how to say “sautéed” in Hebrew
Yesterday evening I had dinner with my friend Avi, who takes pride in his delicious, healthy cooking. He fried us up some schnitzel, but when I commented that he was frying it in olive oil instead of Canola, he corrected me, saying that was sautéeing, not frying.
Sauté comes from French. The closest Hebrew word we have that captures the meaning is מֻקְפָּץ (mook-PAHTS) – so that sautéed (or stir-fried) vegetables are יְרָקוֹת מוקפצִים (yeh-rah-KOHT mook-pah-TSEEM). מוקפץ means, literally, caused to jump. The word fits into the הופעל (hoof-AHL) verb paradigm, the passive form of the הפעיל (heef-EEL).
To fry, on the other hand, is לְטַגֵּן (leh-tah-GHEN), a פיעל (pee-EL) verb.
I maintain that Avi was frying. Either way, the schnitzel came out tasty.
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