Chapter 7

Mise En Place
Copyright 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Mise En Place
Cooks must have a
talent for organization
and efficiency.
Many tasks must be
completed over a given
time and by a limited
number of workers.
All must come together
at one crucial point:
service time.
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 Mise En Place
Chefs take pride in the thoroughness and
quality of their advance preparation or Mise en
Place.
Mise en Place : French term, meaning
everything put in place.

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Planning & Organizing Production
Pre-Preparation
Pre-preparation is necessary! You must:
Assemble your tools
Assemble your ingredients
Wash, trim, cut, prepare, and measure your raw
materials
Prepare your equipment

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Planning & Organizing Production
Pre-Preparation
The Chef must plan pre-preparation carefully.
Break down each menu item into its stages of
production.
Determine which stages may be done in advance.
Determine the best way to hold each item at its final
stage of pre-preparation.

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Planning & Organizing Production
Pre-Preparation
( contd)
Determine how long it takes to prepare each stage
of each recipe.
Plan a production schedule beginning with the
preparations that take the longest.
Examine recipes to see if they might be revised for
better efficiency and quality as served.

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Planning & Organizing Production
Pre-Preparation
The Goal
The goal of pre-preparation is to do as much work in
advance as possible without loss of quality.
Quality should always take highest priority.

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Planning & Organizing Production
Mise En Place: The Required Tasks
A large part of a cooks workday is spent doing
mise en place.
A large part of learning how to cook is learning
how to do mise en place.

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Figure 5.2 The parts of a chefs knife.
 Using the Knife Safely
Use the correct knife for the task at hand
Always cut away from yourself
Always cut on a clean cutting board
Do not cut on glass, marble or metal
Place a damp towel underneath the cutting
board to keep it from sliding as you cut
 Using a Knife Safely (cont.)
Keep knives sharp; a dull knife is more dangerous
than a sharp one
When carrying a knife, hold it pointed down, parallel
and close to your leg as you walk
A falling knife has no handle. Do not attempt to
catch a falling knife; step back and allow it to fall
Never leave a knife in a sink of water; anyone
reaching into the sink could be injured or the knife
could be dented by pots or other utensils
 Using the Knife
The Sharpening Stone
Follow these
guidelines:
1. Hold the blade at a
constant 20-degree
angle to the stone.
2. Make light, even
strokes, the same
number on each
side of the blade.
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 Using the Knife
The Sharpening Stone
3. Sharpen in one direction only to get a regular, uniform
edge.
4. Do not over-sharpen.
5. Finish with a few strokes on the steel (see next slide),
and then wipe the blade clean.

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 Using the Knife
The Steel
Follow these guidelines:
1. Hold the blade at a constant 20-degree angle to the steel,
just as when using the stone.
A smaller angle will be ineffective. A larger one will dull the edge
2. Make light strokes; do not grind the knife against the steel.

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 Using the Knife
The Steel
3. Make even, regular strokes. Alternate each stroke, first
on one side of the blade, then on the other
4. Use no more than five or six strokes on each side of the
blade; too much steeling can actually dull the blade.
5. Use the steel often; then, you will rarely have to
sharpen the knife on the stone.

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Using the Knife
The Grip
A proper grip
Gives you maximum
control over the knife.
Increases your cutting
accuracy and speed.
Prevents slipping.
Lessens the chance of an
accident.

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 Using the Knife
The Grip
The type of grip you use depends, in part, on the job you
are doing and the size of the knife.
Many Chefs fell that grasping the blade with the thumb
and forefinger gives the greatest control.

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 Using the Knife
The Guiding Hand
Proper positioning of the hand achieves three goals
1. Hold the item being cut.
2. Guide the knife.
3. Protect the hand from cuts.

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 Chopping
To chop is to cut an item into small pieces
where uniformity of size and shape is
neither necessary or feasible
 Mincing
To mince is to cut items into very small
pieces
The terms finely chopped and minced are
often used interchangeably
 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts
Cutting food products
into uniform shapes
and sizes is important
for two reasons:
1. It ensures even cooking.
2. It enhances the
appearance of the product.

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 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts
Chop: to cut into irregularly shaped pieces
Concasser : to chop coarsely
Mince: to chop into very fine pieces
Emincer : to cut into very thin slices (does not mean to
mince)
Shred: to cut into thin strips

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 Cutting Sticks
Batonnet
1/4 X 1/4 X 2 inches
Julienne
1/8 X 1/8 X 2 inches
Fine julienne
1/16 X 1/16 X 2 inches
 Dice Cuts
Brunoise
1/8 X 1/8 X 1/8
Small dice
1/4 X 1/4 X 1/4
Medium dice
1/2 X 1/2 X 1/2
Large dice
3/4 X 3/4 X 3/4
Paysanne
1/2 X 1/2 X 1/8
 Cutting Brunoise and Small, Medium, and Large Dice
Btonnet and julienne sticks and the large, medium, small and brunoise dices cut from them.
Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts

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 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts
Slicing
When food items are cut into round slices as shown, the
cut is called rondelle.

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 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts
Btonnet Dice

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 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts

Tourn Julienne

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 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts
Paysanne Lozenges

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 Using the Knife
The Basic Cuts
Fermire Oblique

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