Sautéing

In French, sauté means “to jump.”  It is a dry-heat cooking method where bite-sized pieces of food are stirred or tossed until cooked through. Sautéing uses very little oil and relatively high heat.  This method is used not only to cook foods, but to reheat foods that have been par-cooked.  Sautéing is often confused with shallow or pan frying.  The distinction being in the amount of oil.  Sautéing uses just enough oil to coat a pan with a thin film plus a teaspoon or so.  Shallow or pan frying uses enough oil to partially submerge the food.  Stir-frying is a similar to sautéing, but uses much higher heat and is traditionally done in a wok.  Ingredients are constantly moved from the intense heat of the center of the wok to the cooler regions up the sides.  In sautéing, the pan is evenly heated all over and ingredients are flipped or tossed to finish cooking.

When some ingredients are sautéed, they are seared over high heat to caramelize their exteriors and create a fond or sucs in the bottom of the pan that will be deglazed, reconstituted and thickened into a pan sauce.  The seared exteriors of the meat are much more flavorful in a process known as the [recipe id=’2130′ slug=’millard-reaction’ /].

When vegetables, especially aromatic vegetables used in a mirepoix, are sautéed they are sometimes only cooked or sweated until softened and translucent, with little or no browning.
Blackening

Sautéing Procedure

  • Use a pan with sloped sides, commonly know as a fry pan or a sauteuse in French.  Counterintuitively, a sauté pan has straight sides and isn’t designed to toss food commonly done in a sauté.
  • Use a pan of the appropriate size that allows ingredients to cover the surface in a single layer.
  • Preheat the pan.  Add cold oil to a hot pan.  Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, plus a teaspoon or so.
  • Because of the high heat that’s usually used in a sauté, use an oil with a high smoke point.  If using butter, use butter with oil, to prevent the butter from burning.
  • Cut the food into small or bite-sized pieces, all roughly the same size.  To maximize browning, food should be cut uniformly and diced or sliced to maximize surface area.
  • Have all mise en place ready before starting the sauté.
  • Food should be dry and not too cold or frozen.
  • Don’t crowd ingredients, especially proteins or vegetables that need browning.
  • Listen to the “sizzle” and begin to learn the sound that indicates the food is cooking at the proper temperature.
  • Don’t be afraid of high heat.  Return the pan quickly to the heat after tossing and don’t toss too much.
  • When cooking proteins, shake the pan to see if they release on their own.  After they release, toss or turn them.
  • Starchy foods like potatoes, are seasoned at the end of cooking to keep them moist on the inside and protect the golden brown crust from softening.
  • Starchy foods also take a little longer to cook and form a crust.  For this reason, use only oil or oil and clarified butter. Do not toss until the golden brown crust begins to form.  Once the crust is formed, turn down the heat and  allow to cook through.
  • When sautéing high-water content vegetables like zucchini or eggplant, use high-heat. Season only at end, to prevent too much moisture loss and limp vegetables.
  • Sautéed mushrooms are best cooked over high-heat in whole butter and oil.  Mushrooms should be seasoned at the beginning of cooking to help release their moisture.  Add a splash of lemon juice to help the mushrooms brown.  Toss the mushrooms often and adjust the heat as the mushrooms brown.
  • Blanched vegetables or quick-cooking vegetables may be sautéed without browning and cooked quickly to preserve their texture and color.
  • Deglaze the pan with a bit of liquid to incorporate the flavor back into the sauté.  Add a bit more liquid when preparing to make a pan sauce.