mise en place

Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs) is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, portioned, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking.

I would get very impatient with my wife when it is her turn to cook. With much good will and good faith, she always seems to be getting into a lot trouble and time putting food on the table or more importantly, on time. As the saying goes, "a hungry man is an angry man".

She will make up for it by spending a substantial amount of time preparing a meal which I felt is counter productive. As much as it is a common knowledge to always prepare your "mise en place" before attempting any culinary venture. I noticed that it is a conveniently forgotten task by many novice in the kitchen. Chopchopkalipok would like to share with you, my simple and effortless way of doing your mise en place. Which will aid you in preparing a meal for your love ones in a chopchopkalipok fashion.

Make it a point to understand your household's needs in terms of,

1. The usual quantity/amount of food types consumed in a single meal.

Geared with this simple knowledge, you will be able to "portion control" these raw materials accordingly. These portioned items or I called them "food ingredient packs" can be kept in a chiller or a freezer if the intent to cook much later. This will aid in speedier food preparation when you just need to de-chill or defrost the right quantity of item for the recipe. e.g, a chicken leg will defrost quicker than a whole chicken. This practice will help to reduce wastage and prevent contamination of bacteria by reducing exposure of uncooked food to the environment.

2. Their preference of the food type e.g if they consume more vegetable, meat, seafood, etc.

With a little profiling work, you will be able to shortlist and decides the kind of ingredients, portioning amount, recipes or even determine your marketing/shopping list for the week. Make an effort to portion up the raw materials ASAP after your marketing before storing them into the fridge. The Reynolds cling wrap is your best friend in this task. To go further, put a date to remind you of the date of purchase to avoid keeping food in the fridge for too long...

3. How often do you do your marketing of fresh food, groceries and stock ups.

The frequency of making that trip to the supermart or market will determine the "workload" of having to prepare mise en place. Twice a week to the super mart or market will be a good start to keep "work load" to the minimal of no more then 15 minutes of portioning, wrapping and storing food items. Buying more "convenient pack or prepared" food items will reduce your mise en place "workload". Though it may cost a little more due the packing instead of buying in bulk. IMHO, the savings in time, effort and wastage will offset the higher cost.

4. .Streamline those recipe.

Everyone has a few favorite recipes kept in that secret kitchen cabinet. However, I will attempt to save a few pennies and prep time by "streamlining" my recipe. For instant, if a recipe calls for whole garlic to be use while another requires chopped garlic for that flavoring. I will only buy "ready to use" chopped garlic that comes in a tub for both recipe. The purist will argue that there is a difference in taste between chopped and whole garlic. Honestly, I doubt many can tell. So I'm not bother about it.

5. Stock, sauces, condiments.

Set aside some time or twice a month to prepare those stock, sauces, condiments that are ever so crucial in making a dish a winner. "Portion and freeze" them for future usage will cut down cooking time of a dish considerably. An alternative like ready made freeze dried/dehydrated "bouillon cube" will also do the trick though nothing beats freshly made stock. Ready made sauce can be bought off the shelf though I would suggest some work are needed to enhance the flavor further.


6. Organize your kitchen and prioritize the work.

Make an effort to organize and "familiarize" yourself with your kitchen setups so that you do not hunt high and low for that salt, cleaning rag, teaspoon, etc. You will find that it is pleasurable to cook "within reach". Plan your work well when cooking multiple dishes. Common sense will tell you to cook food that requires longer cooking time first. "Visualize" the recipe to mentally prep you before cooking the dish. Some recipe may even require you to prepare certain ingredients before hand.