A good meal can only come from an organized kitchen. The multitude of activities that go into preparing a meal also demand that chefs and their kitchens be organized. There are international standards that define how a kitchen should be organized to save energy for chefs and reduce the time taken to prepare a meal.
Proper utilization of a kitchen and achieving your meal preparation goals demands that you know the different parts or sections of a kitchen and how to use them. If you are the manager, you must know how these sections are designed so that they can serve the intended purpose. Such knowledge could turn you into a competitive leader who can run a profitable kitchen.
What Is Mise En Place?
The best way to understand the Mise En Place is to look at the procedure of cooking. The chef is expected to begin by preparing all the ingredients. By the time cooking starts, all attention will be on the pot and not the preparation of ingredients. This is where the mise en place comes in.
The mise en place is derived from French language and is pronounced MEEZ ahn plahs. This is a mandatory section for professional kitchens and chefs. It is where a chef collects, prepares and places all ingredients before cooking can begin.
Think going on a trip. You have to pick the clothes and items you need, pack them in bags and place them at the door waiting for the taxi. Once the cab arrives, you can just leave. Once you have prepared everything on the kitchen table, you can begin cooking without distraction. No running to the store when you realize you've forgotten something.
Why Is Mise En Place Important In The Kitchen?
A professional kitchen has water, fire, sharp knives, forks and other dangers that you may encounter. Outside of this kitchen, customers are waiting for their food, which has to be prepared to the highest standards. Full attention is required when cooking. This explains why a Mise En Place is so crucial to a kitchen.
- A Mise En Place gives you an idea of all the ingredients you have prepared for a meal. In case one component is missing, you will notice and avoid rushing or turning off the oven to go fetch the missing ingredient. Before you begin cooking, all ingredients will be at the table.
- This will help you measure the right ingredients for your meals. It is the measurements that define the taste of food. Since you measure the ingredients before cooking begins, you will be more accurate and achieve high standards of client satisfaction.
- It makes cooking easier and faster. You have a single reference point when cooking. This saves time and allows you to deliver meals within the shortest time after a customer has placed his or her order.
- You can manage your ingredients with ease. There will be no risk or chance of ingredients running out in the middle ofpreparing meals. You can monitor what is left and replenish before taking the next order.
- It helps you create an organized kitchen that saves chefs a lot of energy. Cooking will appear complicated if you are getting ingredients and utensils from random locations. You create a cooking routine that is energy efficient and makes your cooking easier by placing all ingredients in one area.
An organized kitchen is the first step towards customer satisfaction. You also avoid overburdening your chefs by forcing them to get ingredients and utensils from multiple locations. This will make your operations efficient for all persons within the kitchen environment.
Where Do You Learn About The Mise En Place And How To Use It?
Prospects for a chef or kitchen manager depend on where they train. Training at an institution that holds professionalism in high regard equips you with the skills to work at the most advanced and sophisticated kitchen environments. You must choose an institution that is accredited to provide culinary training.
The best training institution for culinary arts will equip you with such crucial skills as kitchen organization and effective use of Mise en Place, cooking principles and methods, fundamentals of pastry and baking as well as fabrication of poultry, seafood, and meat. You should also be trained in healthy cooking and applied culinary nutrition.
It is expected that you will rise to the level of management over time. Advanced courses like supervision of food services, kitchen safety and sanitation, purchasing and management of storerooms, as well as dining room and service management are also included. Such high-level training keeps you hungry for more training.
Having graduated from the best culinary training institution, you can expect to enjoy an exciting future in restaurants, resorts and hotels, cruise liners, institutions like schools and universities, pastry and bakeshops, retirement communities and hospitals as well as corporate dining facilities
Are You Ready to Start Your Culinary Journey?
Do you want to get started today? If you want to earn an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Culinary Arts, consider ECPI University's Culinary Institute of Virginia for your education. For more information, connect with a friendly admissions professional today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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