Deglazing without bitterness

The brown film on the bottom of the pan is the dish's whole flavour — unless it has gone one minute too far, in which case it is ruined and no liquid will save it.

1. Take the meat out and pour off the fat, but leave every brown speck in the pan. Fat carries no flavour here; the specks carry all of it.
2. Look at the colour before you pour. Deep chestnut is right. Black at the edges means bitter, and bitterness only concentrates as the sauce reduces — start again.
3. Add the wine or stock off the heat, then return it. Scrape with a flat wooden spoon while the liquid is still cool; the film lifts easily then and welds itself back on once it boils.
4. Reduce until the liquid is syrupy and the smell of raw alcohol has gone. Only then add cream, butter or stock. Anything added before that point tastes of wine rather than of the dish.