French Phrase
Pour faire sauter, on met moins de matière grasse.
Meaning
The sentence explains a cooking tip: when you want to sauté (quickly fry) food, you should use a smaller amount of cooking fat. It highlights the French culinary principle of keeping the pan hot while limiting oil or butter to avoid soggy results.
When to use
Use this phrase when giving or following a recipe, especially in a cooking class, a kitchen video, or a casual conversation about how to prepare vegetables, meat, or seafood by sautéing.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Pourfairesauter,onmetmoinsdematièregrasse.
Pour + infinitif
‘Pour’ followed by an infinitive expresses purpose or intention, similar to ‘in order to’ in English.
Faire + infinitif (causative)
‘Faire’ + infinitive can create a causative meaning, but in ‘faire sauter’ it is a fixed culinary expression meaning ‘to sauté.’
Impersonal ‘on’
‘On’ is the neutral pronoun used like ‘one’ or ‘we’ in everyday French, especially in cooking instructions.
Comparative ‘moins de’
‘Moins de’ means ‘less of’; it is used to compare quantities, here indicating a smaller amount of fat.
Matière grasse
Literally ‘fatty substance’; in cooking it refers to oil, butter, or any cooking fat.
🗨In Conversation
Pour faire sauter les courgettes, on met moins de matière grasse.
To sauté the zucchini, we use less fat.
D'accord, je vais prendre juste une cuillère d'huile d'olive.
Okay, I’ll just take a spoonful of olive oil.
✕Common Mistakes
Pour faire sauter, on met plus de matière grasse.
‘Plus de’ means ‘more’, which would give the opposite advice; the phrase is about using less fat.
Pour faire sautée, on met moins de matière grasse.
‘Faire sautée’ is incorrect; the correct verb form is the infinitive ‘sauter’ after ‘faire’.
On met moins du matière grasse.
The partitive article ‘du’ is not used after ‘moins de’; you simply say ‘moins de matière grasse’.
↔Alternatives
Pour sauter, on utilise moins de gras.
To sauté, we use less fat.
Quand on fait sauter, on met peu de matière grasse.
When we sauté, we put little cooking fat.
Pour faire sauter les légumes, on limite la quantité d'huile.
To sauté the vegetables, we limit the amount of oil.
Cultural Tip
In French cuisine, ‘faire sauter’ is a classic technique taught in culinary schools. The goal is a quick, high‑heat cook that keeps ingredients crisp. French chefs often prefer a small amount of butter or oil, sometimes clarified butter (beurre clarifié), to achieve a golden sear without making the dish greasy. Remember that ‘sauter’ literally means ‘to jump,’ reflecting how the food ‘jumps’ in the hot pan.