TIPS ON PREPARATION & ORGANIZATION

Ever wonder why French cuisine is the gold standard by which all professional cooking is measured? There are myriad reasons, of course: the techniques used, the way food is plated, and the complexity and richness of flavors, to name a few. But there is something else in French cuisine that happens way before anything is baked or sautéed, and it is, in my opinion, so important to the process that I would call it foundational. People, I’m talking about mise en place (pronounced me-zohn plahs). Roughly translated, it means, “everything in place,” and it is a standard operating procedure in any professional kitchen. At its essence, it’s the stuff you do before you bake.

Have you ever followed a recipe and gotten to the part where it calls for adding the butter, and it turns out that the butter should be at room temperature? Meanwhile, your butter is still in the box, inside your fridge…doh! Now you have to stop what you’re doing to soften the butter in the microwave, which takes time, and if taken too far, could end up melted rather than softened. These are the dark moments in baking that stop you in your tracks; we’ve all been there! Even something as seemingly benign as a cold egg will have ripple effects on other steps of your process, causing you to improvise on the fly, which can be cumbersome or time-consuming. The bottom line is, that French cuisine had it right; organization and preparation, even in a home kitchen, set the tone for everything that follows.

When you take the time to mise en place, your whole baking experience and product are better. My favorite chef instructor always said that proper planning prevents poor performance. Any good baker worth their salt will agree that getting all your ingredients and tools organized before you begin baking is paramount.

4 Easy Steps

You may be surprised to learn that it’s not just about separating ingredients into individual dishes as they do on cooking shows. It’s also about setting up your tools and equipment so that no time is wasted fetching them during the baking process. If you’re anything like me when you bake, your hands are a mess, and you’re trying to do three things at once. Having my tools out and ready when I need them means I won’t be leaving globs of butter and flour on every drawer handle in my kitchen. Furthermore, having multiples of the tools I use the most, such as silicone spatulas or wooden spoons, means I won’t be doing dishes in the middle of baking.

Here are the nuts and bolts of mise en place in just four steps:

I told you it was easy! If you’ve never baked like this before, I promise you will be pleasantly surprised by the Zen feeling that overcomes you when you are prepared. In a weird way, mise en place is my meditation. It helps me to get centered before I create something delicious. I make a whole thing of it by fixing myself a cup of tea and turning on some music. Think of it as the warmup before the workout, or if you Bake Like Me, the calm before the storm.

A note about measuring ingredients

When I graduated from college and started to live my big-girl life, I did what any sensible adult does: I bought measuring cups! When I got into baking seriously, I found that many of the recipes I wanted to try called for weight measurements. I wasted a lot of time searching the Internet for a formula to convert weight measurements into volume. Needless to say, it’s neither easy nor accurate.

In culinary school, you are issued a digital scale because that is the most precise way to measure ingredients. There’s a lot of cool science going on in baking, and bad things can happen when your measurements are off. If you’ve ever had a recipe fail because it was too dry or too wet, this could easily be the reason. Measuring by weight is more precise; furthermore, it makes it easier for you to scale the recipe up or down. A cookie recipe with a yield of 3 dozen, when measured by weight, can easily be cut in half or by thirds. Volume measurements, on the other hand, get much trickier to scale. If a recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil and you want to cut that in half, you may find it’s easier to just set the whole thing on fire and walk away.

If you don’t already own a kitchen scale, get yourself set up with one ASAP. There are a few things to consider before making your purchase, such as the size of the base, display, and measurement increments.

Here are my top three picks:

ZWILLING ENFINIGY DIGITAL KITCHEN SCALE – This is my newest darling. It’s on the higher end for price, coming in at $49.99, but worth every penny. I like this scale because it is rechargeable, has a large base, and measures in 0.1 g increments. I’ve been using it for a few weeks and haven’t had to recharge it yet.

ESCALI PICO POCKET SCALE – A little less expensive, around $33, it’s reliable, has an easy-to-read display, and also measures in 0.1 g increments. This scale does require 2 AA batteries and is not backlit.

TAYLOR DIGITAL FOOD SCALE – This one is small but mighty; it’s the chihuahua of scales. It’s perfect for weighing things such as spices, leaveners, or salt. It takes 2 AAA battery, has a lighted display, and measures in 0.01 g increments. You can usually snatch it up for around $19.99.

Remember

Mise en place is the preparation you do before you bake. It’s the time you spend setting yourself up for success in the kitchen. It can also be a time of quiet reflection, a moment to calm the waters of your busy mind. Life can be hectic. Shouldn’t baking be your escape from the madness?

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