Here I want to start with some really simple basics about cooking, and today I want to talk to you a bit about setting up and organising your kitchen before creating any meals.

I’ll be going through it how it relates to commercial kitchen situations, and obviously you can just adapt it to how you can make life that little bit easier for you at home.

A well-organised kitchen starts with the preparation of basic ingredients!

It is easy to overlook the importance of kitchen preparation and to consider it as a task not worth the cook’s attention.  But every qualified cook knows it is the first two hour’s work that sets the standard for the rest of the service.

Things left undone during this preparation time, or food poorly prepared, result in low standards of cooking, frayed tempers at the busiest time of the service, and often long delays between courses in the dining room.

Getting things ready is sometimes referred to as the mise en place (putting in place).  You can tell a well-run, happy kitchen by its mise en place.  It does not matter whether it is a cafeteria, hospital or restaurant – just before the time for service, the bustle of the kitchen will die for ten minutes or so.

In this quiet lull you will see the work benches clean and tidy, dishes of food arranged, seasoning boxes full and saucepans gently steaming or the food in the bain-maries ready for plating.  The hot cupboards will be hot and neatly stacked with plates and special dishes.  Cold plates and dishes will also be ready in another part of the kitchen.

Next time I’ll be going through some basic principles of cookery and start covering some of the different methods that can be used…