the benefits of mise en place
Wait, what is mise en place anyway?
Well, it’s a French term for “everything in its place” or “setting up.”
Yes, yes, great to know but how does that affect me, you may be thinking? If you are interested in simplifying, organizing, or improving your cooking, then mise en place will need to become your new best friend.
When you use mise en place in your cooking process, you will have all your equipment and utensils set out and ready to use and, all your ingredients are cut, chopped, peeled, grated, sliced, measured, portioned, etc., BEFORE you even start the recipe. In doing this, eliminating errors, reducing stress, and ensuring your recipe executes much more smoothly and successfully. One of the biggest mistakes I have made before I started using mise en place when I cook was neglecting to cut or chop an ingredient, or worse yet, not having an ingredient I thought for sure I was in possession of.
The benefits of Mise en place
- As you go through the recipe, step by step, your ingredients are prepared and ready to be added.
- The order of your ingredients can be laid out in order of appearances so you don’t miss an ingredient or a step. I create my entire mise en place first, and then I line up the ingredients in order next to the area I will be preparing the recipe. If there are multiple areas (stove, food processor, oven, etc.) I will place the ingredients used for that step in that area.
- If you have “pre-steps” such as bringing ingredients to room temperature or toasting nuts, you will be good to go and not have to “break your process’ to run and prepare a step you did not prepare for.
- If you are missing an ingredient, you will find that out BEFORE you start the recipe rather than during the recipe.
- In addition to being more organized when you cook, your work area will stay much cleaner too. You can clean up after prep and even wash dishes before you start the recipe.
- And, one of my favorite reasons, you will be able to tackle more complex recipes more easily. One of the most intimidating aspects of a complicated recipe is all the steps. By using mise en place, you reduce the steps down to smaller manageable steps and set yourself up for success. You can then concentrate on the technique and cooking rather than having to prep as you go along.
do i need special tools?
Not really, but having a good assortment of varying sizes of prep bowls, mixing bowls, measuring cups, etc. will make mise en place much easier and more organized. Below are some of the tools I use for my prep.
Discover. Cook. Enjoy.
