Sautéing
A high-heat cooking method using minimal fat.
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Sautéing is a cooking method that uses a small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat.[1] To enable rapid cooking, food for sautéing is often sliced thinly or chopped into small bits, maximizing the surface area exposed to heat.[2] During sautéing, heat moves mainly by conduction from the pan to the food, resulting in browning that keeps the food's texture, moisture, and flavor intact.[2]
Quick Facts
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- Cooking technique
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
The word sauté comes from the French word "sauter," meaning "to jump," referring to tossing the food while cooking.[3] Unlike skillets with flared sides, sauté pans have straight vertical sides that keep ingredients from escaping during jerking.[4] Certain oils with low smoke points should not be used for sautéing, while clarified butter, rapeseed oil, and sunflower oil are commonly used.[5] All ingredients in a sauté are heated together and cooked swiftly, with the cook using a utensil or shaking the pan to keep them moving.[4]
To avoid steaming and to help create fond, a sauté pan needs to be big enough that the food sits in a single layer, letting steam escape.[4] The short sides of a sauté pan enable moisture to evaporate and steam to leave the pan quickly.[4] Some chefs differentiate the two methods by how much oil is used, whereas others treat the terms as synonyms.[6]
What the cited sources add
The Reluctant Gourmet guide states that a sauté pan's straight, vertical sides hold in liquids and ingredients, making it ideal for browning, simmering, and building pan sauces.[7] The same source notes that a 4–5 quart sauté pan is the most versatile size for most home cooks.[7] Another Reluctant Gourmet article explains that sautéing develops flavor through browning while keeping food tender and moist.[3] That article also warns that too much food lowers pan temperature and traps steam, hindering crust development.[3]
The guide describes that a properly heated pan produces a steady sizzling sound when food is added.[3] It further advises that good sautéing starts before the pan touches the burner, to avoid overheated pans and burned oil.[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Sautéing" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Saute", Douglas Harper (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sautéing" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ludwig, "Frying an egg to study heat transport: an engaging and didactic experiment", Physics Education, 2020, p. 025016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "The Secret To Great Saute", The Reluctant Gourmet, 18 January 2013. facts only, no text reused. reluctantgourmet.com
- Wikipedia, "Sautéing" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Saute Pans – Choosing and Buying the Right Saute Pan", The Reluctant Gourmet, 4 June 2012; "Sauté Pans" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sautéing" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jennifer Good (4/17/2012). "Healthiest Cooking Oil Comparison Chart with Smoke Points and Omega 3 Fatty Acid Ratios". The Baseline of Health Foundation.; Harinageswara Rao Katragadda et al. (2010), "Emissions of volatile aldehydes from heated cooking oils", Food Chemistry 1 May 2010, Vol.120(1):59–65,; Lydia Bell (16 July 2014). "Why olive oil should be kept out of the frying pan". The Telegraph. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sautéing" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sautéing", Alan's Kitchen; "How to Sauté (Pan Fry) and Stir-Fry", For Dummies; "The Secret To Great Saute", The Reluctant Gourmet, 18 January 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Saute Pans – Choosing and Buying the Right Saute Pan", The Reluctant Gourmet, 4 June 2012. facts only, no text reused. reluctantgourmet.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Sautéing (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Cooking Techniques
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Sautéing (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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