Sweating (cooking)

{{Short description|Cooking technique}}

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File:Vegetables being sweated.jpg

Sweating in cooking is the gentle heating of vegetables in a little oil or butter, with frequent stirring and turning to ensure that any emitted liquid will evaporate.{{cite book | last1=Ruhlman | first1=M. | last2=Ruhlman | first2=D.T. | title=Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques, 100 Recipes, A Cook's Manifesto | publisher=Chronicle Books LLC | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-4521-1045-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjJlEqT3iRIC&pg=PA69 | access-date=February 10, 2021 | page=69}} Sweating usually results in tender, sometimes translucent, pieces. Sweating is often a preliminary step to further cooking in liquid; onions, in particular, are often sweated before including in a stew.{{efn|"While European cooks start most stews by gently sweating aromatic vegetables such as onions, carrots, celery, and garlic as a gently flavored mirepoix or soffritto, most Indian cooks rely most heavily on onions. And instead of the gentle ..."{{cite book | last=Peterson | first=J. | title=Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making, Fourth Edition | publisher=HMH Books | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-544-81983-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GX8sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT800 | access-date=February 10, 2021 | page=pt800}}}} This differs from sautéing in that sweating is done over a much lower heat,{{cite book | last=Marcus | first=J.B. | title=Aging, Nutrition and Taste: Nutrition, Food Science and Culinary Perspectives for Aging Tastefully | publisher=Elsevier Science | year=2019 | isbn=978-0-12-813528-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5aSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA241 | access-date=February 10, 2021 | page=241}} sometimes with salt added to help draw moisture away, and making sure that little or no browning takes place.{{cite book | last1=Kish | first1=K. | last2=Erickson | first2=M. | title=Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques | publisher=Crown Publishing Group | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-553-45976-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KeY3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 | access-date=February 10, 2021 | page=28}}

The sweating of vegetables has been used as a technique in the preparation of coulis.{{cite book | last=Chapelle | first=Vincent La | title=The Modern Cook | publisher=N. Prevost | issue=v. 1 | year=1733 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPZcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA92 | access-date=February 10, 2021 | page=92}}

In Italy, this cooking technique is known as soffritto, meaning "sub-frying" or "under-frying". In Italian cuisine, it is a common technique and preliminary step in the preparation of risotto, soups and sauces.

File:Sweating onions.jpg|Close-up view of sweated onions