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Saute fish in a pan?


notaste

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Not True.

The term "SAUTE" can be used to describe fish being cooked at high heat.

The "shaking" has nothing to do with sauteeing other than being a functional way to move the meat around. In most cases with meat. you need to use long tongs to turn the meat so you can brown it evenly.

To add my two cents. Saute means to jump. That is the method. Hot pan, item seared from the heat. The saute means that the pan is so hot the food jumps. There is no shaking needed in saute. As a matter of fact, that is a bad plan altogether. No doubt in my mind. I learned it at the CIA.

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Not True.

The term "SAUTE" can be used to describe fish being cooked at high heat.

The "shaking" has nothing to do with sauteeing other than being a functional way to move the meat around. In most cases with meat. you need to use long tongs to turn the meat so you can brown it evenly.

To add my two cents. Saute means to jump. That is the method. Hot pan, item seared from the heat. The saute means that the pan is so hot the food jumps. There is no shaking needed in saute. As a matter of fact, that is a bad plan altogether. No doubt in my mind. I learned it at the CIA.

I think that whatever the word may have meant at one time and may still mean to purists, it has now come to mean "cook in a film of hot oil until a crust forms". If I review dozens of recipes from books and on-line, that is the meaning I derive from the word as it is now used. Anna N

Edited to try to fix format with no luck.

Edited by Anna N (log)

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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A while back, I read a technique for cooking fillets of fish which I haven't tried. I think it was Bernard Loisseau's. He cooked the fish, skin side down at a high temperature and didn't turn it at all. Instead he turned the flesh side out onto an extremely hot plate, which finished off the cooking. He would not allow a cloche to be used on the dish, as the steam would ruin the crust on the fish.

Has anyone tried this technique?

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Never heard of it but it sounds interesting.

Only problem is that a plate that hot would curdle or scorch any sauce or accompaniment used with the fish..........unless that was just to hold it hot and then the fish is transferred to another actual serving plate.

Picnicchef is correct, the whole issue of Sauteeing requiring shaking of the pan is BS.

At CIA, Cordon Bleu Paris, Ritz Ecole place vendome, the term "saute" meaning to "jump" was described as the pan so hot that the food jumps not because the pan shakes.

Also...Barley Risotto isnt risotto.

"risotto" isnt an adjective, its a specific preparation that requires rice.

More logic : on the island of Sardinia....

Fregola is cooked exactly the way risotto is cooked but it is called Fregola sarda not fregola "risotto".

Edited by Vadouvan (log)
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Food terminology is often imprecise and confusing but that doesn't mean we should do anything to make it more so.

A saute achieves even browning by the probabilistic effects of constantly moving chunks of food to ensure that all sides are eventually browned. A sear involves a systematic turning of individual pieces of food in order to achieve even browning.

To start using either word in either situation merely serves to confuse rather than clarify when talking about methods of food preparation. Since sear already provides a very clear description of what is happening to a piece of fish, I don't see why one would use saute.

PS: I am a guy.

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Food terminology is often imprecise and confusing but that doesn't mean we should do anything to make it more so.

A saute achieves even browning by the probabilistic effects of constantly moving chunks of food to ensure that all sides are eventually browned. A sear involves a systematic turning of individual pieces of food in order to achieve even browning.

To start using either word in either situation merely serves to confuse rather than clarify when talking about methods of food preparation. Since sear already provides a very clear description of what is happening to a piece of fish, I don't see why one would use saute.

I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but sear and saute are different. For example if you were "pan roasting" the salmon, you would indeed sear it in the pan, and then finish the cooking process in the oven. A saute stays on the flame and is not finished in the oven. And, for the record, saute usually uses the fond for the sauce, which even with fish can happen, if for example you saute flounder and then make a beurre blanc in that same saute pan with the minimal fond remaining.

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There is no confusion.

I attribute the different opinions to the fact that the e-gullet forum is populated by both professional restaurant cooks and amateur home cooks. Not to be disparaging of home cooks but the point is most professional cooks have automatic built in clarification when certain instructions are given, which is why technique is important.

If you say "Saute the Black bass" to a restaurant cook, I most certainly assure you they have no intentions of shaking it although they realise it is going to be sauteed in hot oil.

*Even* if you were to "saute" chunks of meat in hot oil to brown them, any serious cook knows that the only way to brown evenly is to use tongs to turn the meat not to shake the pan.

Assuming each piece of meat has minimum 4 surfaces to brown due to the irregular trapezoidal shape, the statistical probabilty of shaking a pan with 8 to 12 pieces of meat (32 to 48 surfaces)...

and assuring that every time you shake the pan, an entirely unbrowned surface out of all 32 to 48 surfaces faces down each time.............is about the same as the statistical probability of rolling 12 dice at once and rolling 12 of any of the same number (1 thru 6).

That doesnt even factor in the time constraints of high heat cooking, which is why tongs are used.

"Searing" also does not neccesarily mean that the item being seared is cooked to completion.

Seared Scallops for example are cooked in 2 minutes but one can also sear a chunk of meat before long slow braising.

sorry to be so mathemathical about it ..........but seriously, that "shaking" thing is played out.

By the way PICnicchef..... to your query, based on size of fish and cutting method (filet, Tranche, paupiette) it is posssible to pan roast to med rare and use carry over heat to cook salmon or other fish perfectly without going in the oven at all.

Also in the current concept of modern kitchen, i would be quite suprised if anybody makes a-la minute sauces such as beurre blanc. I think all sauces are just made and held without depending on "fonds" from the cooking.

Edited by Vadouvan (log)
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Don't add salt to draw out moisture, or score the fish, or rub with your knife to release moisture, if I remember correctly dry fish is no bueno. Time and temperature is your issue, remember your stove has nobs-dont be afraid to use them (Emiral). Control the heat so you do not kill the outside before the inside is done. Get creative, put a lid on the pan, or put the entire thing in the oven (although the culinary police will have issue b/c you said you were "sauteeing"), hell, even add a little h2o, butter, and wine to the pan. If you want a crust on the top just remember this, start with the top down, dont shake the pan, let the crust form, flip and finish.

"He could blanch anything in the fryolator and finish it in the microwave or under the salamander. Talented guy."

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There is no confusion.

I attribute the different opinions to the fact that the e-gullet forum is populated by both professional restaurant cooks and amateur home cooks. Not to be disparaging of home cooks but the point is most professional cooks have automatic built in clarification when certain instructions are given, which is why technique is important.

If you say "Saute the Black bass" to a restaurant cook, I most certainly assure you they have no intentions of shaking it although they realise it is going to be sauteed in hot oil.

*Even* if you were to "saute" chunks of meat in hot oil to brown them, any serious cook knows that the only way to brown evenly is to use tongs to turn the meat not to shake the pan.

Assuming each piece of meat has minimum 4 surfaces to brown due to the irregular trapezoidal shape, the statistical probabilty of shaking a pan with 8 to 12 pieces of meat (32 to 48 surfaces)...

and assuring that every time you shake the pan, an entirely unbrowned surface out of all 32 to 48 surfaces faces down each time.............is about the same as the statistical probability of rolling 12 dice at once and rolling 12 of any of the same number (1 thru 6).

That doesnt even factor in the time constraints of high heat cooking, which is why tongs are used.

"Searing" also does not neccesarily mean that the item being seared is cooked to completion.

Seared Scallops for example are cooked in 2 minutes but one can also sear a chunk of meat before long slow braising.

sorry to be so mathemathical about it ..........but seriously, that "shaking" thing is played out.

By the way PICnicchef..... to your query, based on size of fish and cutting method (filet, Tranche, paupiette) it is posssible to pan roast to med rare and use carry over heat to cook salmon or other fish perfectly without going in the oven at all.

Also in the current concept of modern kitchen, i would be quite suprised if anybody makes a-la minute sauces such as beurre blanc. I think all sauces are just made and held without depending on "fonds" from the cooking.

I'm in almost complete agreement with you. However, I am a profesional, and I am a firm believer in a la minute sauces. Nothing beats them.

I completely depend on fond...I adore fond...I need fond for my sauces, including fish. And, with salmon, I like to sear it with a seriously hot pan, and finish it to medium rare in the oven, and for most customers, the carry-over takes it to medium, which is what they like. Personally, I only eat salmon raw, but that is an aside. Scallops, for me... 1 minute on each side for 10-20s. I need texture that does not stick to the teeth...

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To each his own..

But my point is the modern restaurants of today rarely if ever make a la minute sauces.

Its much more economically sensible(not to mention quality and consistency) to make sauces from meat and fisfh scraps and stocks. I am pretty certain the sauces I have had at per se, gilt J georges, ducasse arent a la minute.

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  • 3 months later...

I bought the choc pan that Vadouvan posted about and made the most ethereal soft shells in there for lunch - first of the season.

Thanks for the tip!

Evan

Dough can sense fear.

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