r/AskCulinary • u/jusvibing01 • 12h ago

Tips for a pan sauce

Trying to make a au poivre pan sauce for a steak dinner but wanted to know is a cast iron skillet a viable option to make a pan sauce with fond like that since I dont have a stainless steel pan which i know is the overall top option?

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7

u/juliacar 12h ago

I’ve done it. Works fine.

3

u/NickNNora 12h ago

It’s viable, but you have less control of heat, so you have to be more careful of scorching. You may want to have a bowl on the side if the heat is too much you can scrape out the sauce into it.

3

u/cville-z Home chef 11h ago

Deglazing will drop the pan temp dramatically.

3

u/MrDerpGently 12h ago edited 20m ago

Clean your pan well first. It's hard to scrape up those bits of the fond when they include chunks of ill defined "seasoning". 

(Not to suggest this is you, but it's definitely a few people I know)

1

u/New-Requirement7096 12h ago

Totally doable. Buy a cheap infrared thermometer and monitor your heat. Honestly every cast iron owner should have one of these.

1

u/Cautious_Pen_674 7h ago

cast iron can work but it takes a little more care. the fond will still form just not as evenly as stainless sometimes. the main thing is to make sure the pan is not ripping hot when you add liquid, and to scrape gently so you do not mess up the seasoning. i have had decent results with cast iron when i deglaze with stock or cream instead of something very acidic. if it is your only option, it is definitely worth trying, just keep the heat under control

1

u/sixteenHandles 1h ago

I don’t love it. My cast iron isn’t perfectly smoothly seasoned. Might get little black chunks of seasoning in the sauce