Browning and Glazing

			From: leslie.borden@comcast.net Subject: Re: Springtime Composition Date: June 14, 2003 1:47:25 PM EDT To: aroundthekitchen@drwoonline.com Reply-To: aroundthekitchen@drwoonline.com Hi, Margo, The key to browning or caramelizing in sauteing is the right level of heat. You want it high enough to brown and lay down a glaze (that you can turn into a nice little pan sauce), but not so high that (a) your food will burn or (b) the food won’t cook through before it’s browned properly. With thin foods like asparagus and scallions, you want to be more on the high side than on the medium (don’t know what kind of cooktop you use). Also, not too much oil or butter, which will also interfere with the browning. Get the oil or oil and butter mixture (not butter alone, because the smoke point is too low) to only just smoking, then add the asparagus and scallions. Let them sit in the pan to brown on one side, then toss (oh, that flip of the wrist that I learned from Tom) to turn them over - remember, “saute” comes from the French word “to jump.” Test for tenderness with a fork or point of a paring knife. You could also, for a variation on Tom’s composition, add the prosciutto, sliced into finger-sized slices, to the pan to crisp it a little. As a gratuitous addition, I will only note that for mushrooms, you want blazingly high heat, because they are mostly water, and to get a properly browned mushroom instead of a piece of limp cardboard sitting in liquid, you need to have the pan so hot that the mushroom surfaces will seal up in the browning. See you around the (didactic) kitchen, lb