/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.9140464]

Hi /ck/. Can we talk about pan sauces? I just seared a chicken breast and decided to make a pan sauce with the brown bits. I deglazed with some white wine (Riesling), reduced it down, then added the same amount of chicken stock, reduced it again. Then I melted in a knob of butter. It came out pretty good, but it's extremely tangy (mostly when I first touch it to my tongue). Is this acidity due to the wine? What can I do to improve this?

Also share techniques/recipes.

[Anonymous No.9140470]

>>9140464
Use a sweet white next time you're making a pan sauce for chicken.

[Anonymous No.9140473]

>>9140464
Promising thread. Monitoring

[Anonymous No.9140477]

>>9140470
Any suggestions? Riesling is supposed to be a sweet white wine.

[Anonymous No.9140481]

>>9140477
Never mind, I'm illiterate: I read red instead of white and skipped over the name.

[Anonymous No.9140482]

Here's a picture of it for shits and giggles.

[Anonymous No.9140489]

>>9140464
>Is this acidity due to the wine?
Yes probably, if you didn't burn the sauce. You can probably just add a bit of sweetener to balance it out, honey, dried fruit, fresh juice, etc.

[Anonymous No.9140490]

>>9140482
looks pretty good

>pic related
OP

[Anonymous No.9140492]

>>9140482
Jesus, could your chicken be any thicker?

[Anonymous No.9140497]

>>9140490

[Anonymous No.9140501]

>>9140481
No worries

>>9140489
I've also had the same problem before with saltimbocca, but I thought it was probably because of the lemon in the sauce. This time there was no lemon, though. How about just adding a pinch of straight up table sugar?

>>9140492
I bought it from the Asian market to make Thai curry this weekend and had a gigantic breast leftover, so I decided to practice making pan sauce since I just got a new All-Clad given to me.

[Anonymous No.9140514]

I would have sweated some garlic or shallot, grated with a cheese grater. And maybe some thyme too. You could try reducing your wine more if it's too tangy, I generally reduce it down to thick, sweet syrup before adding stock.

[Anonymous No.9140518]

>>9140501
>How about just adding a pinch of straight up table sugar?
That would work but won't add much flavor compared to the other suggestions.

[Anonymous No.9140528]

>>9140464
Good things to have for pan sauces:
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
Dijon mustard
Jarred marinara
Broth
Butter
Wine
Marrow
Fish sauce
Brown sugar

[Anonymous No.9140530]

>>9140514
>>9140514
Wouldn't reducing it more concentrate the flavors, increasing the tanginess? Which wine do you prefer?

>>9140518
You're right, I'll add some type of fruit next time. Maybe some type of berry.

Do you guys put flour in your pan sauces?

[Anonymous No.9140537]

>>9140528
Damn, I have all this stuff except for marrow. I wonder how good my sauce could've been if I knew wtf I was doing.

[Anonymous No.9140542]

>>9140530
>Do you guys put flour in your pan sauces?
No because you usually get a more flavorful sauce just by reducing the liquids enough to the point that they're thick

[Anonymous No.9140553]

>>9140530
>flour

Use corn starch slurry, that's how all Asian restaurants thicken their sauces

[Anonymous No.9140563]

>>9140464
If it's tangy, you may not have reduced the wine long enough.

[Anonymous No.9140567]

>>9140553
Get it too hot, it will fall out.

[Anonymous No.9140584]

>>9140563
Yeah this is a possibility, did you reduce it until it was almost a syrup-like consistency OP or did it just thicken a little bit?

[Anonymous No.9140597]

>>9140464
>Is this acidity due to the wine?
Yes.

>What can I do to improve this?

Add sugar. Brown sugar or honey are best, imo, though brown sugar will obviously darken your sauce.

Just remember the 4 simple steps to a delicious pan sauce:

1. De-glaze with wine.
2. Add stock and reduce
3. Add butter and melt.
4. Add cream and reduce to desired consistency.

From there you can season as needed, and while delicious, it's fattening as hell.

I usually just do 1 and 2 and thicken with corn starch or flour if needed.

[Anonymous No.9140608]

>>9140553
>Use corn starch slurry, that's how all Asian restaurants thicken their sauces

Arrowroot is another option.

[Anonymous No.9140623]

>>9140464
Add less wine and/or add more butter.

Adding sugar might solve the problem partly but you do not always want sugar in your sauce.

Actually most of the time less is more when you are cooking. Chicken stock isn't even needed if you got a nice glaze in your pan. Next time just add the wine, reduce for 1 minute and than add a large knob of butter ( more is more) than just taste it and add salt until it tastes amazing.

Source: Homechef who just had sex after amazing dinner with girl

[Anonymous No.9140725]

OP here, thank you all for the great suggestions. What I'm getting from all this:
>reduce the wine for longer (till it's syrup-like)
>add sugar/honey/fruit to counter the acidity
>chicken stock is not always necessary
>add more butter at the end
>adding sweated aromatics might also help
If I am using chicken stock, do I:
-deglaze with wine and reduce
-add chicken stock and reduce again
OR
-deglaze with wine but don't reduce
-add stock and then deglaze

[Anonymous No.9140730]

>>9140464
Use Moscado and add honey, sweet sauce all day. If you're going dry use chardonnay or like a pinot grigio.

It really depends on how you cook the meat and the seasonings you use, you can look up recipes and stuff but I'd just get experimental with it and see what works. Go SOS for a while so you don't fuck up a whole entree with a inappropriate or shitty sauce.

Good luck out there OP.

[Anonymous No.9140732]

>>9140725
>-deglaze with wine but don't reduce
>-add stock and then reduce
this, doing it the other way just means the wine is cooking longer than it has to

[Anonymous No.9140735]

>>9140725
Obviously option A, you can't deglaze twice unless you introduce more food making option B retarded.

[Anonymous No.9140744]

>>9140735
I'm pretty sure option B is an error and he meant to say reduce, not deglaze a second time.

[Anonymous No.9140747]

I've got your back, OP. I think the problem is that you used too much wine. Otherwise you did everything right. The most wine I ever use is 1/4 cup. The stock should definitely be the overwhelming bulk of the liquid.

[Anonymous No.9140785]

>>9140482
I'd have reduced it down more than that. Was it homemade stock, or store bought?

Store bought is fine, just try adding some unflavoured gelatin to it, it'll give it that thick viscosity which sets restaurant sauces apart from anything you'll usually have at home. Also try a little squeeze of lemon, and a dash of soy sauce into the sauce as well. And try to emulsify the butter beyond just melting it. Do all that and you'll have one of the nicest sauces you've ever had in your life.

[Anonymous No.9140790]

>>9140542
If you start with a well cooked through brown roux you'd be fine for this sauce, shouldn't affect the flavour after reducing. You won't get the viscosity you need without it with this sauce.

[Anonymous No.9140833]

>>9140744
>>9140735
Sorry, Option B meant to say:
-deglaze with wine but don't reduce
-add stock and then REDUCE

[Anonymous No.9140841]

>>9140785
It was store-bought. I will absolutely try some soy sauce next time.

>>9140747
Ok, less wine next time

>>9140730
Thank you for the concrete wine suggestions, these are valuable to me.

[Anonymous No.9140848]

>>9140785
Not OP, but when I reduce too much I have trouble getting it out of the pan (it just coats the bottom). I always end up with a thinner-than-desired sauce because I don't wanna deal with a sticky mess. Am I just retarded?

[Anonymous No.9140865]

>>9140848
Stop reducing it when it's a little thinner than you want, when it cools off a bit it'll get thicker. If you reduce it to how thick you want it, it'll get too thick since you're not eating it at boiling temperature.

[Anonymous No.9141788]

>>9140865
This

[Anonymous No.9141800]

We pan saucing up in this bitch?

[Anonymous No.9141884]

>>9140747
>I think the problem is that you used too much wine.

[Anonymous No.9141892]

>>9140848
>Am I just retarded?

Yes.

Use a spatula to collect your sauce if the pan is so large as to not accommodate the volume conveniently. Just a touch of water can go a long way to creating the perfect consistency to your sauce.