As I was growing up, much of the food we ate was fried. I don’t know what the fat was, probably animal fat my grandfather or mother preserved. I do know it wasn’t olive oil. After I realized I could cook and “mentally” taste, I discovered oils for cooking. Eventually it became olive oil. I never have looked back.
As I cooked more, read and asked questions of friends who were good cooks, I discovered sauteing. Although this is frying, there’s very little oil used. Although most of my sauteing is of meats, some vegetables saute well, such as bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, onions and others. Fried potatoes are sauteed. However, they are not part of this story.
One thing I like about sauteing is the sauce that can be made by deglazing the skillet once the ingredients have been cooked. I remove the food and any excess fat. I have wine or chicken stock ready to use in deglazing the pan. For most meats, I use about one-quarter of a cup of dry red wine. While the skillet is hot, I pour in the wine and scrape all of the remnants of the cooked meat so that it and the wine blend. I cook this until I have reduced the amount of liquid by about half. I then quickly pour the sauce over the cooked meat and serve at once.
For sauteed chicken or veggies, I use the same amount of dry white wine. Otherwise, everything else is the same. If you don’t drink alcohol or want to save your wine, you can use chicken stock in the same amount as the wine. Both stock and wine are items I always have on hand. The sauce, which is quite rich, takes a short time to create but adds a great deal of flavor to the finished food.
Enjoy and stay safe.
If you have suggestions or questions for this column, please contact me directly at guthrielarason@verizon.net.
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