Frequently Asked Questions

Preparing to Prepare Your Dinner

Thanks to a little French culinary ingenuity, you can avoid this situation, dirty fewer pans, and generally keep your sanity in the kitchen. A simple technique called mise en place, which means "sitting in place," calls for all the cooking preparation to be done before you start cooking. This includes everything from preheating the oven to measuring and chopping ingredients to reading the full recipe. In fact, that's the important first step. Read the recipe from start to finish, noting all the equipment you'll need. Then get out all your ingredients, measure them out, and set them in an easily accessible place. When it's time to actually cook, you won't be scrambling for a clean spatula or rushing to chop onions while your olive oil is burning the bottom of the pan.

While this might seem like an overly thorough way to assemble your meals, there's a reason it's employed on your favorite cooking show — you won't believe how much time you'll save in the long run. And you'll immediately notice the difference in one important detail - the flavor of your food.