One of my favourite cookbooks is ‘Ruhlman’s Twenty: 20 Techniques, 100 Recipes, A Cook’s Manifesto’ by Michael Ruhlman. It’s interesting because it isn’t a list of recipes like a regular cookbook, it’s about cooking, how to cook, it teaches the process of cooking through concepts and techniques, and goes in depth into ingredients. It also has recipes. My favourite bit of the book is the introduction to mise en place:
Restaurant kitchens have a French term for organization and preparation - and it’s every bit as useful in a home kitchen — Mise en place. Mise en place (MEEZ ohn plahs) translates literally to “put in place,” but what it really means is “organize and prepare.” It means everything in its place, on your countertop, beside your stove, on your stove, and, most critically, in your mind.
The importance of mise en place cannot be overstated. It doesn’t mean simply putting all your ingredients in ramekins on your cutting board or next to your stove (let alone, if you’re following a recipe, to have read the recipe all the way through). It’s ultimately about thinking.
Organizing your mise en place forces you to think through your actions, to plan in your mind the course of your actions. The second mandate in the ethos of mise en place, one that is rarely made explicit, is to recognize not only what you need in front of you, but also what does not belong, what should not be on your board, beside the stove, in your brain.
It’s a concept that is very important to me, not only when I cook, but for lots of things that I do. Mise en place is something I try to practice in my life where I can.
I like to be organised, I love to be organised well ahead of time, otherwise I seem to fixate on what could go wrong, right up until the thing happens.
If I have big meeting or workshop coming up, I make sure that I am prepared with everything that we will need to make the most of the time. That means prepping any documents we might need to reference or use, building or templating the digital whiteboard, collecting and making notes, and writing an agenda. Right before the session starts I will organise everything on my screen or on my desk so that I don’t have to go looking for anything in the meeting.
This all gives me space to think about other things, I like to think it helps the other people too.
I like to think about things before I do them, I like to gather all the stuff I need to think well, read it, and then think about the task. I love a checklist.
I know my limits with DIY, but I will do small jobs around the house, if I’ve never done it before I will find as many tutorials as I can and read or watch them all to find a method that makes the most sense to my brain. I research the right hardware, I make sure I have the tools. Right before the main event happens I gather everything I need, in arms reach, so I don’t have to keep going to grab stuff from another room.
I feel more relaxed and confident doing this stuff by taking more time to think about it before I get started, and more importantly I think I fuck it up less too.
The more I think about it, the more I realise that mise en place is just a way of reducing stress. When everything is in place, I don’t have to second-guess myself, I don’t have to scramble, and I don’t panic halfway through. It means I actually enjoy doing things a lot more.
Don’t worry, I am capable of being spontaneous too, sometimes.
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