How to Saute
Sautéing is an incredibly important part of learning to cook, which is why I made it chapter 1. If you learn to sauté properly you’ll be able to easily make simple yet delicious dishes and sauces containing flavors from around the world.
What you will need:
- Sauté pan
- Small amount of fat such as butter, oil, grease, etc…
- Utensils for ‘stirring’ and tongs if you’re cooking meat
Let’s say I wanted to make a French dish with chicken and a nice white wine sauce, making it would be easy with the sauté method.
The first thing you want to do, as in most cooking, is prepare. Gather all the utensils, pans and ingredients that you will be using to make your dish. In this case I will be sautéing a chicken breast then creating a nice white wine pan sauce. So my ingredients list is:
- Chicken breasts
- White wine
- Chicken stock (or broth if you don't have stock)
- Onion (chopped)
- Garlic (finely chopped)
- Salt and pepper
- Tarragon
The first thing I’m going to do is preheat my pan. When you sauté you want your pan hot even before you add your fat, this minimizes the length of time the fat is hot thus reduces how much it will break down.
Once the pan is nice and hot I will add my fat, this fat can be just about anything depending on the flavor you want to imbue or the temperature you want it to get as different types of fat can get to different temperature before burning. But for this dish I’m going to use olive oil.
You don’t want to add too much fat, just enough to cover the bottom of your pan. When following a recipe you should adjust the amount of oil or butter you use by taking into consideration the size of your pan. We only want to use the fat as a medium to transfer heat, we don’t want to actually cook our food in it.
Now here’s the tricky part. You want to add your protein item, in this case it’s my chicken breast, just before the fat starts to smoke. If you see your fat smoking then it’s already burned and you’re going to have to start over, but how can you tell when it’s going to smoke? When the oil is cool it's flat and smooth, but once the oil gets hot you can start to see striations, little ripples, these form shortly before the oil begins to smoke.
Note: When adding your protein you should always cook the 'display side' of the food first. In other words, the side you want to cook first is the side you want facing your guests once it has been plated.
Now that I know my oil is ready I’m going to add my chicken. Once my chicken it down I usually don’t want to touch it until it’s about 75% cooked. 75% is only an estimate and can be determined by watching how far up its sides the chicken is cooked. If you move your protein around you will damage the browning effect that provides such good flavor. If you flip it too early you won’t be able to tell as easily when it’s getting done and you’ll be spending more time poking it with your thermometer.
Once my chicken is approximately 75% cooked on the first side I will go ahead and flip it and again I’ll let it cook without moving it until it’s done.
Now remember, use an instant-read thermometer to see if your protein is done, don’t cut it! Cutting your protein not only makes it look bad but it also allows a ton of the juices to escape, drying out your meat.
Once the thickest part of my chicken reaches 165°F I know it’s fully cooked, however, I don’t want to wait until it’s 165°F before removing it from the stove. Why, you ask? Well, even after removing your food from the heat it will continue to cook for a few more minutes as long as you don’t throw it into the freezer. Typically for a chicken breast like mine I can safely remove it about 5°F before it’s done and it will have reached a safe temperature before being eaten. Removing your protein item before it’s done will ensure you don’t overcook it or dry it out. See the reference page on safe cooking temperatures.
Now that I’ve removed my chicken from the heat and set it aside I have a pan with a bunch of dried brown gunk on the bottom. This gunk is called ‘fond’ and is absolutely full of wonderful flavor and will help us make a great pan sauce for the chicken.
To start will add a bit more fat to the pan then I think I will throw in some chopped onions and garlic and let them brown a bit before I deglaze the pan, at this point you could also add carrots, celery or anything else you want.
Deglazing is the fancy term for adding a cold liquid to a hot pan, in this case it’s my white wine and chicken stock mixture (about ½ c. of each), and scrap the pan with your spoon. Doing this forces the release of the delicious fond from the pan, adding a ton of flavor to your sauce. If you add a bit too much wine simply let it cook down, referred to as reducing, until you get the consistency you want. Typically I’ll reduce my sauce about ½ way or until it coats a metal spoon. Finally, add salt, pepper and any other seasonings you’d like you can also add a bit of butter or cream to give your sauce a little body and even out the flavors.
If you're not using any sort of protein to sauté but still want a pan sauce you'll probably need some extra thickening power, go through the thickening pages of the chapter on sauces for more infomation.
You can also add some mustard or chutney when you add your cold liquid or add some fresh minced herbs with your salt and pepper.
Finally I’ll plate this chicken with some vegetables and bread and voila, a great chicken dinner!
Here are some ideas for other great flavors in your sauté dish:
- Mexican: Jalapeños and tequila
- Italian: Red wine and tomatoes
- Hawaiian: Pineapple juice and pineapples
- Anything you want!
To get the most out of your pan sauces be sure to visit our sauce resource page for ideas, tips and more.
So get in the kitchen and create some great sauté dishes of your very own but don’t forget to add any great recipes you make to the ‘Recipes’ section where you can show off your very own wonderful creations!
