Mise en Place and Cooking

Going back to the history of cooking and were most of the ideas or knowledge and methods came from, the country that definetely gets the most creation and props for everything is definetely France. If you have ever watched the movie ratatouille I am sure you know what I mean. The French chefs take a lot more time and are definely more detailed when it comes to their sauces, their grilling, sauteeing whatever they might be doing.

Another reason for their successes is the fact that they are extremely organized, in fact they actually have a french name for being organized in the kitchen, it is mise en place. Which means everything in it's place. But how is this accomplished you might ask yourself. Well simply do everything that you have to do before you ever turn on that stove. Mince your herbs, and really organize them to where you just have to add them to the soup or whatever you are making. Same with the protein, if it's chicken you are making clean it, cut it, season, marinade, and put it in the fridge until ready to be cooked. Same with vegetables if you are just sauteeing dice them all up and save, put in fridge until needed for use.
The goal with this technique is to have everything neatly organized in a tray so when you are actually going to get down and dirty all you have to focus is on adding ingredients, and tastign your food. Doing this everytime you are making a big meal, takes all the stress out of cooking, makes less of a mess and it just makes it seem extremely easy.
If you are cooking for a big event like a thanksgiving dinner you really have to start all the preparation a week before and start cooking even two days prior. So when the big day  comes you just have to put stuff in the oven and watch that timer.