Method · Hot and dry

Sauté and stir-fry

Cook small pieces fast, and keep them crisp instead of soggy.

Sauté means small pieces, a little fat, and food that keeps moving. A stir-fry is the same idea with the heat turned all the way up. It is the fastest way to get dinner on the table, and the easiest one to drown.

This lesson is free, start to finish. So is every other one.

At a glance

Best for: Vegetables, sliced meat, shrimp, anything cut small
Heat: Medium-high for a sauté, high for a stir-fry
Time: 3 to 10 minutes
Level: Start here

What you need

A wide skillet, 12 inches: Width matters more than depth. More floor means more browning.
A wok, if you have one: Good, not required. A wide skillet does the job on a home stove.
A thin spatula or wooden spoon: To keep the food moving.
Small bowls: Everything is cut and waiting before the heat goes on.

Why it works

Small pieces cook through in the time it takes the outside to brown. That only works if the pan stays hot. Every piece of food you add cools the pan and gives off water. Add too much and the water pools, the heat drops, and you are boiling your dinner.

So the rule is the same as for a sear, just faster: dry food, hot pan, not too much at once.

Cut first, cook second

Cut everything the same size, so it finishes at the same time.
Slice meat thin and across the grain. Half-frozen meat slices easier.
Line the bowls up in the order they go in. Slow things first: carrots and onions. Fast things last: garlic, greens, sauce.
Mix the sauce before you start. There’s no time once the pan is hot.

How to cut it evenly, in Knives →

The sauté, step by step

Heat the pan over medium-high until a drop of water skitters across it.
Add the oil, then the food, in one layer with gaps showing. If the pan goes quiet, it’s too full.
Let it sit for a moment to pick up color, then stir. Sit, stir, sit, stir.
Salt near the end for mushrooms and greens. Salt early pulls their water out before they brown.
Add garlic in the last 30 seconds. It burns faster than anything else in the pan.

The stir-fry, step by step

Get the pan as hot as your stove allows. Add oil and swirl.
Cook the meat first, in one layer, about 2 minutes. Take it out while it’s just short of done.
Cook the vegetables, hardest first. A splash of water and a lid for 30 seconds softens broccoli and carrots.
Push everything to the sides. Add garlic and ginger to the middle for 15 seconds.
Put the meat back. Pour the sauce around the edge of the pan, not on top, so it hits hot metal and thickens.
Toss for 30 seconds and get it out. It keeps cooking on the plate.

Sweat, sauté, caramelize

The same onion gives you three different foods. Low heat with a lid and no color is a sweat: soft and sweet, for soups. Medium-high and moving is a sauté: browned edges with a little bite. Low and slow for 40 minutes is caramelized: dark, jammy and sweet. The recipe will say which one it wants. Now you know what it’s asking.

When it goes wrong

Soggy and pale: Too much food in the pan. Cook it in two batches. It’s faster than waiting for the water to boil off.
Burnt garlic: It went in first. Garlic goes in last, for seconds, not minutes.
Tough meat: Sliced with the grain, or cooked too long. Slice across the grain and pull it early. It finishes when it goes back in.
Some pieces raw, some mush: Uneven cuts, or everything went in at once. Same size, hardest first.
Watery sauce: It was poured on top of the food. Pour it on the hot metal at the edge, and stir a teaspoon of cornstarch into the sauce before you start.

Practice on these

Recipes that use this.

Pork · Easy