Process-Driven Recipes

Everything in Its Place

Mise en place is a French culinary phrase meaning "everything in its place". It's the philosophy that preparation, organisation, and process matter more than improvisation. We apply this thinking to how recipes are documented, understood, and cooked.

The Philosophy

Traditional recipes are documents. They list ingredients, describe steps, and hope you'll figure out the timing. But cooking isn't linear — it's a workflow. Some steps require full attention. Others happen whilst you wait. Some tasks can run in parallel. Understanding this changes how you cook.

Mise en Place treats recipes as processes, not just instructions. We visualise time. We separate prep from cooking. We show you when to focus and when to rest. This approach makes you a better, more confident cook.

Three Core Principles

Principle 01

Preparation Over Improvisation

Have everything ready before the heat goes on. Chopped, measured, organised. Once cooking starts, there's no time to hunt for ingredients or chop onions mid-recipe.

Principle 02

Process Over Perfection

Great cooking isn't magic — it's method. Follow the process, understand the timing, and the results follow. The ritual matters as much as the result.

Principle 03

Time Awareness

Know what demands your attention and what happens on its own. This lets you plan meals intelligently, parallelise tasks, and cook without stress.

How We Present Recipes

Every recipe includes a process timeline showing the entire workflow from start to finish. Prep time is blue. Active cooking is orange. Passive time (waiting, braising, proving) is grey. Finishing and serving is green.

This visual representation shows you the rhythm of the dish at a glance. You can see that risotto requires 30 minutes of constant stirring. You can see that sourdough has 45 minutes of active work spread across 24 hours. You can plan accordingly.

We also categorise recipes by time profile: Quick Active (fast, hands-on), Sustained Focus (continuous attention), Low Effort (mostly passive), and Weekend Projects (long but intermittent). This helps you choose recipes that fit your schedule and energy level.

Who This Is For

This approach is for people who want to cook better without guessing. For home cooks who appreciate structure. For planners who want to see the full workflow before committing. For anyone who's ever started a recipe only to discover it needed 3 hours they didn't have.

Mise en Place is about cooking with clarity. Everything in its place. Everything visible. Everything under control.