Sauteing method on vegetable is a vegetable cooking method that use high heat to concentrates and enhances
the flavor of veggies by evaporating the water and caramelizing. This way, the veggies will be savory
and flavorful on the outside and meltingly tender on the inside.
Some said that sauteing method is an easy method that allows you to prepare meals in a moment. However, for
some newbies this could be a quite complex method since it requires skill to make a quick movement when
cooking, otherwise the high heat will burn out the vegetables.
In any kind of area, not just in cooking, learning basic things of them are very important part. The
knowledge about basic things could be either a troubleshooting or a gate to be more creative result.
When it comes to sauteing method on vegetables, here are the basic things to understand:
- Whether butter or oil for sautéing
Both butter and oil are common and can be used for sauteing vegetables. As be explained in
roasting vegetable
section, the primarily choice in this case is flavor. Butter will give your food better taste and a
wonderful golden crust but burns more easily.
Meanwhile, vegetable oil such as olive oil has a higher burning point than butter, which makes it ideal
for sauteing as it withstands the high heat. Using vegetable oil in sauteing method on vegetable will give
your food a nice crust and will not burn as quickly and yet does not give as rich a flavor or color as
butter does.
It is smart idea to combine both butter and oil for sauteing method on vegetable in 1:2 portion, 1 part
of butter and 2 parts of oil. The combination will give your food a nice golden crust as well as flavor and
give you a bit longer time to evaporate water from the veggies until it perfectly tender.
- How much heat when sauteing
Actually, how much heat when sauteing vegetable depends on your stove, your saute pan and your cooking
skill. If you are good and fast enough on cooking, you can sauté at the highest heat possible. High heat
is essential in sauteing method on vegetable, it assures that the veggies are brown enough before they
release water of their own.
It is important to preheat the pan before sauteing to ensure that every hot spot on sauté pan surface are
hot enough to melts butter or to heats up oil without burning them. By this way, you do not have to wait too
long to start cooking after you add the fat.
To preheat a pan, simply put it on your burner at low heat about 150-180 F. Do not worry that the low heat
will get hotter and hotter, that is not the way it will be. The pan will only get as hot as the heat level
you apply to it. To get more heat, you have to apply a higher level of heat.
Before you go further...
The butter or oil you add into your pan will effect temperature of the saute pan. It will bring the
temperature a bit down. Therefore, you have to add the heat before you start to sauté.
Finally, you will know whether or not your pan hot enough to start sauteing vegetable is when the butter
stops foaming and begins to turn a pale brown. If you use oil, simply dip a wood spoon tip on it, air bubbles
that comes out around the spoon shows you that the oil is hot enough and ready to start sauteing.
- What a good saute pan should has
Click here for more
information of a good saute pan for this sauteing method on vegetable
- How to saute vegetables - step by step guide
The following are step by step on sauteing vegetable:
- Wash your vegetables properly. Make sure the vegetables are dry by wrap them with paper towel or
tissue to absorb the water remain after washing.
- Preheat the pan then melt the fat. Add the vegetables when the fat is hot enough to start to saute.
- Cook the vegetables until all the pieces are coated in oil or butter and evenly cooked. If you feel the
pan gets too hot and your veggies starts to burn, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down. Put it
back to the heat after some times and cook them until it reaches desired doneness.
- Season with little sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
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