How to make sauce in a pan in 5 minutes

0

I don't think anyone needs to explain how much any dish changes when accompanied by the right sauce. A delicious sauce is what has always separated a good cook from a very good one. The only reason we don't make a new homemade sauce every day is the extra fuss – time, effort, dirty dishes… Well, today we will tell you how to make a simple and tasty sauce at home in 5-10 minutes – without unnecessary fuss and dirty dishes.

It's about what's called a “pan sauce” – a simple and flavorful sauce that you can and should make every time you fry something. Pork chops, chicken and duck breasts, schnitzels, bone-in cutlets, steaks, ribs, and fish are prime candidates for serving with this sauce, but you can also make a pan sauce for roasted vegetables, tofu, or baked meat that has been previously seared. Of course, different sauces suit different dishes, but the principle of their preparation is always the same and involves a few simple steps.

1. Take a frying pan

So, let's say you've just cooked pork steaks or roasted juicy chicken breasts. Wrap them in foil and set them aside in a warm place – during these 5 minutes the juices will distribute inside the meat, making it more tender and juicy – and you can start making the sauce yourself. Add a little fresh oil to the pan or, conversely, drain the excess fat so that only a thin film of oil covers the bottom of the pan, and return it to the heat. Did you reach for your hands to wipe the pan first to remove the burnt pieces? No need, they have a significant role in our plan!

2. Fry the onions (and not only)

Add finely chopped onion and fry it over medium heat. Traditionally, shallots are used for this, but you can add a couple of chopped garlic cloves. In addition to onion and garlic, you can prepare a sauce by using finely chopped green onions, grated ginger and other aromatic vegetables, as well as spices – ground chili, mustard seeds, coriander, crushed black pepper, etc. Fry all this for 2-3 minutes, not forgetting to stir, until the vegetables soften. In principle, this step can be skipped, but it will provide your sauce with a deeper flavor, so it is better not to neglect it.

3. Add liquid

This can be a glass of wine, half a glass of wine + half a glass of broth, a glass of broth if for some reason you don’t want to use alcohol, or any other liquid whose taste and aroma will intensify as it simmers (in other words, this trick won’t work with a stock cube). It’s a good idea to first pour a couple of spoons of brandy onto the fried onions, let them evaporate, and only then add the wine; it’s no less good to add a sprig of thyme or other aromatic herbs — in short, at this stage you should also show imagination. After you add the liquid, increase the heat to maximum, take a spatula in your hand and rub the bottom of the pan well, scraping off the small pieces that stuck to the bottom at the moment when you fried the meat in the pan. These pieces contain an explosive concentrate of flavor, and in the few minutes while the sauce simmers, they will give it a considerable part of their aromas. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil and cook until it has reduced by about half, then about another 3-4 minutes.

4. Add the butter

Well, our sauce is almost ready. Remove the pan from the heat, add a few pieces of cold butter, and stir them vigorously into the hot sauce until the butter is completely dissolved. This technique serves several purposes at once.

• First, as the butter slowly melts, it will whip with the liquid like an emulsion, so ideally the sauce will have the consistency of thin sour cream (though don't expect it to work the first time).
• Second, the oil will add smoothness and gloss to the sauce.
• thirdly, due to intensive mixing, the sauce will get another chance to take the maximum taste from its solid ingredients.

At the end of all the manipulations, the sauce can and should be tasted, if necessary, salted, peppered, sprinkled with lemon juice – in general, put in order. After that, the sauce, if the main dish is not ready yet, should be kept warm. BUT do not bring it to a boil, otherwise the emulsion will immediately separate. Instead of oil, cream is sometimes added at the end for the same purpose – to thicken the sauce.

5. Strain the sauce

In principle, this step can be skipped, and many people do, but it seems to me that the fried onions, spices, and other solid particles that have already given the sauce its taste and aroma have nothing more to do with it, so it's better to strain the sauce through a fine sieve immediately before serving. By the way, serving such a simple method is also not worth complicating: of course, you can get a silver gravy boat off the shelf – but it's easier and more correct to just pour your steak or chop sauce directly on the plate.

Well, it doesn't sound that complicated, right? Of course, if you strictly follow the instructions above, it will not be easy to meet the 5-minute time limit, but 7-8 minutes will be enough for you to prepare the sauce – and while the wine or broth is boiling, you will have time to dress the salad, mash the puree, set the table and turn an ordinary dinner into a Vyatka dinner.