— Fran Costigan

The best thing about a no oil saute is having a good stainless steel pan. And people always ask me for recommendations. And I think I either got this at like Marshalls or TJ Maxx, but you can also go to a thrift shop and pick up a good quality stainless steel pan because that really is helpful in learning to master the technique of the no oil saute. And when you begin that assignment, you always wanna do the mercury ball test, which works best in a stainless steel pan, which tells you that the heat of your pan is good. If the heat of your pan is too low, your mushrooms will remain plump when you want them to cook at a good temperature so that they lose their moisture and they actually look sauteed. The other part of it, chef Fran, is about the de glazing. And of course you wanna have good garlic, uh, but your garlic doesn't go in first. It's those shallots that are gonna go in first because garlic is a low moisture vegetable and it burns quickly. So you add this just before you deglaze. And once you deglaze with either water stock or wine, uh, then you go on from there. And mushrooms do not like to be stirred too much. And pretty much in about three or four minutes you're going to have beautifully colored mahogany brown, sauteed oil free mushrooms. And that's that in a nutshell. But the key is a good pan, good heat on your, on the pan as well, and having your garlic not be the first ingredient. And I often say when I'm reviewing assignments that putting garlic in first when I'm watching cooking shows, I always sort of like shriek a little bit because I say to myself, your garlic is going to burn. So, uh, that's one important thing to remember because it's a low moisture vegetable.