Years ago, when I first started cooking anything more than boxed mac & cheese and breaded meats from the freezer, the first technique I really turned to was the saute. It’s fast and is really the fancy, sexy technique that you think about when cooking. All of those high-speed chefs, flipping food around over high flames. It really makes you feel like you know what you’re doing.
Simply put, though, sauteing is nothing more than cooking in a shallow pan over high heat with a small amount of fat. Ever cook peppers and onions in a pan to make fajitas? How about browning hamburger meat to make tacos? As far as I’m concerned, if you’ve ever made a grilled cheese sandwich in a pan with butter, you basically know how to saute!
There are a few important factors to note when you start to saute. The word “saute” comes from the French word sauter, to jump, in reference to the ingredients being flopped around in the pan. In truth, however, the key to a great saute is to let the ingredients stay still to develop color and flavor. Stir too often and you’ll cool down your pan, resulting in more of a stew than a saute.
The saute pan (or skillet, or frying pan) comes in two major varieties: those with straight sides and those with angled sides. Straight sides can give you a little more cooking space, but the angled sides are made for tossing food, making it a little easier to stir and flip those smaller cuts of veggies. Whatever style of pan you choose, make sure that you get one that’s large enough. Trying to saute too much food in a smaller pan results in steaming rather than sauteing.
The next important factors are the fat and the food itself. Butter is tasty, but can burn if heated too high. I tend towards good quality olive oil, but will sometimes sneak a pat of butter in with it. Your food should be properly prepared for sauteing also. Veggies should be cut to about the same size for even cooking and should definitely be cut in advance (mise en place) because this cooking method happens pretty quickly!
So this month, we are just going to figure out this saute thing. We’ll work on a couple of recipes, but mostly we’ll focus on the technique with simple components that we can add to any meal. I hope you’ll join me on this little adventure!
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