Sauté and pan-frying, two terms that are common in cooking that you probably don’t think twice about them.I think that it’s very important to know some of the tricks behind both of in order to get the best results every time. Once you know the secrets behind successful sautéing and pan-frying, you’ll turn out dishes with wonderful flavor, texture and texture.
Sauté in French means “jump” and is a dry-heat cooking method (that is, no liquid is involved) where food is cooked, tossed or stirred over medium-high heat in a small amount of oil. Similar to stir-frying it can be used to cook a wide range of foods.
How to Sauté: To properly sauté choose a heavy frying or sauté pan—one with sloped sides is helpful because it’s easier to toss the foods as they cook. A pan with straight sides can work as well. Just make sure that whichever pan you’re using is large enough for the amount of food you’ll be sautéing. In a crowded pan, things will just steam.
Preheat the pan on top of the stove (medium-high heat is a good rule of thumb) and when you can feel heat radiating from the surface when you hold your hand over it, add the oil and swirl to coat—because proper sautéing requires fairly high temperatures, use an oil with a high smoke point like vegetable, canola, peanut. Before adding the food, the oil should “shimmer” on the pan’s surface and you should hear sizzling and popping when you add the food; if you don’t, it wasn’t quite hot enough. However, if smoke starts to rise from the pan, the oil is too hot. remove pan and let it down before proceeding. After adding the food to the pan, stir or toss it until it’s cooked according to the recipe you’re following.
What is it? Pan-frying is very similar to sautéing and stir-frying in that it also involves cooking in a pan or skillet on top of the stove. However, unlike sautéing and stir-frying, pan-frying is often used to cook larger cuts of meat like chicken breasts or pork chops, and generally requires more fat (although not so much that it completely covers the food—that’s deep-frying). This technique is most often used to cook breaded items (chicken, pork, etc.) because it helps create a crunchy coating on the surface of the food.
How to Pan-Fry: Like sautéing, choose a pan large enough to hold whatever you’re cooking without crowding—food in a crowded pan won’t brown well and, in the case of anything breaded or coated, could cause it to become greasy. Also, make sure the pan is fairly heavy—pan-frying requires a controlled, consistent temperature, and lightweight pans tend to have hot and cool spots which result in uneven browning.
To pan-fry, add oil (those with a neutral flavor, like vegetable, canola or peanut work best. the oil should come about ¼ inch up the sides of the pan. Gradually heat the oil over medium-high. Don’t add anything until the oil has reached 350°F. to 360°F.—cooler temperatures will make foods greasy. To test the temperature, add a small cube of bread first. If it sizzles immediately on contact, the oil is ready. If it just floats, it’s still too cool; if it burns, carefully slide the skillet off the burner and let it cool down for a few minutes before returning it to the heat and proceeding. Pan-fry until food is golden brown on one side then turn it over and fry on the second side until golden and thoroughly cooked
