Off the heat
Off the heat means move the pan away from the burner before the next step, so butter, eggs or cheese go in without splitting, scrambling or going stringy.
Also called Remove from the heat, Take off the heat.
"Off the heat" means take the pan off the burner, or turn the burner off, before you do the next step. Recipes use it when the next ingredient would be damaged by more direct heat: butter swirled into a sauce, eggs stirred into pasta, cheese melted into a sauce, or fresh herbs added at the end. The pan is still hot, but it is no longer getting hotter.
How to do it
- Lift the pan off the burner and set it on a trivet, a cold burner or a wooden board.
- On an electric coil or radiant (glass-ceramic) cooktop, move the pan as well as turning it off, since the element stays hot for minutes. Induction stops heating at once, though the pan itself still holds heat.
- Wait a moment if the recipe says to let it cool slightly. Steam should stop billowing.
- Add the next ingredient and stir as the recipe says.
- If the mix needs a little more heat, put it back on low for a few seconds at a time.
Why it works
Some ingredients break down if they boil or get too hot. Butter swirled into a sauce stays creamy only if the sauce is below a simmer. Above that, the fat separates and the sauce looks greasy, which is a split sauce. Eggs set in lumps and curdle above about 85°C (185°F). Cheese turns stringy and oily when it boils. The heat left in the pan is enough to melt or thicken these ingredients gently.
Common mistakes
- Turning off an electric burner but leaving the pan on it. The pan keeps heating.
- Adding the eggs for carbonara while the pan is still on the flame. You get scrambled egg.
- Forgetting carryover cooking. Food in a hot pan keeps cooking for a minute or two after it comes off the heat.
- Leaving a sauce off the heat for too long. It cools and thickens too much. Work quickly.
In recipes
"Remove from the heat and stir in the butter" is the step called monter au beurre. "Off the heat, whisk in the yolks" and "off the heat, stir in the cheese" are also common. "Remove from the heat and let stand" means leave the covered pan to finish cooking, as with rice.
Related terms
- Monter au beurreMonter au beurre means swirling cold butter into a warm sauce at the end of cooking. It makes a pan sauce glossy, silky and slightly thicker in a minute.
- Carryover cookingCarryover cooking is the rise in temperature inside meat after it leaves the heat. A big roast can climb 3 to 8°C (5 to 15°F), so take it out early.
- Temper eggsTempering eggs is slowly whisking hot liquid into beaten eggs so they warm up without scrambling. It is the key step in custards and pastry cream.
- Split sauceA split sauce is an emulsion, like mayonnaise or hollandaise, that has separated into fat and thin liquid. Here is why it happens and how to fix it.
- Pan sauceA pan sauce is made in the pan you seared meat in. Deglaze the browned bits, reduce, and finish with butter. It takes about five minutes.
- CurdleCurdling is when milk, cream or egg sauces separate into lumps and thin liquid. It happens from too much heat or acid. Here is how to stop and fix it.