How to Saute
I am a big fan of learning the basic techniques of cooking and then applying them to create your own recipes with your own favorite ingredients and what’s on hand in your refrigerator. Not that I don’t use recipes, I do, but recipes are not always developed with your skills, likes and experience in mind. If you learn the technique properly, you never really need a recipe except for coming up with new ideas.
Saute is one of those techniques that I think every home cook can learn to master and when they do, they will be coming up with dozens of there own recipes and variations.
Saute is a dry heat method requiring a minimal amount of cooking fat whether it be oil or butter and intense high heat. Literally it means “to jump” and is associated with chefs tossing the ingredients in the air but I can tell you from experience, if the pan and cooking fat is as hot as it should be, smaller cut ingredients can actually “jump” in the pan.
I received an email from a reader who asked me a question about saute temperatures and I realized I had it wrong on my web site so I just updated The Secret to Great Saute as well as How Hot Should You Heat Your Pan When Sauteing and you may find this update easier to understand.
I go into much more detail and describe:
- What Is Saute?
- What’s The Difference Between Sauteing and Pan Frying?
- The Formula For a Great Saute
- The Right Pan For The Job
- The Right Fat - Butter or Oil
- How Much Fat
- Preheating The Pan
- Equal Sized Ingredients
- The Ideal Temperature
- Caramelizing and the Maillard Reaction
- How Do You Know When the Fat Is Hot Enough?
- Smoking Points
- The Basics
How To Saute Video
Just added to the site is a new saute cooking video page with three excellent cooking demonstrations by Chef Todd Mohr offering step-by-step instructions on the secrets to a great saute. I highly recommend you check out the How To Saute Cooking Video. It is an entertaining way to learn the basics and pick up some valuable cooking tips.
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