Deglazing is a cooking technique for removing and disolving caramelized bits of food from a pan in order to make a pan sauce.
When a piece of meat is roasted, pan fried or prepared in a pan with another form of dry heat, a fond, or deposit, is left at the bottom of the pan with any rendered fat. Usually, the meat is removed and the majority of the fat is poured off, leaving a small amount with the dried and caramelized meat juices. The pan is returned to the heat, and a liquid such as vegetable or meat stock, a spirit, some wine, or verjuice is added to act as a solvent. This allows the cook to scrape the dark spots from the bottom of the pan and dissolve them, creating a basic sauce. [1]
This method is the cornerstone of many well known sauces and gravies. The resulting liquid can be seasoned and served on its own (sometimes called a jus), or with the addition of aromatic vegetables such as onions or shallots. The sauce can also be thickened by whisking butter in, through the addition of a starch such as flour, cornstarch, or arrowroot, or simply simmered down with a steady heat to form a rich concentrated reduction.
References
Further reading
Deglazing: It works like magic, Leslie Brenner - Los Angeles Times
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