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5 Tips for Using a Mise En Place

  • Fresh herbs have short shelf lives. Once you buy them, wash, dry and wrap them in a paper towel in a zip-locking plastic bag in the fridge. Then you just have to chop them up when your recipe calls for them.
  • Lay out your tools along with your ingredients when setting up your Mise En Place. Look for multitaskers in your kitchen. Chopsticks can make a great impromptu tool for things like stirring pasta or flipping cutlets.
  • Keep all your leftover liquids. Freeze wine or lemon juice in ice cube trays for when a recipe calls for just a little bit.
  • The best egg separator is your hands. This avoids transferring the yolk or white back and forth between shells, which can be problematic as that's where salmonella lives.
  • Save trips to your trash bin while slicing and dicing by hanging a small grocery trash bag from your faucet for scraps. That way you can toss everything in it at once.