Ran into an old line cook who changed how I think about mise en place

Bumped into Marco at the farmer's market last Saturday. He used to work the grill station at this busy spot I was at in Portland back in 2017. He told me he preps his station with the same 3 knife cuts every single shift no matter what he's cooking. Said it saves him 15 minutes of thinking per service. Has anyone else tried sticking to a super rigid setup like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliots493d ago

Wait, is this really that deep though? I mean, sure, having a few go-to knife cuts sounds fine, but saying it saves you 15 minutes of thinking per shift seems like a stretch. If you're at a busy grill station, you're already in the zone and not really "thinking" about your cuts anyway, you're just doing them. Plus, not every dish needs the same dice or julienne, so forcing it might actually slow you down when you have to adapt on the fly. I've seen cooks get so locked into their routine that they waste time fixing stuff they could have just prepped right the first time. Marco's probably just found what works for him, but acting like it's some universal hack feels a bit dramatic to me.

robin7773d ago

Not gonna lie, I felt this one. There's something about seeing a post like that where it sounds good on paper but in practice it can trip you up. I've seen guys get real rigid with their knife cuts and then a special comes in that needs something totally different and they panic a bit. Totally get what you mean about being in the zone too. If you're on the line and you know your station, those cuts are just muscle memory. 15 minutes of thinking sounds like a lot when you're already moving fast. Marco's routine probably works great for him, but kitchens are different everywhere. Not every line cook needs a strict system, some of us just need to keep our heads down and work.