How do I get broth out of my pan after I put in too much?
Today I made some dumplings. Even though they were already precooked, I put them into a kind of vegetable broth to cook them properly (which wasn't really necessary but I did it because I like the taste).
Originally, I planned to prepare a "dry" dish in which I have fried dumplings and roasted vegetables mixed in a pan. But as the dumplings seem to lack some taste, I put the broth into the pan as well - and in this regard, way too much of it. So then instead of a dry dish, I now had fried dumplings and vegetables cooked in a broth (which also tasted fine) but it wasn't what I planned for.
Recovering from my (tasty) mistake, I would like to know how I can most effectively drain broth (or any liquid) from a pan? Can I somehow cook it really long a low heat and just wait it out? If I were to try to separate broth and other ingredients, how can I most effectively do it without dumping half of my dish into the drain? Is there a kitchen tool for this purpose? (Please note that a my normal pasta strainer has too large gaps so that finely cut vegetables would just squeeze right through it.)
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Depending on the size of the stuff you want to keep in the pan and the time-criticality:
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Strainer. You mentioned that your pasta strainer's holes are too big. I have colanders with holes of two different sizes, a larger conventional one and a smaller one with smaller holes. (I use the latter to strain small vegetables like corn sometimes.)
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Strainer + cheesecloth. If your strainer's holes are too big, line the strainer with cheesecloth and then strain. This will be slow and it won't work with a thickened broth, but if your broth is mostly water it should work. Where I live, cheesecloth can be found in the grocery store either with the foil/plastic wrap/parchment paper/etc or in the baking aisle.
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Lid. Hold the pan over the sink (or receptacle, if you want to keep the broth), hold the lid over and at an angle from the pan to create a narrow channel, and pour. This takes a little practice, so do it over a bowl the first time so if you let too much stuff through you can recover.
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Baster. This is the slow way, but a baster is a tube with a small opening on one end and something you squeeze on the other end to create vacuum. You can use this to remove liquid one baster-full at a time. (Its normal application is to suck up liquid and pour it back over what's in the pan, hence the name.) Using a ladle would be faster, but I assume you're not doing that because you're getting too much stuff you don't want to remove.
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Please note that a my normal pasta strainer has too large gaps so that finely cut vegetables would just squeeze right through it.
If the pasta strainer does not work, just use a simple siv, like this one:
Can I somehow cook it really long a low heat and just wait it out?
You could let it boil away, but depending on what ingredients you're using, the result can vary quite a lot.
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