My Limited French Vocabulary

I am about to share something really embarrassing.  I received a D in French class first semester of my senior year in college. In my defense it was the only D I ever received, I was pretty much an A/B student. The really embarrassing part however is that I spent the previous semester living in France for six months!  Oh how proud my parents must be. I chalk it up to two things. Number one, I was in college, where beer and pizza held more importance than grades; and number two some people just don't have a gift for foreign languages.

While my French language skills leave little to be desired, I have found there are several French words and phrases I actually managed to learn and retain over the years that come in handy when working in the kitchen. One of the most important  phrases "Mise en place"  has become  a crucial part of my limited French vocab.

Translated from French to English it  means "set up" or  "everything in place".

It is a professional kitchen term meaning to organize and arrange the ingredients that the chef will require to prepare the menu that evening. The ingredients are all washed, measured, chopped, and typically arranged in individual bowls.  I happen to love both of these sets of prep bowls from Crate & Barrel.

Having a variety of sizes is nice, but I also love the small ones with lids.  You can prep hours in advance and pop components into the fridge until it is time to start the show. 

Sadly, I left a nice set of prep bowls back in the states, therefore I am stuck working with the pots and pans and bowls that came with our rental apartment. So, the mise en place for my asparagus risotto adapted from this recipe might not look so pretty, but at least it was well organized! When cooking risotto I think having an organized mise is incredibly important, because once you start cooking the rice, you really cannot stop.  It is a good 20-30 minute stretch of stirring and slowly incorporating stock, and then stirring some more, and incorporating more stock, and then stirring again.  OK, you get the picture!

Being well prepared helped me to accomplish this!  Lemony risotto with peas and asparagus, and pan seared lemon pepper salmon.

So while I may have received a D in French that one semester in college, I would like to think if it was a mise en  place classe maybe I would have made an A! OK,  maybe a B- with my not so fancy prep bowls, and a little too much lemon juice, but still that is better than a D any day!