Dry your meat
Make sure your meat is dry (pat dry with a paper towel if necessary). When the oil starts to smoke and shimmer
you’re ready.
Don’t fiddle
Place the meat into the pan and leave it alone for the desired time, don’t be tempted to turn it over. Shake the pan gently to check
readiness. If the meat is loose it is ready to flip over and repeat.
Once it is seared properly it can be served, baked in an oven, casserole, roast or continue with whatever your recipe requires.
Season meats with salt and pepper just before cooking if you desire.
Sauté Meat, Fish and Vegetables
To sauté is to cook food quickly in a minimal amount of fat over relatively high heat. The word comes from the French verb sauter, which
describes not only how food reacts when placed in a hot pan but also the method of tossing the food in the pan. The term also refers to
cooking tender cuts of meat (such as chicken breasts, scaloppini, or filet mignon) in a small amount of fat over moderately high heat
without frequent stirring―just flipping it over when one side is browned.
And because the food is cooked quickly, the integrity of the flavor and texture remains intact; asparagus, for example, retains its slightly
grassy punch, as well as a pleasing crisp-tender bite.
Your
Shaffer-Berry
fry pan is ideal for this technique.
Whether its meat or vegetables, time in the pan is brief, so it's important that the food be naturally tender. Cuts such as beef tenderloin, fish
fillets, and chicken breasts are good candidates; tougher cuts like brisket or pork shoulder are better for long cooking over low heat. The
same principle holds for produce. Asparagus tips will be more successfully sautéed than beets. Many other tender vegetables, including
baby artichokes, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, and bell peppers, lend themselves to this technique. That's not to say that denser, tougher
vegetables can't be sautéed―they just may need to be blanched (briefly cooked in boiling water) first to get a head start on cooking.
Cutting food to a uniform thickness and size ensures that it will cook evenly. Vegetables should be no larger than bite-sized, meat no larger
than portion-sized. Meat that is too thick or vegetables that are too large run the risk of burning or forming a tough, overly browned outer
crust in the time that it takes to completely cook them. Have the ingredients prepped before heating the pan.
Heat the pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes. It needs to be quite hot in order to cook the food properly. If the heat is too low, the
food will end up releasing liquid and steaming rather than sautéing.
