I'm a list maker, sometimes to a fault. I constantly record, catalog, and prioritize, frantically scribbling every thought for fear of losing it forever. I'm also a list saver, sometimes to the dismay of my wife, who gently teases me for my tendency to hold on to every scrap of paper. Recipes, phone numbers, receipts, sketches, random ideas... The seeming randomness actually helps me keep it all in order. In a way it's like my mental mis en place, my system for organizing my thoughts, making sure everything is in its place. As with the mis en place of the kitchen, and Fernand Point's call to "begin each day with nothing on the stove", I find it important to save a "hard copy" of all the information I've processed at the end of a day's work. It also forces me to shed any leftover stress, to decompress. You never know, walking into the restaurant the next morning, what will get thrown at you. A clear head helps.
I think it was Tony Bourdain who testified to mis en place as a form of religion. As a cook, the routine of calculated prep results in peace of mind, or even represents an extension of one's self. It's all about having everything you need to get the job done, within reach to execute the job efficiently, and to exact specifications to achieve a predictable result. It's a daily checklist, an action plan, and a well-plotted roadmap. While mostly concerned with "today", mis en place usually begins the night before, taking inventory, ordering the raw materials. Occasionally you're forced to think far into the future and out of context; such planning well in advance feels counterintuitive to the immediate action/reaction of normal kitchen duties. And then sometimes you have no idea what to expect, so you overcompensate, or construct intricate contingency plans for the worst case scenario.
Funny story. A few days before the recent International Chefs Congress, I got a call from the organizers at Starchefs, asking if I would be willing to host one of the out-of-town presenters, Jordi Butron of Barcelona's Espai Sucre. A pastry school during the day and a restaurant at night, Espai Sucre was perhaps first among the wave of avant-garde, dessert-centric concepts. As a host for the event, I'd be there to assist in case he needed any last minute ingredients or a kitchen in which to prep. I had a full plate myself, but as a longtime admirer of his work, I couldn't really say no. For my staff, it would be exciting to interact with a guest chef, especially in our own kitchen. Besides, setting up for this kind of thing is something we do a lot of.
As Jordi's demonstration loomed closer, I started to worry because we were having problems getting in touch with him. I didn't know what his needs would be, and imagining myself in his position, perhaps he didn't know exactly what to expect, coming all this way from Spain. His recipe was fairly straightforward, with the exception of a couple of specific ingredients- one in particular, a stabilizer, stumped even the most progressive chefs I was able to consult with. The organizers said not to worry, but feeling a certain weight on my shoulders, I went ahead in gathering all the mis en place anyway, scaling ingredients, and making the various components and "switch-outs" for the dessert, planning for that worst case scenario. At the very least, I'd be making Jordi's life easier. The night before his demo, I finally heard from him, though via third person. "Just tell him 'yo tengo todo', and that I'll be there in the morning!" was my message.
The funny part is, Jordi never actually planned to demo the dish, but instead discuss his philosphy of plated desserts, and the method he uses to conceive them. Sure, he plated one serving of it- an assembly of hazelnut sablee, black truffle gel, brown butter ice cream, and smoked brioche- to illustrate his concepts, but that came about 55 minutes into his hour-long presentation! Of course, I couldn't even get upset over the situation; he knew what he was doing all along and wasn't expecting anything to be done for him. Though perhaps there was a slight lapse in communication, there certainly was no one to blame. And he was incredibly gracious, and his presentation was pretty thought-provoking. Instead of seeing it all as a waste of my time, it was a reminder of my organizational skills, and if push does come to shove, how important good mis en place really is. I also realized how much I appreciate the work that others do for me.
Per request, I'm offering the recipe packet from my own demo at the ICC as a download as well: Inventive Petit Fours Starchefs ICC 2008.doc
My trip to Thailand began just a few days later. I started planning for this event as far back as April or May. I was to execute an afternoon tea service over three days, with about 100 expected guests each day. The kicker was the request that I pump out some 35 components, from savory items, to cakes, individual plated desserts, chocolates, petit fours, and a couple of live stations. A buffet is not part of my daily vocabulary as a restaurant pastry chef. With the volume and variety at hand, not to mention the fact that I had no idea what to expect of the kitchen or ingredients half a world away, paranoia began to creep in. My initial mis en place entailed writing a book's worth of recipes and compiling the market lists. Luckily for me, all of this raw information was being processed by one of the most efficient and professional chefs I've ever met, Stephane Calvet, pastry chef at the Four Seasons Bangkok. From beginning to end, Stephane steered me through jet-lag, international commerce, variations in equipment and ingredients, and language barriers over four days of intensive work. And his amazing staff are truly deserving of credit for preparing the lion's share of the resulting buffet presentation. At the end of such an event, or even at the end of a busy service, I think about the guests, and if they ever stop to consider the logistics needed to make their meal possible. But then I remind myself that, no, they never should have to think about it. That's our job, to make it all appear effortless.
As much as I depend upon detailed planning and preparation, I thrive upon spontaneity, too. In pastry world, creating on the fly is tricky, more so than working within the a la minute nature of savory cooking, where a pinch of this or a handful of that can translate into a new dish. But I do have an arsenal of staples I can dispatch at will; these components are either part of existing menu items or simply items I like to have around. Just as a line cook might season his or her food with a basic palette of herbs, shallots, reductions, or garnishes, I too keep an inventory of such extra flourishes: various powders, caramelized nuts, salts, and sauces. And a lot of items play multiple roles as building blocks. Mixing and matching all of these components from within a menu can be a good exercise, perhaps sparking new ideas.
I offer a few of my go-to favorites below. The sablee is a no-brainer. We use it as a simple cookie to accompany sorbets and ice creams, crushed as a "cement" to keep items in place on the plate, and as a base for indivdual dessert or cakes. The vanilla cream is essentially our refined answer to the standard creme anglaise. A concentrated base of heavy cream, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla is gently folded into an equal proportion of whipped cream, resulting a lighter and more delicate sauce with more character and body. I use citrus- juice and zest- almost like a cook might use stock or salt and pepper, as a means to highten flavors of other ingredients. The lemon confit in particular becomes a ubiquitous garnish; I love the complex sweet/tart/bitter that it lends even in small amounts.
For general notes on the recipes posted here, please read About the Recipes. And for hard to find ingredients or equipment, please refer to Resources.
Special thanks to John Sconzo, who generously allowed me to use his photos of Jordi's demo at the Congress. Thanks to Michael Harlan Turkell as well for the above image of our squeeze bottles. And another one from John, of our good friend Asbel Reyes, below, the king of all mis en place behind the scenes for the ICC event.
