What are common mistakes when making Reduction?

Question

Accepted Answer

Seasoning before reducing — the most expensive mistake in sauce-making. You salt at one cup, reduce to half a cup, and the sauce is twice as salty as you intended. Reducing too aggressively — a hard boil can take a sauce past the sweet spot in 30 seconds. You can always reduce more; you cannot un-reduce. Over-shooting — if you reduce too far, the sugars and proteins begin to caramelise on the bottom of the pan, adding burnt bitterness. Add unseasoned stock (not water) to rescue an over-reduced s