How To Make A Culinary Glaze

by DJL

This is a lesson on how to make a Culinary Glaze. The proper definition of a glaze is a stock of some sort reduced to at least 85 % of its volume. You simmer your desired stock slowly letting the water steam away. This results in a liquid which has more intense flavor and syrupy by nature.

What can you make a glaze from?
Well anything from chicken stock to fruit juices to vinegars. I recently saw “in a specialty store”a bottle of Balsamic glaze. The price was absolutely ridiculous. All you need to do is take some cheaper balsamic vinegar and reduce it by 85% and there you have your glaze.

You can also get very creative with glazes. How about taking your chicken stock and add rosemary to it. Reducing this would give you a fantastic rosemary infused chicken glaze. Think about the many options and combinations you can create from simply experimenting.

What are glazes used for? Did you ever see a chef decorate a plate with his fancy little sauces? How about a small amount of glaze across an appetizer or tomatoes? Remember a little glaze goes along way. You do not want to you ample amounts like a sauce due to intensity of the flavor of a glaze.ok