Author Archive: PaulKenny
Mise En Place
“A Disaster beyond your imagination will occur”
The line from Phantom of the Opera has always been a motivator to be prepared for a supper club dinner party. The key is Mise En Place. This is the French expression that loosely translates into “put into place”. In a word it means preparation!
Have you ever wondered how a restaurant can turn out so many fabulous meals in a very short time frame? The answer is Mise En Place. It is a key concept that is taught in every culinary school. By doing a large percentage of the prep in advance restaurants can turn out great meals in short order. Mise en place is also the key to a successful dinner party and a way to be prepared for any disaster that could occur.
A great example of how Mis En Place works can be demonstrated in preparing to make Seared Baja Beef Tenderloin With Spring Greens and a Parmesan Horseradish Sauce;
It sounds difficult but if you get your mise en place done, or said a different way, do your preparation in advance, it becomes simple.
The Mise En place consists of:
- Make the Baja rub (Can be done weeks in advance) and set out in a bowl
- Prepare the Parmesan Horseradish Sauce (days in advance)
- Cut and slack out the beef to room temp (an hour in advance)
- Prep the spring greens (set aside covered with a wet paper towel)
Final cooking/assembly
- Heat a sauté pan over high heat
- Add oil
- Dredge beef in Baja rub
- Sear beef in hot pan (2 minutes a side)
- Plate beef with greens and sauce
- Serve
Prep time is 18 minutes and cook/assembly time is 5 minutes. It doesn’t get much easier and people will think you are a culinary genius. Have your mise en place done and you will be ready for anything so you can just have fun.
If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.
“A Disaster Beyond Your Imagination Will Occur”
This isn’t really a supper club story, but rather a funny story with a supper club moral at the end that it is never a bad idea to have pizza as a backup plan.
Jerry MacDonald is a buddy of mine that has run major arenas around the country. He ran the arenas where the NBA’s Heat play in Miami and where the Rockets played in Houston. He now runs the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, the number 1 ranked outdoor amphitheater in the world. He also opened the Pyramid arena in Memphis back in the early 1990’s.
The night that they opened the Pyramid there was a concert by the Judd Sisters and they had planned a gala event afterwards with a sit down dinner of tenderloin and jumbo shrimp for all the key notables in the city. Jerry had been working for two years to get the arena built and this was to be a real celebration.
Jerry had gotten invites for me, my wife and another couple telling us about the scrumptious feast planned. As we drove to the event I mentioned to my other friend that having been through major events like this before that something would go wrong that 99% of the people there wouldn’t notice, but would drive Jerry crazy.
About half way through the concert I noticed the arena staff placing rolls of carpet around the sound/light control station and the back of the arena like a moat. Then the staff came out with squeegees. Unbeknownst to 99% of the people in the building was the fact that there was a major plumbing issue. When the first patrons flushed the toilets all the toilets in the arena flushed. There was a real risk that the concert would have to be called off because of flooding. With the quick thinking of Jerry and his staff, crisis was averted and the show was an enormous success.
The gala “feast” also went on. The ballroom was beautifully decorated and dinner was served. But, instead of surf and turf the waiters brought out Pizza Hut pizza from the concession stands from the upper floors of the arena. The event was delightful. Speeches were made and congratulations flowed along with copious amounts of alcohol.
As the event wound down my friend Jerry finally joined us. I asked what happened to the surf an turf dinner. He explained the plumbing issue and the fact that the building’s kitchen was on the lowest floor. To make his point he asked: “Do you remember the movie Caddy Shack? Well right now we have “Baby Ruth” bars flowing through the kitchen. Check out this scene from the movie to refresh your memory;
Caddy Shack Doodie in the Pool:
I guess the supper club moral of this story is that it is always good to have pizza as a backup plan.
It is also good to know that it is now standard procedure across the country that when you open an arena you have boy scouts troops come in the week before to test the plumbing with a practice flush.
If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.