What is the difference between fry and saute?
In this brief article we are going to answer the question,”What is the difference between fry and saute?”, and discuss what are some other terms often misused for the words “fry” and “saute”. We will also discuss what frying is, what types of food can be fried, what are the basic rules of frying, along with what saute is, what type of foods can be sauteed and the basic rules of saute.
What is the difference between fry and saute?
The difference between fry and saute is, frying is done by immersing food in hot oil or hot fat while saute is using a little oil in a pan to avoid sticking of food.
What are some other terms often misused for the words “fry” and “saute”?
Other terms that are often misused are:
- Grilling – cooking directly over the heat source. A pan with raised ridges is used sometimes.
- Pan-frying – This term is an American version for expressing the term saute.
- Pan broil – Cooking in a hot pan containing salt instead of fat or oil, or cooking food which has been coated or layered with oil.
What is frying?
Frying is a common method of cooking that uses dry heat when food is put in a pan of hot oil. For frying, the food items should relatively be larger in size on medium temperature dry heat.
It is necessary that for frying, the food should be completely immersed in oil therefore tossing and turning of food is usually not necessary. Frying requires lower temperatures to avoid burning of lower surfaces of foods.
What types of food can be fried?
Chicken, crabs, shrimps, dumplings, spring rolls, mozzarella balls, samosas and fries are some of the many foods that can be fried.
What are the basic rules for frying?
- There should be at least a 3 inch difference between the surface of the oil to the top of the pot so that the oil doesn’t fall outside of the pot when it starts to bubble.
- Heat the oil at low temperatures. Once the oil is heated, food should gently be lowered into the pot.
- Once your oil is at the right temperature it is important not to change the heat. Too hot and the food gets burnt. Too cold will make the fry up greasy.
What is sauteing?
Sauteing is a type of cooking method in hot pans which contain very little oil. The pan is shallow and the food is spread in the entire pan, to receive heat quickly from the stove.
Sauteing causes browning of the outer surface of foods and the frypan should be jerked once in a while to prevent sticking of food with the pan and to prevent the food from getting burnt.
What types of foods can be sauteed?
Tender cuts of meat, poultry, fish can be sauteed because they lend themselves to cooking. These types of meat can only be sauteed if they are no thicker than 2 inches. Sauteing also sears the outside of the protein being cooked.
What are the basic rules for sauteing?
- Greasing- The pan should be greased for lubrication with fat or oil, just enough to prevent sticking of food.
A light coating film enough to cover the bottom of the pan is enough especially in cases when fatty meat and poultry have to be sauteed, which usually render more fat which can be used for cooking and avoid sticking of meat with pan.
- Use of very hot pans – For sauteing you need to make sure that all the fat has melted in the pan and is almost smoking, and the pan is very hot. Pans which are good for sauteing are usually the black, cast-iron pans.
- Drying – Drying of food that is to be sauteed is an essential step as not all home stoves get hot as commercial ones. The reason for drying is to remove moisture to prevent the formation of steam.
- Uncrowded – The pan must never be crowded or too full of the food being sauteed
- Uncovered. The pan must be uncovered when sauteing to prevent the formation of steam.
Conclusion
In this brief article we answered the question,”What is the difference between fry and saute?”, and discussed what are some other terms often misused for the words “fry” and “saute” We also discussed what frying is, what types of food can be fried, what are the basic rules of frying, along with what saute is, what type of foods can be sauteed and the basic rules of saute.
