In the restaurant world this is the most important phrase that can make or break you during any service. As the excerpt from the legendary tell all culinary saga - Kitchen Confidential - states, mise en place literally translates to "everything in its place." This statement not only holds true in a professional kitchen, it carries over into the home kitchen, and many other aspects of daily life. Get a plan together, and then gather everything you're going to need to execute that plan. Regardless of prepping for a busy night on the line, preparing Coq Au Vin in your dutch oven at home, or getting ready to leave for a vacation trip with family, mise en place is your plan of attack - SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS.

Show me your mise en place!

This photo of mac and cheese mise en place is a good example of setting yourself up to make a successful homemade mac and cheese. Notice everything is there - from the ingredients that go into the roux to the bread crumbs that make the topping, all the major ingredients are accounted for. I would take this a couple steps further and have my spices ready, like SPOG to season the cheese sauce and breadcrumb, paprika for the bread crumb, and way more butter. Butter makes it better....and don't use that store brand butter that's all pasty white. Find yourself a good rich butter made produced from pasture raised cows. It's tough to find, but my go to butter is made by Vermont Creamery. If you can't find it, Organic Valley and Vital Farms are great options that seem to be more widely available.

 

The moral of the story is to plan properly. That is all mise en place is when you boil it down (pun intended). Once you come up with that plan, gather EVERYTHING you need to execute it. If you like this post, drop a comment. We'd love to read about your own experiences with mise en place, both in the kitchen and life.

Back to blog