Mise en place is French for "everything in its place". This is something that has become a common reminder on a couple of popular cooking shows and is where I first learned the term many, many years ago. I had always practiced "mise en place" without knowing that's what I was doing. I termed it "OCD", but mise en place has a much nicer ring to it.
Some sources will state that there are 5 basic steps to mise en place, while others only list 4, and some list 6 or 7, depending on the individual author and even preference of individual chefs and how they choose to "mise en place".
In my world, there are 6 basic steps of mise en place. They are as follows:
1. Read the recipe
2. Prepare the work area. This means begin preheating the oven if necessary, cleaning off and prepping your workspace, getting out any needed cooking equipment, etc.
3. Gather all tools, such as utensils, measuring cups and spoons, hand and stand appliances, bowls, pans, etc.
4. Gather all ingredients needed.
5. Do prep work such as measuring, chopping, slicing, straining, draining, etc. so that once you begin cooking, everything you need is at your fingertips and you only need to grab your ingredients and add them to your dish rather than stopping between each step to prep each individual ingredient.
6. Clean as you go. Do not leave things sitting out that you are finished with. Put ingredients away, and put dirty dishes in the sink or in a designated wash tub. Have some type of receptacle designated as the garbage bowl for anything that needs to be thrown away when you've finished your prep work. Keep your work area and food prep area clean and sanitary.
Happy cooking!
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