Definition, use, and examples of the word sweating.
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I’m Jenn de la Vega and this is your culinary word of the day.
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Today’s word is sweating
It is spelled... S-W-E-A-T-I-N-G.
“Appasire is called “sweating” in English-language kitchens. It is a way of softening vegetables over moderate heat, and generally in oil or fat, until they become soft, translucent and lose volume due to the evaporation of water during cooking.”
For The Spruce Eats, Danilo Alfaro writes,
“Sweating concentrates flavors and releases sugars. The vegetables become tender as tough cell walls are broken down, and in the case of onions, they may become translucent. This change in texture is often desirable in soups, stews, and sauces.
Sweating is similar to sautéeing, with the difference being that in the latter technique, higher heat is used, and the food will often be browned. Sweating is more about softening, not browning. It's used when you don't want the brown color and flavors that happen in the Maillard reaction of browning.
Often, the cook will keep stirring the vegetables during sweating to ensure they are cooking uniformly and they haven't started to brown. Cutting the vegetables into uniform pieces also helps ensure that they all cook at the same rate. Salt is also often added as it helps draw out the moisture.”
Emma Christensen of The Kitchn adds,
“Look for the vegetables to start glistening and softening around the edges, then move on to the next step in the recipe.
This technique is often used in recipes where those aromatics will be a background flavor base rather than main ingredients in the dish. It’s also used a lot in slow-simmered dishes where the vegetables will continue to cook over a long stretch of time, like with braises and soups.”
Finally, Kumiko Mitarai of Serious Eats says,
“So many great soups, sauces, stews, and braises start with some simply sweated aromatic vegetables. [...] Often, sweated vegetables will later be pureed or pressed through a sieve to become part of a soup or sauce. In other dishes, they are left whole. You can also sweat some finely chopped vegetables and then let them a bit cool before adding them into a meatloaf or fish cakes.”
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I’m Jenn de la Vega and this has been your culinary word of the day.
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