Sweating vs. Sautéing: What’s the difference?

For those of you who follow along our culinary journey- you will have no doubt noticed that I am still relatively new to cooking. Hell, I’m brand new to trying new foods in general! Having noticed that, you will too in all probability have taken note that I’m pretty enthusiastic about the things I love. Not least of which, my enthusiasm for cooking. So it goes without saying (although, I’m saying it now…) that I’ve done my fair share of rummaging around the Internet. Trying to decipher the verbal code that chefs and foodies both use to try and make sense of one another. Eh, so… Maybe I’m a bit of an over achiever. In either case I figured it might be good for us to cover some basic cooking terms. You know, just so everyone is up to speed!

Today’s culinary mystery words are “Sweating” and “Sautéing.” Everyone has heard one or both of these terms thrown around from time to time, but what do they mean?  Well both involve the transfer of heat into a food of some sort- in this case let’s say  yellow onion- but that’s where their similarities end.

When sweating onions we are using a relatively low heat and a small amount of fat to draw moisture out of the vegetable. Stirred frequently, it should show no signs of caramelization  (or browning) and become translucent in color. This method of cooking would be used before the onions were to be further cooked in a liquid, such as in soup. The idea is to help develop flavors earlier on without changing the original flavor entirely- which usually accompanies heavy caramelization.

With sautéing foods we are using less fat and very high heat. We’re cooking the food through while spending very little time in the pan. The result is a crispy vegetable center with heavy caramelization- and even charing on the outer layer. Remember to keep your food cut down into bite sized uh, bites when sautéing. Smaller pieces will ensure even cooking without such risk of over charring on the outer layer. This method of cooking is particularly useful with foods like garlic, onion, peppers and asparagus. Denser foods like broccoli or potatoes may require a quick blanch (for clarification click here) beforehand to supercharge the cooking process.

Now everyone is ready to sweat vegetables for a delicious Jambalaya or sauté asparagus to go with that perfectly seared New York Strip.