Martha had <a href="http://www.foodtv.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_22594,00.html" title="Food Network: Techniques-Miscellaneous">James Peterson</a> on tonight. He showed some neat¹ techniques. This one shows how he makes a quick brown sauce:
Sauteing is an excellent way to cook steaks. The high heat forms a savory crust on the outside of the meat, and the meat is able to cook quickly enough that it stays moist and juicy. An added advantage of sauteing steaks is that it gives you caramelized juices that can be deglazed with a variety of liquids and slightly thickened to make a quick pan sauce.
Pour out and discard the fat from the pan skillet in which you have cooked a steak. Pour about ½ cup liquid — such as stock or wine into the hot pan. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dissolve the caramelized juices. Reduce the wine until only a few tablespoons remain. Add beef or brown chicken stock and reduce again until the sauce is lightly syrupy. Swirl in butter until the sauce is thickened to a desired consistency. Spoon sauce over meat or pass in a sauce boat at the table.
¹ I was going to try to find an acronym for “neat,” since originally I was thinking in terms of the “cool” definition of neat. In the process, I was reminded of the “free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; simple and becoming; pleasing with simplicity; tasteful;” definition, and changed my mind about replacing it.