Mise en Place by Lawrence Keogh

Mise en Place, a phrase literally meaning everything in its place but colloquially describes the detailed professional preparation of food. Key to the professional preparation of food are knives and the skill required to use them well. The illustration is of a set of Japanese hand made knives with blades of “Damascus” steel. The Damascus process, named after the city in Syria, describes blades that are beaten and forged and folded and quenched and beaten and folded and forged and quenched repeatedly. This delivers a distinctive microstructure to the steel with the layers along the blade having small variations of hardness and structure one to the other. Softer tempered steel can be honed to finer/sharper edges but being soft will tend to lose its edge. Blades made with the repeated beating/folding/forging/quenching method are strong, as in they do not break, and they hold their edge, which can be made extraordinarily sharp - the softer layers taking the edge with the harder layers supporting that edge and holding it. Good chefs are proud of their knives. Knives made in this way can be eye wateringly expensive. They should always be sharpened with an oil stone and honed with a leather strop.