Many home cooks fear French cuisine, thinking it consists of
nothing but fancy foods and terrifying techniques. Not so.
Consider the art of sauteing. It manages to be classic and
elegant as well as fast and efficient. It consists of cooking
food quickly in a small amount of hot fat over direct heat for
even browning. Almost any food can be sauteed — meat, fish, or
chicken. All you need is a heavy-bottomed saute pan, a pair of
tongs, some flour, and a touch of fat: olive oil, or a
combination of butter and oil (for the flavor of butter but the
stability of oil). Once the meat is done to a golden turn, you
deglaze the pan with some liquid — broth or lemon juice, for
instance, and let the caramelized bits clinging to the pan turn
into an exquisite sauce. The result? Intense flavor in a matter
of moments. To begin, just follow these four steps.
POUND
Meat that is to be sauteed must be thin enough to cook quickly.
Using a mallet, pound chicken and pork until the chicken is 1/4
inch thick; the pork, 1/2 inch thick. Take care that you don't
crush the meat. Pounding between two sheets of plastic wrap or
waxed paper protects the meat by allowing it to slide as it gets
thinner and wider.
FLOUR
To ensure good browning, the meat must be dredged in flour
immediately before it goes in the pan. Don't flour the meat
ahead of time. You want to go directly from flour to pan to
ensure a dry, crisp sear that won't stick and that will leave a
golden crust. Any moisture will interfere with proper searing
and browning, since the food will start steaming instead.
SAUTE
The oil must be very hot so the meat can literally jump around
in the pan. The word sauter, in fact, means "to jump" in French.
To test the oil, drop a tiny bit of flour in the pan. If it
puffs and comes to the surface instantly, the oil is hot enough.
If it's not, the flour will sink to the bottom. Learn to look
for the moment when the oil is luminously clear and shimmering.
DEGLAZING
Once the meat is browned and cooked through, the sauce practically
makes itself in the pan. You deglaze by adding liquid (usually
water, stock, or wine) and stirring to loosen the caramelized bits
of food left clinging to the pan. Add a touch of butter and fresh
herbs and the result will be a rich and concentrated French sauce.
Congratulations, you're a gourmet chef!
