Sometimes English doesn’t possess one word that conveys a specific concept. That’s why I use the German word Gestalt all the time. The closest English equivalent is the phrase “greater than the sum of the parts”. Yet that only scratches the surface. It’s not just the sum…it’s about being a unified whole. Alas, that’s still not quite it. So I use gestalt and then spend time explaining what it means, stumbling about trying to convey the deeper meaning. It’s a no-win situation, but I feel I must be precise in language. It’s who am I.
There are kitchen terms that exist in the same morass. Sometimes I sound pretentious because I use an uncommon phrase. I don’t mean to be a snob…I’m just being me: Precise.
Mise en Place is one example from that quagmire. It’s French, so it automatically sounds uppity. Properly pronounce it and you’ve just made it that much worse! But if you’re going to use this all-important phrase, you might as well know how to pronounce it…no matter how ostentatious you sound. Before we delve into the five questions that I get about mise en place, here’s the pronunciation guide:
- Meeez…just channel Steve Martin trying to say hamburger from The Pink Panther. Pile on the French accent, you’re going to need it.
- En in French isn’t pronounced like the letter “N”. It’s not a hard sound, it’s soft, like a feather. It’s probably closest to a softly spoken on with a minuscule drop to your lower lip and jaw. So it’s not ah-n, its closer to awn in lawn. Just not with a New Jersey accent. You never new speaking would be so hard, did you?
- Place isn’t what you think it is. It doesn’t rhyme with ace, it rhymes with ass. Yup, I just said a naughty word, but I got your attention and likely guided you to perfect pronunciation at the same time. Give it a try: Pl-ass. Yup, that’s it.
So put ‘em all together Meeeez awn Pl-ass. Voilà…you sound French!🇫🇷
Enough of that fun, let’s get to the meat of this post…what are the five questions I get about Mise en Place when I bring it up?
What is Mise en Place?
Mise en Place means “everything in it’s place”. You’ll often hear it translated as “putting in place”, but that’s too literal. The essence is that things are where you need them, available when you need them during the cooking phase. It also means that you’ve done all the prep work before you start cooking. In a manner of speaking, it’s an entire cooking methodology providing a level of efficiency that’s hard to match. It’s vastly different than how most of us work in the kitchen.
What are the benefits of Mise en Place?
There’s the whole sounding pretentious thing…to begin with. Despite that silliness, there are some very real benefits to Mise en Place (which I’m going to dive deeper into the pretentious pool and shorten to mise from here on out). First off, done properly mise can save tons of time. Remember, a key tenet of mise is organization. While the time taken to create the organization is real, the time saved is much greater. Your overall prep time becomes shorter. We’re all looking at ways to save time, so mise is a great tool!
By reviewing the recipe before starting, you discover any missing ingredients. Ever been making chocolate chip cookies and reached the step where you need the chocolate morsels…and you’re out? Racing to the store to buy a bag you’re simultaneously cussing out the kids for eating all the chocolate chips and berating yourself for now knowing you were out. The negative self-talk isn’t helpful and the emergency trip wasted time. This sort of thing is easily avoided by reading the recipe. Same goes for catching hidden preparation steps. I hate when recipes have hidden steps in the ingredients list. That 1/4 cup of toasted pecans sounds innocuous enough. But does anybody have toasted pecans in the house? No! You’ve got to toast the darned things. That means preheating the oven, spraying the pay, and misting the pecans with oil. Then the pan goes into the oven and you watch it like a hawk. You really can’t toast pecans on a timer…they’re too finicky. So you stand there watching the darned things. That means you spend a lot of time on a hidden set of preparation steps! Argggg!
Mise also saves you time because you clean utensils as you go. When I’m in a rush I’ve been known to use multiple knives and cutting boards. I’ve got crap strewn all over the preparation space and a sink full of dirty tools…way more than I should’ve used. I think to myself, “Oh, I’ll use this extra cutting board because the other one has tomato guts on it”. Now I’ve got two cutting boards needing to be cleaned…cleaning that takes precious time. A quick wash between cutting veggies could’ve avoided this. Or better yet, cutting things in a different order might’ve worked. Don’t want the celery to smell like onions before it goes into the dish…cut the celery first followed by the onions. It’s not rocket science, but it does require planning ahead.
Finally, if you’ve ever had a recipe that uses the same ingredient in different places, you can save yourself a lot of grief by organizing your ingredients in order, grouped together, and measured to the right quantities. If you’ve ever used double the salt you were supposed to, you’ve been bitten by this error. You add the teaspoon of salt. Your toddler flushes a toy car down the toilet, so you deal with that situation. Upon returning you don’t recall whether you added the salt. So you put in another teaspoon. Instant recipe-ruin!
What do I need for Mise en Place?
One of the major stumbling blocks to mise is the perception you need a bunch of equipment to use the system. Honestly, that’s bull. Sure, one of the tenets is you measure ingredients and organize them as you’ll use them. Often this leads to purchasing a whole mess of small containers. 🛑STOP🛑! You don’t need to buy anything to actually use mise. You’ve got bowls, cups, and saucers. You have a knife and something to cut on. Pots and pans? Check! You have everything you need…a trip to the store for more kitchen crap isn’t required! Use the stuff you have.
Can I really do this at home?
Yes. There is absolutely no reason the system professional cooks use can’t be translated to your home kitchen. Sure, you aren’t required to make dozens of full meals while diners await your creations…but you’re still trying to put food on the table in as short a time as possible. You don’t have a bunch of assistant cooks (sous chefs in pretentious-French) to do your prep either. Or do you? If you’ve got kids and want to start to teach them about cooking, mise allows you to hand off the measuring and prepping to their young hands. At first this might add a bit of time as you explain the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon, but in short order you’ve got competent assistants working in parallel with you. Plus your kids gain an awesome life skill with very little extra effort on your part. Honestly it’s a win-win!
How do I get started?
First, you need to recognize you’re learning something new. The first few times you use mise may generate limited benefits. Recipes you’re used to making, might even take a bit longer. Yup, you might get slowed down at first, but once you start to understand and embrace the philosophy behind mise you’ll get faster. Sometimes dramatically faster. Give it time. If mise isn’t working for a particular recipe, don’t feel guilty dropping it. Go with what works for you. There are no report cards here; your next promotion doesn’t depend on the preparation of this meal. Relax and let this tool work for you when it can.
The next step is to discern the three phases of mise:
- Planning
- Organizing
- Acting
During the planning phase, pick your recipe(s). The best way to approach this step is to do this step long before you actually start cooking. If you’re crafting a meal plan, do the planning along with the menu creation. Otherwise do it the night before, or a couple hours prior to beginning to cook. Take time to carefully read the recipe and ensure you have all the ingredients. I know, it takes time to read and check your stock…but it takes a lot less time than making that emergency grocery store trip in the middle of cooking!
In the organizing phase you’re amassing the items you need for the recipe(s). Gather the ingredients. Round up the tools. Collect the bowls, knives, cutting board, and other tools. Search for the infrequently used equipment you put in that weird place. Assemble everything in one place.
The acting phase is when you actually prepare the ingredients. Use the recipe as a guide and measure everything out. I arrange the ingredients in the order used. Line up your ingredients so they’re ready when you need them. This not only speeds up your later process, but avoids confusing similar looking ingredients.
Prep items that need to be chopped, diced, or grated. When you finish with one item, does it make sense to clean the tools you used? If so, just do it. Avoid getting out another knife and cutting board. Like I said, this is one of my worst errors in the kitchen…and I make it on a regular basis. Learn from my mistakes!
When it’s time to start cooking, get to it. Keep that recipe handy and track where you are in the process. If you get interrupted know where you left off. With ingredients in order you’ve got a better chance of staying on track.
If you hit a step where there’s a break in the action…clean some more. If you miraculously get everything you used cleaned, how about unloading the dishwasher? Or cleaning the microwave? Maybe you can do some other kitchen chore you never get around to. Use your time effectively and you’ll be much happier with yourself. Plus you’ll have the added bonus the kitchen will look better after you’re done cooking than it did before. Be honest, how often has that happened in the past? I know it’s been pretty rare at Hectic Manor!
Wrap-Up
While the whole sounding pretentious thing is a double-edged sword, the concept behind mise en place is amazing. It can save so much time in the kitchen and honestly can make your life a whole bunch better. Although it may take a while to get the hang of this new methodology, I’ve found it to be a lifesaver!
Are you going to give it a try? If you do try mise en place let me know what you think in the comments. As always, I’m trying to help you make it a great day in the kitchen! Hopefully mise en place is a way for you to do that!
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