Christine wrote about deglazing:

> You aren't adding enough liquid, and not cooking enough to get it to
> loosen. And it helps to use something like a flat whisk, which is
> made for things like that...

Allow me to add some vague stuff in an effort to clarify the process. First,
you need to add enough liquid so that it slightly sloshes around in the pan.
It ought to go without saying, but just to be sure I'll say this: The liquid
that you add should not be an oily liquid. It should be something aqueous
like water, stock, or some kind of booze. But you don't want to add too much
liquid, because that would lower the heat of the pan.

The pan should be hot enough that the liquid starts boiling furiously
immediately. While it's boiling, you should be furiously scraping the bottom
and sides of the pan to remove that browned-on food, because it tastes
really, really good. I use a wooden spatula for the scraping, but you can
use anything you like. Whatever you choose, it should have a fairly flat
edge so that you can scrape it along the bottom of the pan.

It's also possible to deglaze in a wok, in which case you should use one of
those wok spatulas with the curved leading edge which conforms to the curve
of the wok.

Some recipes have you add onions or other watery vegetables (e.g. celery or
mushrooms) to the pan instead of liquid, because the vegetables will give
off liquid which you can then use to deglaze. In that case, you want the
temperature to be a bit lower, so that the vegetables don't scorch before
they give off their liquid. When I made crab bisque recently, I was able to
use leek greens as a kind of squeegee to loosen and scrape off the fond.
(Good thing I saved them, rather than discarding them as garbage the way a
clueless AOL newbie would have!)

The important thing to realize is that the fond is your PAYOFF for having
the patience to brown meat and veggies thoroughly, and you deserve to enjoy
every single molecule of the flavorful stuff! There's a clueless newbie here
who can't seem to grasp the importance of browning meat well for braises,
but it's a rare person indeed who is so dull-witted and senseless that he or
she can't tell the difference when the two are tasted side by side.

Bob