Mise en Place

If you are a fan of Top Chef or any other cooking show, you've probably heard the French phrase "mise en place."  Essentially, I believe it means "everything in its place," but, just for you, I will Google it to see if that's right.

... ... ... Hm, I'm pretty close!  It means "putting in place."

Anyway, from what I can gather, this means that when you cook, instead of having to scramble to chop garlic when you reach "Step 4: Add garlic to skillet," you have all your food prepped and ready to go.  I don't know anyone who is organized enough to actually cook this way all of the time, unless you count the Pioneer Woman.  But you know what, she looks pretty B.A. as she just adds all of her ingredients out of cute little bowls, so I decided to give it a go tonight while I made Potato Skins Mac & Cheese for dinner.

Not pictured: macaroni noodles, crumbled bacon, and ground beef (all still in their pots).

The verdict?  It certainly made it a bit easier to cook in the moment, but, honestly, I'm not so sure that the extra dirty dishes are worth it most of the time.  I already feel that I dirty 80% of the dishes we own when I cook, and doing this just adds to the problem.  Definitely prepping some stuff is helpful (like veg that need chopping, cheese that needs grating), but doing so for everything (especially for stuff that just needs opening and measuring directly) seems like a waste of time/dishes.

How about you - when you cook, do you prep all your mise en place in advance, wing it as you go, or are you somewhere in the middle, like me?