Three little words..."mise en place". Don't just take out your ingredients. Take them out, measure them out, each into a separate bowl (the little prep bowls currently available are incredibly cute). Put all your bulk containers away after you've double-checked your recipe. Not only will this help you get everything into the recipe, it helps you focus when you're measuring ingredients because it's all that you're doing - not looking for things, walking around, etc - it also keeps you from getting to a crucial point in your preparation and realizing you're out of an ingredient or don't have enough. I couldn't agree more, although I confess anyone who has seen my station in the test kitchen would probably call it "mess in place". Susan

• Reply