Sautéing

In the culinary schools in which I taught, we first tackled sautéing and stir frying because the first stepone takes when one prepares most meals with vegetables, fish and meats is to sear or sauté the product.

The word sauté literally mean "jump" As the word implies, the sauté pan or "sauteuse" must bekept "jumping" in order to insure the product is cooked evenly. One way of doing that is to practicewith a sauté pan off the fire by putting dried beans into the pan, tilt the pan forward, and then flickyour wrist so that the beans jump to the rear of the pan. Keep practicing this maneuver until you geta smooth flow. Constant, smooth movement is important for uniform cooking. Please don't sautéwith hot fat until you can do your bean practice without spilling any beans. If hot fat lands onyou while you're sautéing, you will get a second degree burn. The handle of the sauteuse is also hot, butgloves are cumbersome. Use a light towel to handle the pan. Another way of achieving proficiency witha sauteuse is simply to watch a chef on TV and imitate him or her.

Sautéing is used when a product's juices are to be seared in to retain flavor and moisture. Sautéingalso causes the natural flavors of the product to be released into the pan. Sautéing also results in a processknown as caramelizing, which is simply the release of the natural sugars which then brown and add color(e.g. the golden brown of an onion or garlic) to the product. Proper sautéing requires that the product notbe burnt in the process. Burning during the t step causes bitterness and gives an off-color to the product.

Because it is done so quickly, the sauté method is meant for small pieces of seafood ... Shrimp,scallops or shucked mollusks are small and firm enough to be sautéed whole. Larger fish needs to besliced or escalloped into sauté sized pieces. The sauté method should be used only on fish with firmflesh such as swordfish, monkfish, grouper, tuna or shark. Sauté is not a good method for fish that aretoo delicate or flaky such as flounder, cod or salmon.

An important concept to consider when sautéing is what is known in French as "mise en place"which means "putting in place." This concept indicates the extreme importance of having everythingneeded for cooking prepared and readily available before beginning the actual cooking process. Tostart to sauté a meal and stop to peel or cut up a carrot is not feasible. The Larousse Gastronome states:"When all these small tasks are done, and all the operations preceding the actual cooking completed,the work of cooking is much simplified." The recipes included in this book are laid out in steps so thatthe effecting of "mise en place" can be accomplished. The "INGREDIENTS" section of each recipetells what ingredients should be at hand for each step of the recipe.

Sautéing must take place in a small amount of fat. "Fat" can mean such things as animal fat,butter, margarine, vegetable oils, olive oil or seed oils. Which "fat" one uses should be dictated by theproduct being sautéed and/or the ethnic origin of the recipe and/or health considerations. For instance,shrimp prepared Cajun style should be sautéed in fatback, which is literally fat off a pig's back. Shrimpprepared in an Italian method such as scampi would be sautéed in olive oil. Yet oriental shrimp wouldbe stir fired in sesame oil and soy oil, same shrimp, but totally different flavors. I hasten to add thatsubstituting a vegetable fat for an animal fat for health or personal reasons (monounsaturated fats, likeolive oil is healthiest) or for "whatever blows your hair back" is perfectly all right provided you canaccept a non traditional taste.

The method of sautéing, as do all cooking methods, consists of several steps which will be illustratedby the following recipes. Sautéing is sometimes only the first step in preparing a course. Other times,an entire entree is prepared within the sautés and usually finished in a sauce. Such an entree is;

Sea Scallops with Cracked Peppercorns and Anisette

Yield: 2 servings

INGREDIENTS

Step one: Fat (olive oil) 2tsp
Minced garlic ½ tsp
Chopped onion 1Tb

Step two: Sea scallops 12oz
Cracked black peppercorns ½ tsp
Granulated sugar ½ tsp
Anisette 1oz (a shot)

Step three: Prepared tomato sauce 1Tb
Prepared beef stock (bouillon) 2oz
Half and half cream 1oz
Salt to taste
Thyme a pinch

Nutrition Facts

Amount per Serving
Calories 307.1
Total Fat 8.3 g
Saturated Fat 1.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.8 g
Cholesterol 75.6 mg
Sodium 422.6 mg
Potassium 112.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.2 g
Sugars 6.5 g
Protein 35.3 g

METHOD

Step one: In a sauté pan, place the fat over high heat. As soon as the fat has heated, add the garlic andthen the onion in that order, sauté until translucent.

Step two: Add the sea scallops, peppercorns and sugar. Sauté until the scallops are golden and seared.Remove the sauté pan from fire and pour in the shot of anisette. The anisette should vaporize (steam).Return the pan to the fire. At this point you may or may not have a flash of fire if the alcohol ignites.Whether it fires or not, does not affect the recipe, just don't blow yourself up. At this point, remove thescallops from the pan and set them aside.

Step three: Add the tomato sauce, the beef stock, half and half cream, salt and thyme to the pan andreturn to the fire. Reduce sauce by 1/2. Then return the scallops to the pan and further reduce untilthe sauce coats the scallops. Put 'em on some herbal or plain rice. Then, eat 'em.

NOTES

Step one:

A-The smoking point of oil is higher than butter. Any fat should not be heated past the smokingpoint because above the smoking point, the oil will not brown the garlic and onions, it will burn them.

B-Put the garlic in before the onions because what you are looking for is a golden color from thegarlic. You can actually smell the release of the garlic's essence. Then add onions, whose released watercontent will further prevent the garlic from burning.

Step two:

A-When the scallops are removed from the pan and set aside; they should not be fully cooked, justseared. They will tend to "weep" juices, so put them in a bowl rather than on a flat dish. Don't throwout or drain off the juice.

B-We are just kidding...