Pan Gravies and Other Integral Sauces

An integral sauce is a sauce based on the juices released during the cooking of a meat, poultry, fish, or vegetable item. Most of the sauces we have discussed so far are not integral sauces—that is, they are made separately from and independently of the items they are served with. An integral sauce, on the other hand, can’t be made separately because it incorporates cooking juices from the item it is served with.

The most important technique required for integral sauces is deglazing. Juices released by sautéed and roasted meats are reduced and caramelized in the bottom of the pan during cooking. Deglazing dissolves these caramelized juices and incorporates them into the desired sauce. For the simplest example, if you sauté a chicken breast and then deglaze the sauté pan with a little stock and season the resulting liquid, you end up with an integral sauce that can be served with the chicken.