There’s no question that my culinary school training made me a much better cook. The techniques I learned armed me for a career as a personal chef, cookbook author, and now the food director at REAL SIMPLE. In addition to learning how to salt properly (so important!) and the importance of tasting food before I serve it (crucial), my chef-instructors instilled in me basic principles like kitchen cleanliness and organization that I’ve carried over into my current life as a home cook.
But
there’s one rule that was drilled into my head that I frequently
ignore: mise en place. This concept is taught in recreational cooking
classes, too, and espoused by TV chefs like Gordon Ramsay. But, skipping
this step can save major time, especially when I’m in the market for an
easy weeknight dinner.
What Is Mise en Place?
This French phrase, roughly translated as “put in its place” is a culinary golden rule that’s reflected in the way many authors and publications (including REAL SIMPLE) structure their written recipes. First, you have the ingredient list, such as “3 carrots, peeled and diced” or “1/2 cup chopped walnuts.” Then you have the step-by-step instructions that use the ingredients, like “Place the carrots in the skillet.”
If
you’re “mising out” your recipe (as a chef might say, and that’s
pronounced “meezing”), you’re gathering every ingredient and getting it
ready before starting Step 1 of the recipe. You’re cracking the eggs
into a bowl, peeling and chopping the veggies, measuring out the various
spices. Ideally, you’re putting each of the prepped ingredients into
its own small bowl or container so everything is at the ready when you
start cooking.
When to Skip Mise en Place
Mise en place is essential at restaurants. When I helped staff a busy kitchen after culinary school, the cooks got in before the restaurant opened to chop vegetables, blend sauces, and even par-cook proteins. When the orders started coming in fast and furious, there was no time to peel hard-boiled eggs or chop cilantro for a garnish.
But
at home, it’s a different story. For most recipes, you can do only an
abbreviated mise en place, or often skip it altogether. To decide, read
the recipe closely. Scan the ingredient list and read through the steps.
Ask yourself how much chopping and measuring needs to be done and about
how long it will take. Then look and see how much time is built into
each step.
Let’s use this recipe for Creamy Potato-Cabbage Soup as an example.
Here are the first few ingredients:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 6 cups sliced green cabbage (from 1 small head cabbage)
- 1 medium sweet onion, sliced (about 2¼ cups)
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 3 medium carrots, chopped (about 1½ cups)
And here are the first two steps in the recipe:
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high. Add cabbage and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to wilt and brown in spots, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Add potatoes, carrots, broth, and 1 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
So you know that you need to prep the cabbage and the onion before you start cooking because they’re going into the pot ASAP.
But, then those ingredients hang out for 10 minutes. In that pocket of time you can prep the potatoes and carrots. There’s no need to spend 10 minutes chopping the potatoes and carrots before even starting the recipe. Those extra minutes you’re saving add up.
The same goes for recipes where there’s a lot of spice measuring involved, like in this Hearty Black Bean Chili. While you'll want to have all of the little spice jars at the ready before you add the seasonings to the pot, you can collect them while the onions and garlic are cooking in Step 1.
If all of this feels like a lot of mental gymnastics, trust me, it will become intuitive as you cook your way through more recipes.
When You Do Need to Mise
There are a few cases when mise en place is helpful at home. If you’re a new or less experienced cook, having everything ready before you start can take the pressure off as you’re working your way through the steps of the recipe. There’s no frantically chopping broccoli while the pasta risks overcooking. A recipe might take you longer, but the experience will be less stressful.
And there are certain dishes where mise en place helps even veteran cooks. If I’m making a stir-fry, like this one, that cooks in 20-minutes total and features lots of ingredients that need to go into the pan in quick succession, mise en place is a pro move.
To summarize, if you have some cooking experience under your belt, enough to understand intuitively how recipes operate, then you’re probably safe to skip a full mise in most cases. That may not be a lesson I learned in culinary school, but it's one of my most valuable kitchen learning.