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Do You Mise en Place?

partysugar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:50:12 -0700

Mise en place is a French culinary term that refers to the gathering and prepping of ingredients before starting the cooking process. It's standard practice in restaurant kitchens, but I'm wondering how many of you do it at home?

Simple Tip: Chop Onions Last

partysugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:15:00 -0800

When a recipe calls for an assortment of diced vegetables, like carrots, celery, garlic, and onions, chop the onions last. This is especially important if you are prone to crying when slicing onions.

The onion's chemicals will leave a natural residue in the air and on the cutting board and knife. The minute diced onions hit the pan, however, the enzymes that produce the tear-inducing gases are destroyed. The less time between dicing and cooking onions the better.

Got a tip for chopping veggies? Share with us below!

Definition: Mise en Place

YumSugar — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:11:12 -0800

Mise en Place

A French term that literally means, "setting in place." It's used in cooking to describe all the prep and gathering of ingredients before starting the actual cooking process. This means pulling out your pots and pans, and every single ingredient before you even think about turning the burners on. Following this technique will definitely put you on the track to becoming a star chef.

Top Chef Masters: Episode 7

partysugar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:20:13 -0700

Signature dishes spoke volumes on last night's episode of Top Chef Masters. We kicked off the champions round as the previous episodes' winners - Art Smith, Suzanne Tracht, Rick Bayless, Anita Lo, Michael Chiarello, and Hubert Keller -each returned to make a play at the master title.

Are you still watching? Thankful for the return of episode-by-episode elimination, now that the tournament-style part of the show is over? Then let's discuss when you read more.

Did you love watching the masters in the mise en place relay race? Were you surprised by their skills?
Which chef's signature dish would you rather eat? Whose would you rather reinvent?
Would you rather see the chefs cook for other chefs or for critics?
Seriously, who is funnier: Rick Bayless or Art Smith?
Did you agree that Art Smith's burger looked "terrifying"? How would you have cooked the burger and egg differently?
Did you like the more radical reinventions or the chefs who stayed truer to the dish?

Source: Bravo

Gwyneth and Mario Share Their Kitchen Must Haves

partysugar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:00:39 -0700

Yesterday Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow were featured guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The celebrity chef and actress promoted their food-related travel series, Spain . . . on the Road Again, which debuts Sept. 20 on PBS. Gwyneth and a newly slimmed-down Mario each shared five kitchen items they can't live without. To find out what they were, read more.

Mario Batali loves:

His Kitchenaid pasta-maker attachment
His home cured olives
His microplane
Extra virgin olive oil
His nesting mixing bowls for the perfect mise-en-place

Gwyneth Paltrow loves:

Her steamer
Global knives
Cast iron skillets
Her digital timer
Her wine sealer

What are your kitchen must haves? Will you watch Spain . . . on the Road Again this weekend?

Source

Let's Dish: What Spice Can You Not Live Without?

YumSugar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:15:03 -0700

Although I have a large spice rack, I have a designated mise en place area for ingredients I use all the time. This includes seasonings like salt and pepper as well as my favorite spice, cumin. While we never cooked with it growing up - my mother hates the smell of it - I have grown to love it, and now I don't think I could live without it. It lends a certain earthy smokiness that no other spice can add, and I put it in everything from Indian-inspired salsas to house pickles.

What spice is indispensable to you?

Source

Top Chef 3.9 - Second Helping (aka RWII) Recap

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:32:31 -0700

In RWII (Restaurant Wars 2), the cheftestants received a chance to correct their mistakes from last week's episode. They were still divided into two teams - Restaurant April (CJ, Brian, Tre and Casey) and The Garage (Howie, Sara, Dale and Hung) - and each team had to redecorate their restaurants and tinker with their menus in hope for a flawless evening. But before they could begin, there was (of course) a quickfire challenge. This time they were greeted by both Padma and Chef Tom. To find out what happened next, read more

The quickfire was a Mise en Place relay challenge. The first contestant had to shuck 15 oysters, the next had to dice 5 onions, the third had to break down 4 chickens and the last member had to crack and separate 3 eggs, then beat the whites until they were stiff enough to remain in a bowl upside down for five seconds. Brian smoked Howie on the oysters, but Casey ruined her lead by meticulously chopping her onions. Eventually her slow as molasses style chopping caused them to lose the lead and the challenge. The Garage is declared victor and they receive $200 additional dollars for wine, plus the assistance of a guest sommelier - which later turns out to be Stephen from season one. Did anyone else see this coming?

Next they head back to their restaurants and work on the style. Interior designer Christopher Ciccone - Madonna's brother - works with them to fine tune their design and although The Garage - soon to be named Quatre - looks much nicer and more put together, Dale says it looks like "Valentine's Day threw up all over it."

During the service, Chef Tom decides to stay in the kitchen while the other judges, including guest judge Geoffrey Zakarian and four former TC contestants, are seated up front. Back there he gets to see how Sara commands the kitchen as executive chef, and how Tre just lets things go out.

Meanwhile out in the front of the houses, the judges hate half of Restaurant April's food. They even call Tre's beet dish one of the worst dishes they've had in a long time. Over at the other restaurant, they wonder why in the world Dale is in a short sleeve shirt and jeans.

In the end the renamed Garage is declared the winning team and Sara, for her assertiveness in the kitchen, is declared the final winner. This means it's sayonara to either CJ, Brian, Tre or Casey. At this point I started panicking, I realized that Casey and Brian both received very little screen time, so it couldn't have been either of them. This meant it was either Tre or CJ - both of whom I thought would make it to the finals - who would be packing their knives. I couldn't figure out which would make me feel worse, but seeing Tre gracefully say farewell was definitely heartbreaking. Bravo you had me fooled! Even the blogging community assumed Tre had made it to the end, how could you do this to us?!?

Now, after wiping my tears, I have a few things to ask you:

Dale absolutely hates the designer, but is very professional about it. Would you have been able to be so nice?
Are Bravo's editors finally learning? Dale received so much screen time, I definitely thought he was either winning or losing.
Could you chop onions faster than Casey?
Was Stephen an addition to the team or an obstacle?
I know it's due to editing, but what did Brian do last night?
Did you love the scenes of Chef Tom eating in the kitchen as much as I did?
Were you surprised by Sara's assertiveness?
Wasn't it great when Joey said the lamb was undercooked and therefore must have been Howie's?
Who are you rooting for?

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