Sautéeing vs. braising: a discussion

The style in which we normally cook our (mostly vegetable) dishes is called ginisa (or ginisang, followed by the name of the main ingredient) which translates as sautéed or stir-fried. However, I learned from Jay Rosenberg's esteemed cookbook, The Impoverished Student's Book of Cookery, Drinkery and Housekeepery, that to sauté means "to cook in some oil until brown all over" and that doesn't accurately describe the Cebuano form of ginisa which entails parboiling the meat or chicken then cooking it, along with chopped onions and garlic, in some hot oil for just a few moments, then adding a small amount of soy sauce to give it its brown coloring.



Then I remembered a couple of things from when I was young. I once ate lunch at The Athenian restaurant located upstairs in the main Pike Place Market building in Seattle. Their specialty, recommended by the waiter was the seafood sauté, which ended up being a rather moist, saucy dish of mixed seafood and vegetables such as peppers and onions. (I remember that the waiter was a guy in his 30s, wearing jeans and a work-style shirt which should give you some idea about this restaurant's intended clientele: it was more of a working-man's restaurant than a hoity-toity, fancy place.)

I also remember that I once bought a set of rather expensive but high-quality Chantal brand cookware at a small kitchen supply shop in downtown Seattle, located near the Westlake Mall. The set included two saucepans, one large and one small, and a type of frying pan with straight sides which Chantal called a "sautéuse." As I recall, the pamphlet that came with it said that the idea of the straight sides was so that not as much liquid would evaporate as compared to the flaring sides of a typical skillet or frying pan, keeping the food moister and juicier.

This all got me to wondering just what it means to sauté. Some quick Google-fu tells me that the word "sauté" is French for "jumped" or "bounced" and refers to the cooking style, which is to fast-cook thinly-sliced meats and/or vegetables in a small quantity of oil, just enough to let the items slide and not stick, over fairly high heat. The term refers to the technique of suddenly jerking or shaking the pan occasionally to cause the ingredients to jump into the air slightly and turn over. It seems that the straight sides of the sautéuse are meant to help prevent the food from jumping right out of the pan onto the stovetop, rather than to preserve more moisture. Sautéed food is cooked in this manner until brown all over, yet thoroughly cooked as well as opposed to searing, which merely browns the outsides. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Braising, on the other hand, entails a two-step cooking method involving first dry heat to sear the food then moist heat, using a covered pan or pot and an amount of water, to finish the cooking. So that's really more like the Filipino (or Cebuano, anyway) ginisa style of cooking.

So now I know. :)