What is "mise en place"

n. perrasucia

Mise en place is a French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or "everything in its place." It refers to the set up required before cooking, and is often used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients (e.g., cuts of meat, relishes, sauces, par-cooked items, spices, freshly chopped vegetables, and other components) that a cook will require for the menu items that are expected to be prepared during a shift.

The practice also applies in home kitchens.

The term has also been used outside of cooking: psychologists Weisberg et al. used the phrase to refer to "how one's stance towards a given environment places constraints on what one feels able to do within that environment, and how these assessments and predispositions impact the process of preparing to act." They used the term in a study of how a school became safer after security measures — like metal detectors and bars on the windows — were removed, leading to the unexpected outcome.

The writer and chef Dan Charnas uses the concept of mise en place as a "philosophy" and "system" for what chefs believe and do, even going so far to call it an "ethical code." In the kitchen, the phrase is used as a noun (i.e., the setup of the array of ingredients), a verb (i.e., the process of preparing) and a state of mind. All of these uses, however, refer to someone who knows to be well-prepared. In this view, the term's broader meanings can be applied to classrooms, hospitals, and elsewhere.

Mise en Place is a restaurant in Tampa, Florida, the core of a group of spin-off restaurants in the area. Named for the French term mise en place, the restaurant started in 1986 as a small catering business. Maryann Ferenc and chef Marty Blitz began the business, now a group of restaurant/ cafes offering full-service modern American cuisine as well as event catering. Mise en Place is located in Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott's 1925 plaza near the University of Tampa (Elliot also created Tampa City Hall (1915) and Ybor City's Cuban Club (1918)

Mise en Place is located in Grand Central Place, including a banquet hall in what was once Lafayette Bank. The restaurant is part of a three story building beside Snow Park, "once considered the world’s smallest city park by the Guinness World Records", along Kennedy Boulevard just west of Tampa’s business district. Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott designed the 1925 plaza, built originally as an office building for physicians.

The Mise en place restaurant business also operates the SONO Cafe at the Tampa Museum of Art and is under contract for a restaurant at the Tampa International Airport. Mise en Place offers a menu "so diverse it is daunting to read while trying to hold a conversation".

Past spin-offs included Mise en Place Market, a take-out version aiming to serve the "home-meal replacement niche", 442, and the restaurant Mojo on Davis Island.

Tampa Mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez held his runoff election victory party at the restaurant in 2003. A Democratic National Committee fundraiser with David Plouffe was held at the restaurant in 2009. Ference's reaction to Obama's plans for small business investment was covered in a 2009 Bloomberg Businessweek article.