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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--saute This week's theme: French terms for food. saute or sauté (so-TAY) verb tr. To cook in a hot pan with little oil, frequently turning or tossing. [From French sauter (to jump) as the cook vigorously jerks the pan to keep the ingredients from burning.] There is something of a grammatical problem with bringing the word into English, though, since it is only the past participle sauté rather than the infinitive that has made the linguistic migration. To quote the Oxford Companion to food: "Thus in English, when the imperative is required, as often happens in recipes, only the past participle is available. The result looks odd ('Sauté the mushrooms...'), but works." Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Guest wordsmith Rudy Chelminski (rudychelminskiATaol.com) "Heat a little vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Saute half the onions and the bell pepper until translucent." Try Making Mobster's Enchiladas, and More; Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania); Oct 27, 2005. X-Bonus Several excuses are always less convincing than one. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

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