[close] All cooks should master sautéing, a time- and flavor-saving technique. How to Sauté provides a succinct but comprehensive tutorial. In fewer than 100 pages it offers illustrated, step-by-step instructions for meat, poultry, and seafood sautéing--recipes, tips, and information that all cooks can use.

Beginning with a particularly good section on sauté basics, the book then offers chapters that explore sautéing methods for chicken, turkey, and veal cutlets; pork medallions; steak; fish fillets and steaks; shrimp and scallops. For each of these, core recipes are presented with variations or suggestions for sauce or composed butter accompaniments. Thus, for example, readers learn to sauté steak perfectly, then how to prepare it with red wine and brandy peppercorn sauces for steak Diane, or with Roquefort butter, among other approaches. Throughout, underlying techniques are explored and illustrated (how to slice veal cutlets is a good one), and sensible tips abound (keep the pan moving when sautéing prone-to-stick fish fillets, for example).

A true primer, the book is part of the Cook's Illustrated Library series. Like the magazine, the books are dedicated to presenting tried-and-perfected recipes and cooking techniques in a concise, approachable way. --Arthur Boehm [close]