Mise en place nearly cost me a full Saturday service last week

Honestly, I've been slacking on my mise en place for years and never had issues until last Wednesday on the line in Denver. We had a 200-cover banquet pop up and my prep cook cut all the onions wrong for the demi-glace base. Took me 45 minutes to re-dice 8 pounds of onions while tickets were piling up. Anyone else ever get burned by trusting someone else's prep work?

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2 Comments

allen.william5mo ago

Used to be one of those cooks who thought mise en place was for control freaks and culinary school types. Then one bad prep day on a busy Friday proved me dead wrong. Now I double check everything before service starts.

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dixon.ryan5mo ago

Nailed it forward the second I skipped slicing my chives during a Sunday brunch rush at an old diner gig. @allen.william ended up grabbing a fistful of green onions from the walk-in and just hacking them up mid-service, getting tiny green flecks all over the grill. Never again. Now I even pre-portion my butter pats like a total lunatic, and you know what? The shift flows way smoother.

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