PSA: I spent 6 years deglazing pans with cold stock instead of hot and it took a sous chef yelling at me to fix it

I was getting these awful, bitter burnt spots in every sauce until one line cook pointed out that cold liquid shocks the pan and seizes the fond (you know, those flavorful brown bits) instead of dissolving it, and now I keep a quart of hot stock on the pass at all times - anyone else have a basic technique they got totally backwards for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara_palmer1mo ago

OH WAIT so you were using COLD stock this whole time? That explains so much about my own early sauces - I was doing the EXACT same thing because nobody ever told me the science behind it. How long did it take before you realized the texture of your sauces was actually WAY off or did you just think that's how they were supposed to be?

patriciamoore1mo ago

Oh man, cold stock was my whole problem too! I finally figured it out when I started making pan sauces at home on a whim and kept getting this weird, separated greasy mess. A chef friend of mine told me to microwave my stock for like 45 seconds first and the difference was night and day. That one little change made my sauces smooth and actually taste like the fond instead of burnt and sad.