[Sca-cooks] mise-en-place

[Elaine Koogler]

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise wrote:

>Before I ask my question, let me confess that people like me should not 
>be allowed to read Kitchen Confidential. Especially the first week of 
>school, with the psycho Family Wedding coming up, screaming scandals, 
>and of course the [19th century british racial slur] cop who ignored the 
>idiot who pulled out in front of me without looking and no turn signal 
>in order to stop me for not having the right registration on my license 
>plate and then wouldn't let me look for my paperwork in the back of the 
>car....
>
>but anyway, I was reading his comments about mis-en-place. I'd never
>really thought about it, associating it with people who scream bloody
>murder when some prankish sous-chef moves their olive oil 2 inches to
>the left in order to watch their heads explode...
>
>but it seems to me that the concept of mise-en-place obviously could be 
>somewhat adapted to SCA feast kitchens beyond that... certainly the 
>chain of events at my feast that ended up making us switch the feast 
>courses and nearly poison someone because they read the menu and drank 
>lemon drink which they thought was sekanjabin, was partly because nobody 
>could find anything and when they did find it, they moved it someplace 
>else and we began the Great Spice and Equipment Hunt all over again.
>
>For those of you who are familiar with the whole concept, advice on 
>applying that sort of thing to SCA feast kitchens-- and advice on 
>organizing your feast kitchen-- is what I'm looking to hear.
>
>  
>
When I organize my kitchen, I try to put all of the ingredients for a 
given dish together (except, of course, things that have to be in the 
frig or freezer).  Then I group the dishes together for a specific 
course.  I also measure out quantities of things like spices ahead of 
time so that I can just 'dump' them in.  I find that this saves 
time...otherwise my help and I spend a lot of time searching for 
whatever is needed. 

Kiri