February 1, 2013

Mise en Place

 I've been cooking more over the last few months, getting into a fantastic grove with my #2 (cook more) and #3 (start baking). Let's say I found my cooking zen and I love it.  


 

Joel has been my stand-in cooking teacher. I learned from him mise en place is cooking 101. In his free time while working at the White Barn Inn (Relais Chateaux property), Joel would ask the chefs (classic french trained) to teach him how to cook, which is where he learned to cook so well. I learned that mise en place in French means "everything in place" -  means arranging your ingredients, spices, chopped veggies and all cooking components & equipment all prior to physically cooking. I laughed at the bowls and complained about the volume of dishes I had to clean. I thought to myself, how is preparing in bowls going to help me cook? 

As I clumsily found my way through the first few dishes, I half-adopted the mise en place protocol and as a result, my food was as a result, half ass. Poor Joel, he had to eat his heart out through some pretty unappetizing dishes. Over time, I humbly adopted the protocol and spent a disproportionate amount of my time chopping, bowling, and prepping. I eventually found joy and pride in displaying my beautiful bowls of color, spices and smells. I realized that the time I took in investing in the science of preparation helped free me to enjoy the art of cooking. I also learned that 95% of successfully cooking is in the preparation and mise en place-ing the gusto out of every recipe. 

I guess this cooking lesson could be readily applied to my life. Whenever I think I've come to an end of a chapter, good or bad, I end up learning that all of the preceding experiences are preparing me for the next dish I am going to cook. I've been doing a lot of reflecting since I left P&G. My career to date has been a lot of mise en place- checking the boxes, following the steps, and preparing. 

The question I'm left with now is what am I preparing for? What dish do I want I want cook next? For the first time in my life, the world is literally my oyster with no strings attached.
 
I have a few things in motion and will be putting a few more in place.  I half joked to a friend that I'm hoping DxD inspires a book or business idea. Who knows? In the meantime, I'm going to cook my heart out and tackle DxD in hopes it inspires my next "dish."

DxD, 

Lucia 



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