SAUTÉ BASICS

TO SAUTÉ IS TO COOK FOOD QUICKLY IN A hot skillet. In general, you need just enough fat to coat the bottom of the pan. If you add enough fat to reach any measurable depth, then you are pan-frying, not sautéing.

Sautéing causes the exterior of meat, poultry, and seafood to brown. Browning adds flavor to foods and promotes the development of a crisp crust, which offers a pleasing textural contrast with the interior of foods. Sautéing is usually reserved for tender, quick-cooking, boneless cuts, such as chicken cutlets or fish fillets.

Besides browning the food, sautéing produces flavorful browned bits in the pan, which can be used to make a quick sauce once the cooked meat, poultry, or seafood has been set aside.

In some cases, the meat, poultry, or seafood can be coated with bread crumbs and then sautéed. This produces an especially crisp crust. In order to preserve the crunch of the breading, we don't serve breaded cutlets and fillets with a pan sauce.

This book focuses on sautéed main courses suitable for a quick weeknight dinner. Individual chapters explore chicken cutlets; turkey and veal cutlets; pork medallions; steak; fish fillets and steaks; and shrimp and scallops. All of these foods are boneless and require almost no preparation on the part of the cook.

Although it is quick, sautéing is not always simple. Too often, foods don't brown as well you might like. Sometimes the kitchen fills with smoke. At other times, foods stick to the pan.

This chapter covers the basics—from how to handle food before it goes into the skillet to how to make pan sauces. For details on sautéing specific foods, see the appropriate chapter.

MAKE SURE THE FOOD IS DRY

Moisture is the enemy of sautéing. Not only does moisture cause hot fat to splatter, but it also prevents browning. Foods should always be thoroughly dried with paper towels just before they are sautéed. For the same reason, you shouldn't season foods too far in advance. Over time, salt draws moisture to the surface. Try sprinkling foods with seasonings while you wait for the pan to preheat.

FLOUR DELICATE FOODS

We find that some foods with a delicate texture, such as chicken cutlets and flounder fillets, benefit from flouring before cooking. The flour coating promotes browning and ensures that the exterior crust will be crisp. In our testing, we found that sturdier meats, such as steak, should not be floured; they brown well without any coating. Also, shellfish can absorb flour and become gluey, so we don't recommend flouring shrimp or scallops.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT PAN

When sautéing you will need a large pan that can accommodate as much food as possible in one batch. Food that is crowded into a small skillet won't brown as well, especially if all the food is not in direct contact with the pan bottom. Also, crowding food into a small pan causes the temperature to drop precipitously, which negatively affects browning. It is also important to choose a pan with a heavy bottom.

In theory, cast iron would seem to be a good choice for sautéing; in fact, however, it is not recommended because it can react with some acidic pan sauces. Heavy stainless steel pans with an aluminum or copper core, such as those manufactured by All-Clad, or heavy anodized aluminum pans, such as those made by Calphalon, are our favorite choices in the test kitchen. We like these pans because they are heavy and conduct heat evenly across the entire bottom of the pan.

Avoid thin, inexpensive stainless steel or aluminum pans. Food and pan drippings are far more likely to burn, especially at the high temperatures we recommend throughout this book.

We tested nonstick and enamel-coated pans and found them acceptable but not quite up to par. Fat tends to bead up on these slick surfaces and so may not coat foods evenly once they are added to the pan. As a result, foods don't brown as well in nonstick and enamel-coated pans. A bare metal surface yields more intense color and thus more flavor.

PREHEAT UNTIL BLAZING HOT

Too often, home cooks are timid about using high heat on their stove. Yes, you may make a bit of mess on the stovetop, but high heat is the only way to brown four steaks at once. In addition, foods can stick in cool pans, something that never happens in a hot pan.

In each recipe, we recommend heating an empty skillet over high heat for a specific amount of time. Do not skip this step.

USE VEGETABLE OIL

We find that neutral-tasting oils, such as vegetable, peanut, or canola, make the best medium for sautéing. Olive oil can clash with flavorings in the sauce. It is also more likely to burn. Butter adds a delicious flavor to sautéed foods, but the danger of burning is great. Even when blended with some vegetable oil, butter usually burns. Save butter for swirling into the finished pan sauce.

We prefer to add the oil to a hot pan, not a cold one. Add the oil all at once and swirl it over the pan bottom. The oil will shimmer immediately, indicating that the pan is ready for food.

PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB

Despite the origin of the word sauté, which means "to jump" in French, it's critical to let the food sit after it hits the pan if it is to form a good crust. Resist the temptation to check it constantly. All that activity cools the food down, getting in the way of browning and making the food more likely to stick to the pan. Lifting the food from the pan too early can also cause the crust to tear.

If you like, set a splatter screen—a round mesh screen with a handle—over the skillet to minimize the mess on your stovetop. The screen keeps fat in the pan without causing foods to steam, as they would if covered with a lid.

DEGLAZE THE EMPTY PAN

Once sautéed foods are browned and cooked through, they should be placed on a plate in a warm oven while you use the pan drippings to make a quick sauce. Start by sautéing aromatics (garlic, shallots, onions) in the drippings. Next, deglaze the pan with some liquid (anything from stock to vinegar to bottled clam juice) and scrape with a wooden spoon to loosen the flavorful browned bits. You then simmer the liquid until it reduces to a nice, thick consistency. Other ingredients, such as mustard and herbs, can be added to the sauce.

We like to finish most sauces by swirling in some softened butter. The butter enriches the sauce and gives it more body. Swirl in the butter off heat with a wooden spoon so that the butter does not separate.

In restaurants, pan sauces start with veal, chicken, beef, or fish stock. In a nod to convenience, we call for canned low-sodium chicken broth for the recipes in this book. If you have homemade stock on hand, use it. Stock has more body than canned broth (the former usually contains gelatin from bones) and will improve the texture as well as the flavor of pan sauces.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT SAUCE

Although the technique we use to make pan sauces is pretty much the same throughout the book, the texture and flavor of the sauces vary so as to complement specific sautéed foods. For instance, shrimp requires a thick glaze that can really cling to each piece. Citrus works with seafood but might seem odd with beef, which tastes better with heartier flavors such as red wine, mushrooms, brandy, peppercorns, and cream.

Once you master the basics of sautéing and making a pan sauce, you will be able to create your own recipes almost without effort. Pick up some cutlets, fillets, or steaks on the way home from work and then use pantry staples and whatever else you have on hand to create a pan sauce. The 48 recipes in this book are a starting point; once you've mastered the basic techniques, hundreds of variations will be within your grasp.

USE HOMEMADE CRUMBS

In some recipes, we coat foods with bread crumbs before sautéing. A crisp, breaded cutlet or fillet does not require a pan sauce. A squirt of lemon juice will suffice.

We tested a number of different coatings and found that homemade bread crumbs are superior to store-bought. Homemade crumbs are larger and more irregular in shape and therefore promote a crisper crust. We liked cornmeal but felt that it could not serve as an all-purpose coating, as do bread crumbs. (Fish fillets are an exception; they really benefit from the extra crunch that cornmeal adds.)

To make homemade crumbs, simply grind small cubes of stale bread in a food processor until fine. Choose a bread without seeds or sugar when making homemade crumbs. Of course, you can substitute an equal amount of store-bought crumbs if you like.

As for liquids to dip the food in before coating it with crumbs, we tested egg, milk, and a combination of milk and egg. Lightly beaten egg (thinned with a little water) makes the lightest, crispiest coating. We also found that flouring the cutlets and fillets before dipping them in egg and then bread crumbs helps the food to retain moisture and produces the crispiest coatings.