I did my "first" pan sauce last week and find it abit empty in the taste. Im thinkin of addin suggar to help increase body of the sauce.
Im wondering when do you think it is right time to add sugar?? Maybe when caramelizing shallots to let it caramelize for real?? Or after deglazin?? Tell me whats your suggestions.. Thanks

Before you go adding sugar to your pan sauce, can I ask if you watched the full lesson on "How to Make a Pan Sauce"?

Honestly you should generally not need to use sugar. Caramelizing shallots can add nice flavor, also deglazing with something sweeter like marsala would also add some depth. Also if using stock in your pan sauce, the type you use can also make a difference. By this I mean store bought will taste different than homemade stock.

So before adding sugar, I suggest watching the pan sauce lesson (again, if you have watched it already) and try again. Good luck.

yea, i watched it, even watched it directly after i made it to check if i did something wrong but everything was allright. Honestly I was even amazed how smooth everything went..Also I was using home made deer demi-glace so that shouldnt be a problem - It is probably just me and my taste preferences. I lenjoy combinations of meat with sweet sauces. Generally I think sugar is adding body, not only to food bud also in case of wine.. lil residual sugar will make the wine seem a lot more full./especially white wines/ I think Ima try both - caramelizing shallots and next time deglazin probably with port wine.. Maybe ill try both at the same time:)

Nice work, that is the beauty of cooking, once you learn the proper techniques, you can always alter and adjust the ingredients and amounts according to your own taste buds. Good luck!

There are many things you can incorporate into a pan sauce to sweeten it, without resorting to sugar. Garlic, carrots, onions, basil, all get sweet when cooked, and add many layers of flavor. Sugar only adds one or two, and those are sweetness and caramel, and in most sauces, only the former.

Some of the best red sauces, for instance, are made as a pan sauce. Cook the meatballs, and then make the red sauce in the same pan. If you use garlic, onions, carrots, and basil, you have to be really careful when you make your pan sauce. If you are not, you can make it cloyingly sweet without ever adding any sugar at all.

I would encourage you to learn about these alternate methods of sweetening. A lot of people add sugar to sauces for various reasons. They add them to red sauces, for instance, to mask the acid. However, this is all the sugar does. It masks the acid, but it doesn't get rid of it. It is far better to learn to make a red sauce that is not full of acid.

Just as, IMO, it is far better to learn to sweeten a sauce with vegetables and herbs, rather than with sugar.