Sauté

Despite the fact that it sounds a little fancy, sauté is a very basic cooking term. All it means is to cook something in a small amount of oil, or butter, on the stovetop. To do it properly, just heat your oil over medium-high heat until it comes to temperature, then add the ingredients that you wish to cook. If you add ingredients to cold oil, they will take longer to cook and steam or wilt, rather than browning.