Skill 5 of 16

Sautéing

Medium heat, a little fat, and stirring just enough.

What it means

Sauté

Sautéing means cooking cut-up food in a little oil or butter over medium to medium-high heat, stirring now and then. It cooks things quickly and browns them lightly without burning.

How you’ll know: You hear a steady, lively sizzle, not a hiss and spit, and the edges start to soften and color.

Shimmering oil

Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.

How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.

Fragrant

Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.

How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.

Softened

For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.

How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.