Julia's Kitchen Wisdom (12 page)

Spooning up a luscious hollandaise

Meats, Poultry, and Fish

“Meats, poultry, and fish—each is unique, but so many of them cook in almost the same way.”

SAUTÉING

The quickest and easiest way to cook a ½-inch-thick single-portion size of meat, chicken, or fish is to sauté it, meaning you pat it dry, plop it into a hot pan, and cook it rapidly on one side, then the other, until it is nicely browned and just done. The meat juices caramelize in the pan, and that gives you the basis for your quick and delicious little pan sauce. If the portion is a bit thicker, it simply needs longer cooking, and you cover the pan to finish it off. Different foods demand, of course, slightly different treatments, and we’ll start with the basic sauté, then go on to some of the essential variations.

FOR A SUCCESSFUL SAUTÉ

DRY THE FOOD.
If the food is damp it will steam rather than brown. Pat it dry it in paper towels, or in some cases season it and dredge in flour just before cooking.

HEAT THE PAN.
Set the pan over high heat, add the butter or oil, and wait until the butter foam is beginning to subside, or until your fat or oil is almost smoking. Then, and only then, add the food. If it is not really hot, the food will not brown.

DON’T CROWD THE PAN.
Be sure there is a little space between pieces of food—about ¼ inch. If the pieces are crowded together, they will steam rather than brown. Don’t fall into the trap of adding too much to your pan. Sauté in 2 or even 3 batches if necessary, or you’ll be sorry.

THE FRYING PAN.
Get yourself a good solid pan, one that will just hold your food and is neither too big nor too small. I am wedded to my trusty all-purpose professional-weight Wearever aluminum nonstick with its 10-inch top diameter, 8-inch bottom, and long handle. I also have the smaller size, 6 inches across, and the larger, 12-inch pan.

NOTE:
This is not a fancy “gourmet” type pan, and you’ll most often find it in a hardware store.

MASTER RECIPE

Sautéed Beef Steaks
Serves 4

1 Tbs unsalted butter

1 tsp light olive oil or vegetable oil—a little more if needed

4 well-trimmed 5-to-6-ounce beefsteaks ½ inch thick (boneless loin strip, rib, or other)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the Deglazing Sauce

1 Tbs minced shallot or scallion

1 clove garlic, puréed, optional

⅔ cup red wine—or ½ cup dry white French vermouth

⅓ cup beef or chicken broth

1 to 2 Tbs unsalted butter

Set your frying pan over highest heat and swirl in the butter and oil. When the butter foam has almost subsided, rapidly lay in the steaks. Sauté undisturbed for a minute or so, quickly season the surface of the meat with salt and pepper, and turn the steaks. Season the steaks on the exposed sides, and let brown again for a minute or so before testing for doneness.

WHEN IS IT DONE?
Test rapidly and often, since meat can overcook very quickly. Press it with your finger. If it feels squashy, like raw meat, it is very rare. As it cooks it becomes springy—when lightly springy it is medium, and if there is no spring it is well done.

The Deglazing Sauce.
Remove the meat to a hot platter and cover while making the sauce. Tilt the pan and spoon out all but a smidgen of fat, stir in the shallot and garlic with a wooden spoon, and let sauté a moment, then swish in the wine and broth, stirring the coagulated meat juices into the liquid. Let boil rapidly for a few seconds, until reduced to a syrup. Remove pan from heat, toss in the butter, and swirl the pan by its handle to swish the butter into the sauce until it has been absorbed. The sauce will smooth and thicken lightly; you will have but a small spoonful of deliciously concentrated juices per person. Pour over the steaks, and serve.

VARIATIONS

• VEAL SCALLOPS.
  Use 5-to-6-ounce veal steaks (slices from the loin or leg) ½ inch thick. Season and brown on both sides in hot butter and oil, as described in the master recipe. Cook to medium—until lightly springy to the touch. Deglaze the pan with minced shallots, white wine, a dash of dry Madeira or port, and a sprinkling of tarragon.
  

• BONELESS CHICKEN BREASTS.
  For a quick sauté, I like to remove the skin and pound the breast meat between sheets of plastic wrap to a thickness of ½ inch. Season with salt and pepper, then proceed to the sauté in
  clarified butter
  . Cook the breasts about 1 minute per side, until springy to the touch—careful not to overcook, but you must be sure the chicken is cooked to the just-well-done stage—the juices run clear yellow with no tinge of pink. Deglaze the pan as described, with minced shallots, dry white French vermouth, and chicken stock; a sprinkling of tarragon goes nicely in the sauce here.
  

• SHRIMP IN LEMON AND GARLIC.
  Sauté 30 “large medium” peeled and deveined raw shrimp in 3 tablespoons olive oil with 1 or 2 large cloves of garlic, minced, and the minced zest (yellow part of peel) of ½ lemon. When the shrimp have curled, in 2 minutes or so, and feel springy, remove from heat and toss with 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, drops of soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss again, with 2 tablespoons of fine fresh olive oil and a sprinkling of minced parsley and fresh dill.
  

• SEA SCALLOPS SAUTÉED WITH GARLIC AND HERBS.
  For 1½ pounds, serving 6. Cut large scallops in thirds or quarters. Season with salt and pepper and, the moment before cooking,
  dredge in flour
  . Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of
  clarified butter
  or olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan, and when very hot but not smoking, turn them into the pan. Toss every few seconds, swirling the pan by its handle. As they rapidly begin to brown add a large clove of minced garlic and 1½ tablespoons of minced shallots, then 2 tablespoons of minced fresh parsley. The scallops are done when just springy to the touch. Serve at once.
  

  JUICE-EXUDING PROBLEMS?
  The scallops you buy may well have been “plumped” in a saline solution that exudes when the scallops are warmed, making a proper sauté impossible. If you are dealing with a fishmonger, always ask for “dry” scallops. In any case, it’s wise to test them out by briefly heating through 3 or 4 in a dry nonstick frying pan. If liquid exudes, heat all of them by handfuls, drain—saving liquid for fish stock—dry, and then proceed to your sauté but cut down on the normal timing.
  

• HAMBURGERS.
  Sometimes I like my hamburgers perfectly plain and at other times I want to flavor them. In any case, form the meat rather loosely into 5-ounce patties—about ½ inch thick for quick cooking.
  

  Plain Hamburgers.
  If I’m to panfry them I rub the pan itself with a little vegetable oil, heat it to almost smoking, and sauté the hamburgers about 1 minute on each side. I give them the finger test, as in the master recipe—I like mine medium rare, when they are barely beginning to take on a little spring.
  

  Rather than pan-frying plain hamburgers, however, I do recommend the stovetop grill pan with its ridged interior. Oil it lightly, heat it until almost smoking, and on go the hamburgers. The cooking fat runs out of the meat and off the ridges into the valleys.
  

  Flavored Hamburgers.
  For 4 hamburgers, fold into the meat 1 grated medium-size onion, salt and pepper, 3 tablespoons sour cream, and ½ teaspoon mixed herbs such as Italian or Provençal seasoning. Just before sautéing, turn the burgers in flour and shake off excess. Sauté on both sides in hot oil and make the sauce as directed in the master recipe.
  

TO DREDGE OR NOT TO DREDGE

Dredging the food in a light coating of flour before the sauté helps to hold the meat together and also gives it a light protective crusting. You will have little or no caramelization in the pan, and as to sauce you may simply want to make a browned butter, as for the fish fillets meunière below. Or, if you have a thicker piece of meat that needs further cooking, let it simmer in the wine and broth, and the flour coating will give you a lightly thickened sauce.

Calf’s Liver and Onions

For 4 slices of liver, 5 ounces each and ⅜ inch thick. Slowly sauté 3 cups sliced onions in the butter and oil, and when tender and translucent raise the heat and let the onions brown lightly for several minutes. Remove them to a side dish. Just before sautéing it, season the liver and dredge lightly in flour, shaking off excess. Add a little more butter and oil to the pan, heat until the butter foam begins to subside, and sauté the liver for less than a minute on each side—it will get further cooking and is to be served medium rare. Remove the pan from heat, spread the cooked onions over the liver, and pour in ½ cup of red wine or dry white French vermouth. Blend ½ tablespoon of Dijon-type mustard into ¼ cup chicken broth, and blend into the rest of the liquid. Set over moderate heat and bring to the slow boil, basting the liver and onions with the sauce for a minute or two. The liver is done when just lightly springy to the touch.