Work Clean: The life-changing power of mise-en-place to organize your life, work, and mind

by Dan Charnas

Overview

The first organizational book inspired by the culinary world, taking mise-en-place outside the kitchen.

Every day, chefs across the globe churn out enormous amounts of high-quality work with efficiency using a system called mise-en-place—a French culinary term that means “putting in place” and signifies an entire lifestyle of readiness and engagement. In Work Clean, Dan Charnas reveals how to apply mise-en-place outside the kitchen, in any kind of work.

Culled from dozens of interviews with culinary professionals and executives, including world-renowned chefs like Thomas Keller and Alfred Portale, this essential guide offers a simple system to focus your actions and accomplish your work. Charnas spells out the 10 major principles of mise-en-place for chefs and non chefs alike: (1) planning is prime; (2) arranging spaces and perfecting movements; (3) cleaning as you go; (4) making first moves; (5) finishing actions; (6) slowing down to speed up; (7) call and callback; (8) open ears and eyes; (9) inspect and correct; (10) total utilization.

This journey into the world of chefs and cooks shows you how each principle works in the kitchen, office, home, and virtually any other setting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623365929
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale
Publication date:	05/03/2016
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	644,751
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Dan Charnas is an award-winning culture, lifestyle, and business writer. Recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Fellowship for Arts Journalism, his first book, The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, was called “a classic of music-business dirt digging as well as a kind of pulp epic” by Rolling Stone. He lives in New York City.

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Excerpted from "Work Clean"
by .
Copyright © 2016 Dan Charnas.
Excerpted by permission of Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

A Note from the Author vii

First Course: The Power of Working Clean 1

Focus: How Mise-en-Place Works 3

Chaos: How We Work without Mise-en-Place 23

Second Course: The Ingredients of Working Clean 41

Planning Is Prime 43

Arranging Spaces, Perfecting Movements 61

Cleaning As You Go 84

Making First Moves 100

Finishing Actions 116

Slowing Down to Speed Up 135

Open Eyes and Ears 149

Call and Callback 164

Inspect and Correct 182

Total Utilization 200

Third Course: Working Clean as a Way of Life 221

The Commitments of Working Clean 223

The Work Clean System 235

A Day of Working Clean 247

Conclusion 271

Epilogue 273

Interviews 279

Gratitude 281

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

Finally, a book that shows the rest of the world that a chef’s meticulous need for order isn't about obsession—it’s a way to set them up for success.”—Chef Marcus Samuelsson

“A distinctive and fascinating read! Work Clean shares the skills used by chefs to help you manage your time and resources to effectively get the most out of life.”—Chef Alfred Portale

“The concept of mise-en-place can seem stoic or robotic even, but Dan Charnas has revealed otherwise in Work Clean. It is a means to completing successfully what is right in front of us - whether in or out of the kitchen—through consideration and action.”—Chef Sam Henderson

“Systems and organization have always been a key to my success in the food service industry. Work Clean uses excellent examples to explain the necessity of structure as the foundation for not only restaurants but everyday life as well.”—Chef Marc Djozlija

“Dan Charnas writes informatively about the sometimes unglamorous, yet undeniably crucial role of organization in our kitchens and our lives, with clever wit and eloquence. Work Clean should be required reading for all aspiring chefs.”—Chef Rob Halpern

“In Work Clean, Dan Charnas outlines a valuable parallel between the systems used to organize a busy kitchen and the ways we organize our everyday lives. As a chef, I know all too well the importance of preparation, planning, and working clean. Charnas describes how applying these principles of mise-en-place to tasks outside of the kitchen can improve efficiency and quality of work, and ultimately, quality of life.”—Chef Eric Ripert

From the Publisher

Author and narrator Dan Charnas provides a persuasive performance about how “mise-en-place”—the philosophy and organizing system used by chefs—can be reshaped into the Work Clean way of life to transform us into highly functioning beings. Charnas’s observations in and out of the kitchen illuminate how the Work Clean principles are derived from the mise-en-place discipline. Though the bleeping of the expletive words may “clean up” the language of the original text, it removes some flavor of the chefs’ personalities and also makes for a few rough edits. Overall, though, Charnas’s narration is fluid, crisp, and clear. He captures the chaos of the kitchen and convincingly conveys how the Work Clean principles can be applied to the world outside the kitchen. M.F. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

MAY 2016 - AudioFile

Author and narrator Dan Charnas provides a persuasive performance about how “mise-en-place”—the philosophy and organizing system used by chefs—can be reshaped into the Work Clean way of life to transform us into highly functioning beings. Charnas’s observations in and out of the kitchen illuminate how the Work Clean principles are derived from the mise-en-place discipline. Though the bleeping of the expletive words may “clean up” the language of the original text, it removes some flavor of the chefs’ personalities and also makes for a few rough edits. Overall, though, Charnas’s narration is fluid, crisp, and clear. He captures the chaos of the kitchen and convincingly conveys how the Work Clean principles can be applied to the world outside the kitchen. M.F. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

MAY 2016 - AudioFile