Saute Pans Overview

Saute comes from the French word, “sauter,” which means “to jump,” because food that is sauteed is browned in a shallow pan that is moved back and forth during cooking, which makes the food move, or “jump.” The pan used for sauteing is a saute pan. In order to saute food correctly, a small amount of butter or oil is used; too much and this technique becomes more like frying.

Sauteed food is cooked quickly, over high heat and is bounced up and down in the pan by a forward and back motion of the pan over the burner. Saute’ pans are designed to help keep food in during this step. The saute’ pan’s straight sides accomplish this very well.

Saute pans usually have long handles, shallow sides and a lid. The bottom is often clad with copper to assist with even heat distribution and the lid should be tight fitting.

Sauteing is different than frying because so little oil or butter is used. It is also different than searing since searing is used to “lock in” flavors before finishing the cooking in another manner, such as roasting or stewing. But searing is much like stir frying since the foods are not allowed to just sit in the bottom of the pan, soaking up the fat or stewing in their juices.

Smaller foods are sauteed by tossing them around in the oil and butter, but larger foods, such as a chicken breast, should be allowed to brown completely on one side before turning it to the other side to complete the cooking process.