If you watch any cooking shows, eventually you'll hear a strange French term - Mise en Place (meez-on-plahs). This translates to "putting in place" or "everything in place." This simply refers to making sure your prep work is done before you start to cook - the meat and vegetables are cleaned, portioned or measured and cut to size, each in it's own separate container. The spices and dry ingredients are pre-measured and placed in small ramekins or cups. The oven and grill are preheated, the pans are heating. The oils, butters and stocks are all portioned out.
While some may say that this adds too much time to your already-over-scheduled life, not to mention all the extra containers that need to be cleaned up afterward, my experience has been that the effort is not only worth it, but it also saves time in the long run, and prevents discovering at the most inopportune moment that you are missing a crucial ingredient.
Like most home cooks, for a long time, my preferred method of cooking was to pull some things out of the fridge or pantry, set them on the counter and then start going. I figured I would wash, peel and chop vegetables as I needed them, and measure out ingredients on the fly. Inevitably I would discover I was low or completely out of an ingredient, requiring me to make a trip to the store while my half-cooked meal wilted on the stove, or I would just skip that ingredient. I would discover that I needed to wash and dry measuring utensils as I was going. Cooking became a chore, and the results were oftentimes less than desirable. Once I discovered the importance of making sure I had "everything in place" before I started cooking, the process was less stressful, and the results were fantastic!
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