What does it mean when a recipe says deglaze the pan?

After you have cooked food—usually meat, poultry or fish—in a pan, little browned bits are left on the bottom of the pan. When you add liquid, such as wine, broth or cream, and stir those bits off the bottom of the pan, they impart lots of flavor into the liquid—that is deglazing.

This recipe for Pork Medallions with Port Wine-Dried Cherry Pan Sauce is a great example of making a sauce for the pork using the brown bits from the pork.

For more tips, watch our video How to Deglaze a Pan.