meaning - What does “Sautéed” mean in “Someone who has not sautéed in a subject”?


Maureen Dowd article titled, “Neocons Slither Back” in September 15 New York Times begins with the following sentence:



“Paul Ryan has not sautéed in foreign policy in his years on Capitol Hill. The 42-year-old congressman is no Middle East savant; till now, his idea of a border dispute has more likely involved Wisconsin and Illinois.”



I guess “sautéed” in the line of “Paul Ryan has not sautéed in foreign policy in his years on Capitol Hill” either “seasoned / well-trained /well-experienced” in the subject (foreign policy) or “being grilled on the specific issue,” but I’m not sure.


Cambridge online Dictionary defines ‘sauté’ as verb meaning ‘to cook food in oil or fat over heat, usually until it is brown.’


Oxford Online Dictionary defines it as verb meaning ‘to fry quickly in a little hot fat: and adjective meaning ‘fried quickly in a little hot fat’.


OAELD defines it as verb meaning ‘to fry food quickly in a little hot fat, and adjective that is only used before noun.


None of the above definitions seems to match Maureen Dawd’s usage of “sautéed” in the above quote.


What does “Paul Ryan has not sautéed in foreign policy in his career” mean?


Is this again Maureen Dawd’s favorite, quirky diversion of a plain cooking word for an irrelevant subject, or just an ordinary usage of “sauté” in your day-to-day conversation?


If it is the latter, can I say “He has sautéed in the medieval English literature, (Hollywood movie, or topics of American football)”?




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