THE IMPORTANCE OF MISE EN PLACE
THE IMPORTANCE OF MISE EN PLACE
The French term for mise en place, the first thing that they teach you in Culinary School (pronounced meez-ahn-plahs), encompasses the idea of having all of your ingredients prepared and ready to go before you start cooking. Literally translated it means “set in place”.
Ingredients
- SEE THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW
Instructions
- Mise en place refers to having everything in its place; all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go before you start cooking. Your onions are diced, spices and broth measured. And, I like to have my pots, pans and tools laid out as well.
- Taking the time to do all of this upfront actually ends up saving you time in the long run. With everything laid out in front of you, you're more organized and efficient. Your whole cooking process becomes streamlined. You're far less likely to do something like accidentally adding the salt twice and you're not scrambling to find an ingredient in the back of the pantry right when you need to add it to the pan.
- This rule always applies in professional kitchens and lends itself well to home cooks too. We’ve all done it…you start preparing a recipe and figure that you can chop the garlic while the onions are sautéing. You get three steps into the recipe and find you needed to reduce some balsamic vinegar before adding it to the dish and now you are scurrying around trying to get it done before the onions and garlic overcook and your timing is completely thrown off.
- Before you can even start preparing the ingredients for cooking, you want to make sure you have all the ingredients. This is the ultimate Mise en Place! How many of us have started a recipe only to find out you were missing one or two of the key ingredients?
- As for preparation, I like to use stackable ramekins (or even small disposable paper plates) to assemble all of my ingredients before I cook. And oftentimes, I’ll chop extra garlic or slice additional onions, while I’m at it, to prepare for tomorrow night’s dinner too.
HOW THE PROS DO IT:
- If you have dined at the Chef’s Table in a restaurant or at the Chef’s Bar, where you can watch the action, or seen an open kitchen at work, then you have noticed their mise en place. Each station is fully prepped with all the ingredients necessary to make a particular dish.
- According to The New Professional Chef, mise en place “means far more than simply assembling all the ingredients, pots and pans, plates, and serving pieces needed for a particular period. Mise en place is also a state of mind. Someone who has truly grasped the concept is able to keep many tasks in mind simultaneously, weighing and assigning each its proper value and priority. This assures that the chef has anticipated and prepared for every situation that could logically occur during a service period.” I can say from experience, that if you practice this one skill and “put everything in place” before you get started, your dishes will turn out more deliciously and you will definitely enjoy the act of cooking more than ever.