The proper order of things

There are many cooking tomes that extoll the importance of mise en place, which essentially translates to preparing and putting everything in place before you start cooking. I'd argue, however, that for home chefs, what's most important is doing things in the proper order. Unless you're cooking on a line and need to be able to grab things by muscle memory, where you put them doesn't matter too much. 

Don't get me wrong, the prep is really important. But that's mostly because you don't want to be frantically chopping things or digging in the cupboard after you've started the cooking phase. The order in which you prep and cook things can have a big impact on both the quality of the food and how big a pile of dishes you have to do. 

The latter is a pet peeve with many recipes I've seen lately. I guess they want you to cook everything in a separate pan because they want you to feel good about investing in that ridiculously large, expensive set of pots and pans? Pffft. If all I really need is the cast iron skillet, I'm going to ignore those shiny treasures and use the skillet.

My preferred order looks something like this:

1. Gather the veggies. This phase often involves some decisions/compromises based on what's in the fridge or garden and the state thereof.
2. Take the protein out of the fridge. It took me a long time to embrace this, but attempting to cook fridge-temp protein generally leads to sadness. 
3. Prep the veggies. I generally use my "good" end-grain cutting board for this, and offload them to a plate. You can get fancy and put each item in a separate dish...but seriously, that's just more dishes to wash.
4. Prep the protein. I use my smaller, easily washable bamboo cutting board for meat & poultry. Offload to a plate, vacuum pack it, or marinate depending on the cooking plan. 
5. Wash & dry the cutting board--or at least rinse it. Dried on meat-bits are hard to scrub off.
6. Wash & dry the knife. At this point, other than chopping some parsley or slicing the protein to plate, the knife work is done.
7. Pour a glass of wine. Best to finish playing with knives before saucing the chef.
8. Gather the spices, condiments, and pantry ingredients. Open cans, mix ingredients as needed.

NOW, you're ready to cook.

The cooking order varies depending on what you're actually making and how you're cooking it. Tonight, I made Shepherd's Pie. One recipe I looked at had you cook everything in a separate pan and then assemble. If the meat and vegetables are destined to be combined casserole style, why dirty more pans?

1. Brown the protein and offload to a plate using a Harvey. Err, a stainless skimmer. Point is to reserve the fat in the pan to cook the veggies. Remove or add fat as needed. 
2. Saute the veggies in the same pan. 
3. Once most of the liquid is gone, add the dry spices & stir until fragrant. 
4. If you're using some form of canned tomatoes, add them now. 
5. Deglaze with wine. I mostly use a medium Amontillado Sherry. 
6. Add the protein back.
7. Add any condiments/wet seasonings you're using.
8. Add stock (if needed) and reduce.
9. Season to taste.

I used my trusty cast-iron skillet tonight, so no need to offload to a casserole dish. I just smeared the mashed cauliflower & parsnips over the top and threw it in the oven. 

Yes, I put acidic and liquidy things in my cast iron skillet. Well-seasoned cast iron doesn't need to be babied. Don't leave it half-soaking in the sink, and do dry it when you wash it with soap and water. Feel free to just wipe the excess oil out if that's all it needs, or give it a scrub to remove the crunchy bits. Really, the best thing you can do is use it frequently. 

I'll try to post a recipe, as this was a successful, reasonably low carb rendition of some serious comfort food. No, parsnips aren't low carb, but I had one in the fridge. And mashed cauliflower and parsnip with some whey and cream was really good.

Pepita approved of this meal, because lamb. Her other favorite food.