Pro-tips 2: mise en place. Plus, endive and pear salad, and a cheat’s bulgogi beef marinade.
If you’re a food and cooking enthusiast, you’ve no doubt encountered the phrase mise en place. Punched into Google Translate it will return ‘setup’. A flick through a French dictionary will reveal translations like ‘implementation’ or ‘establishment’, far too formal for our purposes. Word-for-word, it says ‘in its place’, which is much closer to its meaning for a cook or chef. The literal meaning is one thing, interpretation is quite another. Mise en place (meez) is a state of mind, nay, a way of life. Recall the pro-tip about fridge cleaning from the first pro-tips edition. That’s meez. Do you set the table, decant the wine and light the candles long before your guests arrive? That’s meez. Do you set out the kid’s lunch boxes and school items the night before? That counts as meez. Think of it as a little work now, for a lot of ease later.
Mise en place at home
That’s great, you’re thinking, but what’s it got to do with me? I’m not a chef nor a cook, and family meals hardly warrant restaurant-grade organisation and preparation, right? Wrong. Well, wrong-ish. While you definitely don’t need neat rows of deftly prepared garnishes, refined sauces, and an organised bank of specialist equipment, the tenants of meez apply to the domestic kitchen.
Put the ingredients and equipment you use most frequently in the most accessible spots. Make a litre of salad dressing at a time. Make stock and freeze it in small batches for ease of use. Organise and label your spice rack. If you use olive and/or vegetable oil for pretty much everything cook, buy some squeezy bottles and use those instead. Keep staples like rice, pasta, dried beans and pulses, dried fruit and canned tomatoes on hand. Build yourself an arsenal of non-perishable condiments such as hoisin, fish sauce, or Worcestershire. Sharpen your knives, or get them sharpened (you won’t believe the time and energy this will save you). Keep everyday-use items like salt, pepper, butter, oils, garlic, vinegar, lemons, or ginger at your fingertips on the bench, ready for a spritz or sprinkle at a moment’s notice.
Meez is analogous to basic military training. It’s not necessarily easy or fun, but the payoff is worth it. Once you start, you’ll discover your own path to meez enlightenment, and habits will form. Persist, and they’ll stick. Persist long enough, and they’ll never leave you. Ask us how we know.
You’re living a meez life, and it’s a good life.
Endive and pear salad
It’s a great chance to use that all-purpose salad dressing you’ve just meez’d into your life. Endives are at their absolute peak right now, with the cold snap softening the bitterness and the recent wet plumping and tenderising them. We’re into frisée, and puntarelle leaves right now. Although your radicchios and Belgian endives are in the mix too, as is escarole. Thoroughly wash and dry your chosen endive combo, and chop it down into bite-sized pieces. How this works will be a little different for each variety, so use your judgment.
If you’re in frisée town, you’re going for the cute little curly inner leaves. Start there and work your way out, tasting as you go, until the outer leaves become unpalatable. Into a bowl with a finely sliced spring onion, some finely diced, tart green pear, dress then serve. So easy and so very tasty. If you want to embellish, some small pieces of a strong cheese (say, a blue variety, or a well-aged parmesan or similar hard cheese) are a perfect match.
Cheat’s bulgogi beef marinade
More chances at meez practice. The further ahead (up to 48 hours) you can marinate this beef, the better it’s going to be. You can use a prime cut for this if you like, but in all seriousness, it’s unnecessary. The marinating process will tenderise whatever meat you’re using. Plus, the lesser cuts have more flavour, and the quick-hot cooking will prevent the meat from going all leather-booty. You’re after about 500 to 600 grams of steak for about four people. Make rice, steam some Asian greens, and serve with a fried egg and some kimchi.
Pro tip: Put the beef in the freezer for 30 minutes; it makes it easier to slice. Once chilled, cut the steak across the grain into slices about half a centimeter thick.
In a medium bowl, mix together half a small pear (peeled and coarsely grated), 2 tbsp each of of soy sauce, brown sugar, and sesame oil. Plus, 3 minced garlic cloves, and a tablespoon each of freshly grated ginger, gochujang. Combine this mixture with the sliced steak in a large resealable bag, ensuring the meat is well-coated, and let it marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
When you’re ready to cook the beef, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the steak slices to the pan in a single layer. Cook each slice for about a minute on each side until charred and just cooked through.
Serve immediately atop the rice, greens and kimchi, garnished with the fried egg, thinly sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds if you like.