Pan roasted meats: burned fond
We have a carbon steel pan that we love and use a lot. We get boxes from Hello Fresh lately and we seem to have the same problem over and over: We will get a recipe that calls for pan roasting a piece of chicken or beef or whatnot and they expect you to make a pan sauce with the fond.
In our case, however, by the time the meat is cooked acceptably (and for beef that's medium rare and for white meat chicken that's 155+ in my book) the fond in the pan is invariably charcoal, and totally unusable for a pan sauce. We wind up either cleaning the pan and reducing the sauce "nude" from the remainder of the ingredients or accepting a muddy black colored pan sauce that isn't very appetizing.
What are we doing wrong?
Best Answer
If your fond is burning, your pan is too hot. Preheat your pan over medium or low heat. Add your protein. Monitor the cooking so that you get browning, even deep browning, but not burning. It is ok to remove the pan from the flame if it seems to be smoking or getting too hot.
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Quick Answer about "Pan roasted meats: burned fond"
If your fond is burning, your pan is too hot. Preheat your pan over medium or low heat. Add your protein. Monitor the cooking so that you get browning, even deep browning, but not burning.Can fond be too burnt?
Fond or Burnt? One of the key things to remember about good fond is that it should be brown, not black. A nice brown color is a sign of a good roasted flavor. However, if the particles in your pan are black, they're probably burnt.What are the brown bits in a pan called?
Your grandmother may have called it pan drippings, but the French have a fancier name for it: fond. It translates to \u201cthe bottom\u201d or \u201cthe base\u201d and is used to describe the browned bits of meat and vegetables in the bottom of a roast pan or skillet.How do you get the fond out of a pan?
As soon as you finish cooking your meat or vegetables, remove them from the pan and immediately add any sort of liquid (wine, broth, stock, juice or even water) to the hot pan. As the liquid sizzles, firmly scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. The brown bits will easily lift from the bottom of the pan.How do you reduce fond?
Scrape up the fond with some liquid, and you've got your sauce, which can then be enriched with butter or cream. It's a fast and easy way to step up your meat game. For an entry-level pan sauce, a splash of any liquid at all can be used to scrape up and dissolve the fond.This meat recipe conquered all guests! Meat that melts in your mouth
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Answer 2
Assuming you have successfully cooked meat previously the way you like it in this particular pan, it sounds to me the cuts of meat from your supplier have a different fat/moisture content from what you are used to cooking with.
If you are "dry frying" you may need to kick off the maillard reaction by adding a touch of butter/olive oil etc. This will improve the heat transfer from the pan, and allow the emerging meat juices to carmelise. I'd also be tempted to lower the heat a bit and cover the pan if necessary to allow the meat to cook through - you can always crank it up at the end to get the finish/fond you want.
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Images: cottonbro, cottonbro, Katerina Holmes, Katerina Holmes