Mise en Place

Professional Cooking Sequence

Mise en place is a French term meaning “put in place,” or gathering and preparing all the ingredients and tools you will be using for what you are cooking.(1) This then is a technique chefs and cooks use to assemble meals quickly and effortlessly, in that it reduces the running around and allows you to focus, zen-like, on the actually cooking the food.

Why is this technique the key to any Chef’s efficiency in the kitchen?

• Verifies all the ingredients required are at hand
• Provides a quick shopping list for what else is needed
• Gives time to think up alternatives to what may be missing
• Dictates cooking schedule and timing (preheat oven, toast nuts, make marinade?
• Sets up specific tasks that are cleaned up as you go, so there is no massive mess at the end
• With all ingredients measured, it prevents forgetting an ingredient (most often a very critical one for the dish)
• Reduces the amount of walking, since everything is already collected
• Prevents burning or overcooking food, again since everything is at hand you can focus on the food itself

Many people find the process of prepping to be quite zen-like, as you focus on the task(s) at hand. Hertzmann writes, So while completing mise en place for a meal, I’m able to derive great pleasure from the individual aspects of it. When I work in restaurant kitchens, the ingredients I’m preparing are being prepared often with no knowledge of the final dish they’ll be used in — and it doesn’t matter to me. 

Professional Cooking School

At Kitchen on Fire, as an assistant to the Chef, I am responsible for Mise en place. When I prepare for a class, the Chef has already decided on the recipes, the timing of the food (a preparation schedule), has done the shopping, and has bags of food near the prep sink for me to process. I start by taking a long drink from my coffee cup, wash my hands and start washing the food.

I put a colander in the sink to catch any food from going down the drain. Put out clean blue cloths on the counter next to the sink. Then start emptying the bags, washing the veggies, herbs, and fruit; and placing them on the cloths to air dry. I cut off any “bad parts” and make sure to remove any food stickers. (Hard to argue I cleaned the food, when stickers are still on them!)

Then I review the recipes for the day and pull out baking sheet trays. Four recipes, four sheet pans. I pull from the pantry or fridge what herb, spice, condiment, oil, or seasoning is required for each dish. Then add any of the recently washed veggies to the tray. Each tray has everything that recipe calls for. These trays are put in a special place, along with a copy of the recipe, so students can come and get what they need.

On each butcher block work table I add a discard bowl, bench scraper, salt, pepper, oil and the wet rags that were used to dry the veggies on. (I squeeze them extra hard so they are damp, not soaking wet.) This will help the students clean up little messes during their cooking. Depending upon what we are doing, I may also layout portable gas burners, pots, pans, skillets, and other tools as required.

Once all of this is done, I put on my apron to start welcoming students and checking in with the Chef to see what may be served during the class.

Home Cooking Sequence

Planning + Shopping

Actual cooking is only one step out of several one follows in delivering food to guests. First you need to decide what to eat and what food stuffs you still need to acquire.

• Plan a menu to suit guests dietary requirements + the season
• Review recipies and select ones you like
• Review what you have and what you need to get
• Pull anything out from the freezer into the fridge at this point (if not done already) and place the frozen food into a bowl so noting leaks in your fridge
• Finally, go shopping for what you need

Prepping

You have now completed all your shopping so everything you need is in the pantry or fridge, or freezer. Mise en Place is what is next. This is a French phrase for getting everything ready to cook.

• Review recipes again and set a plan on what comes first so that food is done in similar times for dinner (timing is important!)
• Wash your hands, put on your apron and start.
• Set up your workstation(s) which are veggie or meat or both
• Preheat the oven, slow cooker or skillet as required
• Wash all the veggies, herbs, beans, rice, etc.
• Pull out all the seasonings, herbs, spices, condiments you will be using
• Start cutting, chopping, dicing, mincing, grating, etc.
• Measure out everything you will use for the first dish

Cooking + the Rest

Now that you can completed the process of shopping and prepping, the next step is the cooking.

• Cooking, baking, grilling, frying, steaming, etc.
• Tasting and adjust
• Plating
• Serving
• Eating
• Washing

Veggie + Meat Workstation

Veggie Workstation

This is the station I set when I have vegetarian or vegan food to make. My wooden cutting board, chefs knife, bench scraper, damp rag (to clean up spills), discard bowl, salt, pepper, oil, and some little bowls for spice or seasonings. The drawer right under this setting has measuring spoons and cups, graters, etc. Everything is within reach to start chopping and prepping everything.

Meat Workstation

This station is used whenever there is a meat component to my dish. It is a plastic cutting board and I use a different chefs knife (I keep it very sharp), and put out my shears. There is a discard bowl where I will save pieces of meat and place in the freezer for the next time I want to cook a bone broth.

Starting to cook

With everything cut, measured and ready to go, you need to start to cook. Here are some steps to consider.

• Defrosted forzen food?
• Oven ready?
• Pre-heat your skillet before you add oil, before you cook
• While cooking remember to not crowd your food in the pans, allow space between food items so they can cook well and not just steam
• Learn what foods need babysitting — if toasting nuts or seeds or panko be sure to watch them so they do not burn
• Taste and season as you cook
• Do not fear using your hands, so long as they are clean (wash and dry them on a paper towel and not a kitchen towel which are often dirty)
• If you burn something throw the food out (or save it for you to eat) and clean your pan. Essentially you need to start over, you will never get rid of the taste of burnt food no matter what you try.
• Build the flavor, and be sure not to leave flavor in your pan, use it all up
• Make sure the meats reach the necessary temperatures to assure everything is cooked well
• Throughout the cooking process clean up as you go

Plate the food

The presentation of the food matter.

Good food looks good on the plate, it smells wonderful, and tastes great.

• Let meat rest so that the liquids are redistributed into the meat
• A last dash of acid can be great for veggies, like a squirt of lemon juice
• Add condiments to the food before you serve — it is not a good idea to have people at the table unsure what to do with the food you have served. Serve extra in bowls for them to add more if they want.