Mis en Place

Mis en Place  is a French cooking term: “Putting in place”.  Basically it means: put out all your ingredients before you start.

I first heard the term many years ago, and honestly it doesn’t really work all that well for my style of cooking. At least, that’s what I thought.

I’ve always thought that it is basically a way of keeping things at hand so you can move quickly.

What I realized today is that Mis en Place is a physical to do list. It’s not so much about having things at hand for easy access: it’s getting all your stuff out so that when you forget to.do.something it’s staring you right in the face.

Today’s example: Eggs and Butter for corn bread. I got everything all put together and in the oven before I realized I’d put the eggs on the counter for a reason. Then I looked more closely at the recipe and discovered: oops – I missed it.

A recipe is a to do list. Why would you need another (the Mis en Place)? Well… If you:re rushing and self assured you may make a mistake, even when looking at the list. But the physical materials are the ultimate list: if you haven’t used them, you did it wrong.