Kitchen & Bath | January 17, 20082 Comments

Gettin’ Your "Mise" On

Every professional chef sets up their cooking station so they’re ready to go when things get busy. It’s called a Mise en Place. Guest blogger, Misterarthur (left) will now share his thoughts on setting up your own mise. Take it away Arthur!

I like to cook. Over the years I’ve learned some simple things to do to make cooking easier. Some are cheap and virtually self-evident, some are just learned behavior. If you don’t know how to cook, there’s one cookbook you have to have. The Joy of Cooking. No, it’s not very exciting, and the recipes are pretty bland, but a thorough perusal of this perennial favorite will teach you to do just about every basic thing you need to know.

I think we’ve got about 40 cookbooks in our kitchen, and, yes the Joy of Cooking is one of them. Another important cookbook, (in a very different way) is A Tuscan in the Kitchen, by Pino Luongo. Here’s why. Pino gives you ingredients, but is vague about the quantities. For example, he’ll say to saut?© some garlic and onions, until it smells good, them throw in some tomatoes, but not tell you exactly how many onions, how finely they should be chopped, how many cloves of garlic (whole, or minced) or how many ounces of tomatoes. I think that’s good.

Cooking involves science, of course, but I think you really won’t learn about cooking until you do some experimenting on your own. Parallel to this is that you should always read a recipe all the way through before you decide to cook the dish. I know that sounds stupid, but many cookbooks hide important “details” until you get deep into the instructions. Like notifying you you need to marinate something for a minimum of 24 hours. So before you start salivating over something, make sure you can actually cook and eat it that same day.

You can’t have enough cutting boards.
They’re cheap (think IKEA), and most recipes require you to chop or slice lots of different things, which you may not necessarily want to mix up before you cook. There’s a back-and-forth argument over which is safer, wood or plastic. Wooden ones, it is now said, are as safe as plastic, and much nicer aesthetically, but you can’t stick them in the dishwasher. So I go for plastic. (Just make sure they can actually fit in your dishwasher).

Keep a tray with spices and oils you use frequently near the stove.
It may not look like a magazine layout, but it’s always nice not to have to open cupboards when you’re in the middle of making something to find the olive oil or the white pepper.

Clear the decks.
It doesn’t matter if you have a lot or a little counter space, give yourself as much room as possible when you’re actually making something. That gives you space for the many cutting boards you now own after reading the tip above. It also lets you line up your ingredients so you don’t have to, say, keep walking back and forth to the refrigerator.

Get heavy pots.
You’ve read this a million times, and it’s really true. That’s because thick pots and pans hold heat, and don’t cool off when ingredients are put into them, allowing you to, for example, actually saut?© something, rather than stewing it in oil and/or butter. I really like cast iron pans and stainless pots with layered bottoms. I got some of my pots at a restaurant supply store. They’re indestructible. I have one non-stick pan – a small one for making eggs. The rest are no coated, and I don’t have problems with food sticking. Most of the time.

Buy some tongs.
The ones with springs at one end. I have a pair that are about 8 inches long that I found at a Korean grocery store, where I also got another indispensable item, a wire skimmer. I use it like a sieve with a handle. Both are cheap.

Learn how to tell meat if meat is done by poking it with your finger. It won’t take long to learn the difference in solidity between rare, medium and well done, and it will impress people who are hanging around waiting for their dinner.

Thanks, Arthur. I love it when you cook (and do the dishes). I’ll just add a very quick list of my favorite cookbooks: Julia Child’s The Way To Cook (like The Joy, but for the more adventurous cook), French cooking in 10 Minutes (a lovely book to give a young cook), Anthony’s Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. I just added Bourdain’s to our collection. I love the way he writes, which is always the best part of any cookbook.