How to make ANY pan sauce you can think of

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 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's surface which you can then use to incorporate flavor into your sauce then you'll want to add some mint 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 fawn 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 flower 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 Fawn 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 cutlet 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 cut 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 eight hours in advance which allow the salt to penetrate even further into the meat

now finally I'm going to dredge the chicken in just a light coating of flour which will form an Ever So slight breading to help the sauce adhere and just to add some additional flavor then to cook the chicken heat a large heavy bottom 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 fun that we're looking for cast iron or carbon steel would work too but you just don't want to use something like nonstick because not only with 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 let 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 the resting it's the perfect time to make our pan sauce using this delicious Fawn 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 release from the shallots will start to free up some of the fawn 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 stir in about 1 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 pond 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 whisking constantly to emulsify the sauce then season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper and it's ready to serve another variation I like to make is a red wine pan sauce which goes great with steak so instead of white wine I'll use red wine plus a little bit of fresh squeezed orange juice then I'll also include a chopped up chipotle pepper and I'll use lime juice instead of lemon juice but otherwise the process is exactly the same 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 and instead of the wine and add in chopped Sage at the end for our fresh herb Edition so now that you know how to make any pan sauce you can think of if you want to see why brining might be your answer to more delicious and tender chicken you can check out that video right here thanks a lot for watching and I'll see you over there