The mise en place factor

Mise en place - a French term, "everything in its place."

The more I bake, the more this term pops into my head. It is key to a successful product, yet no one ever really discusses the prep side of the task on any of the celebrity chef shows and I think they've done us a disservice. I cut my kitchen teeth watching cooking shows, the shows before cable, and even before the remote control, the shows on Public Television. The cooking personalities made whipping up three dishes look like a 40 minute walk in the park. All he/she had to do was pull out a tray of procured and finely diced ingredients, a few stirs of the pot and magically a meal. Watching these shows started started my longing for 40 miniature bowls just like Emeril's, one for each spice and veg in my recipe. I lusted after Martha's 12 matching cutting boards, in an array of sophisticated yet muted tones, one for every ingredient. (She never actually chopped the three onions required of the recipe, but she would demonstrate with a few quick knife moves turning to prepped ingredients to finish up.) But no one ever discussed the prep side of cooking, I guess it didn't make sexy TV.

Sure Mario taught me how to sauté. Jacques helped me hone my knife skills. Julia made us seek out exotic recipes. And then Rachael came along setting the stopwatch for us to produce in 30 minutes flat. No one ever addressed the mise en place factor.

I know the traditional definition of mise en place does not include procurement, I've added it, after all to get everything in its place - you need to locate it. My kitchen is well stocked, but there is always one key ingredients not tucked away in the pantry or refrigerator. Arugula was the missing element to last night's dinner prep, I had to go to three stores before I found it. That's a chunk of time, people! Do you think Julia just had a rabbit at her fingertips for Saturday's show?

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for all the TV chefs have taught me. Along with knife and sautéing skills, and Alton's chem lessons, it would be nice for someone to address the necessity and reality of mise en place.