Deglazing without wine

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

Lately I'm browning meat on the top of the stove then finishing it in the oven. I end up with some good stuff on the bottom of the pan and would love to deglaze but I don't want to use wine.

Looking online people are suggesting vinegar but even using something like apple cider vinegar does not sound appealing.

Has anyone ever deglazed pans with something other than wine? What did you use?

Thanks

Spread the word

      

  

  

[BakerAunt]

When I don't have wine around, I've just used water, but I think an acidic ingredient helps. What about a touch of white vinegar?

[Mike Nolan]

The main advantage of using a wine over plain water (I often use vermouth or sherry, and have been known to use brandy) is that the alcohol helps dissolve the fond.

An acid should also work better than plain water, if you don't use too much of it that shouldn't flavor your sauce much. I've used white wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar to deglaze a pan and help flavor a sauce One challenge with apple cider vinegar is that sometimes it's labeled 'apple cider flavored' and I don't honestly know what that means, so I don't buy those brands.

If I'm adding chicken or beef stock to my sauce, sometimes I'll use some of it to deglaze the pan.

You probably wouldn't want to use balsamic, in part because of the flavor profile, but also because it tends to be expensive, I've seen bottles of it that cost over $100.

[Mike Nolan]

Although I've never read anything about using it for that, I wonder what would happen if you used beer to deglaze the fond? I'd be concerned that a beery flavor might overpower the rest of the sauce, or that the hops might make it bitter, but there might be some dishes where it would work.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm looking for something without alcohol because it's a sauce I would use with my kids. Based on the few times they have taken a sip of my drink they don't like alcohol and I don't want to encourage them. I know most of the alcohol burns off. I could try hard apple cider which tastes like cider but has some alcohol in it.

I'll try a few different things.

[Mike Nolan]

In tests, not as much of the alcohol burns off or cooks out as many people think, I seem to recall reading that only about 80% of it is burned off or cooked out. There's enough left that many people who have alcohol abuse issue prefer to avoid those recipes.

Keep us posted on what you try.

[Author]

Posts