From Cooking Wiki
Sautéing
The ordinary way of frying in a shallow pan with only a little fat, first on one side and then on the other, which the French call sautéing, answers very well for some purposes,--omelets, fried cakes, and many things browned in butter; but nearly everything that requires any more fat than just enough to keep it from sticking, is much better immersed in hot fat. Fish balls, chops, and oysters are more quickly cooked, and absorb less fat, when fried by immersion than when sautéd. Some people are extremely unwilling to make the change, and persist in going on in the old way of cooking in a little, half-hot fat which spatters over stove and floor, soaks into the fish or meat, and is often served as the only gravy. Upon such, dyspepsia is a fell avenger.
