce every time and it's super easy to modify depending on what flavors you want to incorporate into it so that formula is what we're going to talk about today let's get into it if you're new here my name is charlie and on this channel i explore the basic principles of cooking so that we can all become better home cooks so let's talk pan sauces and the first step is to sear a piece of meat in a pan which will leave that flavorful brown residue otherwise known as fond on your pan surface which you can then use to incorporate flavor into your sauce then you'll want to add some minced shallots to your pan along with a small pinch of salt and cook them for about a minute until the shallots start to soften at this point you can add some other aromatics if you like like minced garlic or any other robust fruits or vegetables like some diced apples for example next deglaze the pan with chicken stock and some other acidic or sweet liquid like wine juice vermouth cider or anything else you want this will free up that fond from the bottom of the pan and allow it to become fully incorporated into the sauce then let that liquid reduce for about four to five minutes until it's nicely thickened at that point all that's left to do is remove it from the heat and add some fresh herbs of your choosing along with a splash of some type of acidic liquid like citrus juice or vinegar then add a couple knobs of butter and whisk them in to create a beautifully emulsified sauce now that's the most basic way to do it but i also like to throw in one additional step that's recommended by kenji lopez all in his book the food lab which is to add a small amount of flour to the pan once the shallots are done cooking this flour acts as an emulsifier so it'll ensure that the sauce stays creamy and cohesive when we whisk in the butter at the end this just makes the sauce even more foolproof without adding a lot of extra effort and that's all there is to it so now that we know the formula let's see it in action and we'll first just start by making some quick pan-seared chicken cutlets which will provide a nice base of fan that we can use to make our pan sauce this is probably my favorite way to cook chicken breast just because it's so quick and easy and the searing allows us to develop a ton of flavor on the outer surface so start with some boneless skinless chicken breasts and slice them in half height wise because we want some nice thin pieces then pound out each color to about a quarter inch thick and the most important thing here is that the entire cutlet is at a uniform thickness so this is the key to helping them cook quickly and evenly and it'll ensure that the inside of the chicken gets cooked all the way through before the outer surface starts to burn then just dry off the surface to ensure a nice sear because any excess moisture can inhibit the browning and season each cutlet with some salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings you like so in this case i'm adding a little bit of paprika as well and here i'm seasoning right before i plan to cook the chicken but you can do this up to about 8 hours in advance which allow the salt to penetrate even further into the meat now finally i'm going to dredge the chicken and just a light coating of flour which will form an ever so slight breading to help the sauce adhere and just add some additional flavor then to cook the chicken heat a large heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and stainless steel tends to work best because the meat actually sticks to it a bit and leaves that nice fan that we're looking for cast iron or carbon steel would work too but you just don't want to use something like non-steak because not only would the meat not brown as well due to the lower heat capacity of non-stick pans but again we actually want the meat to stick to the pan a little bit so once your pan is starting to get hot add a very thin layer of a high heat oil and continue heating it until the oil is shimmering and your pan is smoking hot then gently lay your chicken into the pan making sure to leave some space between each piece and the chicken should sizzle quite a bit when you add it if you've heated your pan enough so let it cook for about three to four minutes on the first side or until nicely browned then flip it and cook for another two to three minutes on the second side and you may need to flip them another one or two times like i did here to reach the ideal level of browning then they're done once the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees fahrenheit which is about 74 degrees celsius and if you've heated your pan properly they should be fully cooked by the time both sides are browned perfectly and as usual when you cook meat make sure to let them rest for about four to five minutes before cutting into them so while they're resting it's the perfect time to make our pan sauce using this delicious fan that's left in our pan we're going to start with the most basic version of a pan sauce which pretty much contains only the essential ingredients so following the formula we discussed earlier start by adding about a quarter cup of minced shallots to the pan along with a small pinch of salt to help them release their moisture and cook them for about a minute stirring frequently since chicken breasts are pretty lean and don't leave any rendered fat in the pan i also like to add a small amount of neutral oil to help cook the shallots at this point so the liquid released from the shallots will start to free up some of the fond from the bottom of the pan and the shallots themselves will of course provide some nice aromatic and slightly sweet flavor to form the base of our sauce then after that minute stir in about a tablespoon of minced garlic along with a half a tablespoon of unsalted butter and half a teaspoon of all-purpose flour which again will help to emulsify our sauce later on in the process then go ahead and deglaze your pan with half a cup of dry white wine along with half a cup of homemade chicken stock it's important to use homemade stock because it adds a lot more richness and body to your sauce but if you don't have homemade stock you can actually simulate it by using a store-bought stock in combination with a small amount of powdered gelatin just stirring about one and a half teaspoons of gelatin per cup of your store-bought stock and you'll end up with a richer consistency that comes close to that of a homemade stock and when you're making a pan sauce using wine you'll generally want to use equal parts wine and stock as i did here now just let that sauce reduce for about four to five minutes stirring frequently and making sure to scrape down the bottom of the pan to incorporate all the fond until the sauce is nice and thick and starts to coat the back of a spoon at that point turn off the heat and add a few squeezes of lemon juice and a bit of fresh thyme add your two tablespoons of butter whisk in constantly to emulsify the sauce then season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper and it's ready to serve so there's your basic pan sauce but what about one that's a bit more spiced up well next we're gonna make an orange chipotle red wine sauce which has a few additional ingredients but you'll see that the general process remains exactly the same so i'm using this cast iron pan that i just got done cooking a rib eye steak in so it's already got some nice fond on the bottom and for this sauce we'll start in the same way so add a quarter cup of minced shallots to your pan along with a pinch of salt and cook them for about a minute until slightly softened i poured out most of the fat that was left in my pan after cooking the steak but there's still enough residual fat in there that i don't need to add any more in order to cook the shallots now after about a minute add your half tablespoon of butter and half teaspoon of flour and stir to incorporate then deglaze with half a cup each of red wine and chicken stock and this time we're also going to add the juice from half of an orange to start to incorporate some of those bright citrusy flavors at this point i'll also add one finely chopped chipotle pepper and adobo sauce along with about one half tablespoon of the adobo sauce itself if you're not familiar with these they're essentially smoked chili peppers that are sold in cans and they should be easy to find at pretty much any grocery store now again we'll let that sauce reduce for about four to five minutes until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon then at that point we'll turn off the heat and add a squeeze of lime juice this time to complement the flavor of the chipotle pepper along with the zest from about a quarter of an orange then whisk in the two tablespoons of butter just as we did before finally add about a half a tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro or more depending on your preferences and season with salt and pepper to taste so hopefully you're starting to see that the possibilities are pretty much endless when it comes to making pan sauces another one of my favorites which pairs well with pork chops is an apple sage pan sauce where i add some diced apples to the pan at the beginning along with the shallots then deglaze it with hard cider instead of the wine and add in chopped sage at the end for our fresh herb edition so you can pretty much customize your pan sauces however you like depending on what type of meat you're pairing them with and what flavor profile you're going for so now that you know how to make any pan sauce you can think of if you want to learn how to make some braised short ribs be sure to click that video in the bottom right corner of the screen so there you go i'll see you all in the next one

Channel: The Regular Chef

Views: 39,396

Rating: 4.9480519 out of 5

Keywords: how to, how to cook, how to make a pan sauce, how to make any pan sauce, pan sauce recipe, chicken pan sauce, steak pan sauce, white wine pan sauce, red wine pan sauce, how to make a white wine pan sauce, how to make a red wine pan sauce

Id: MZD88Y_7PJw

Length: 7min 49sec (469 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 04 2020