Control Culinary Chaos This Holiday Season

Holiday meals fall into two categories; one is the ridiculously unrealistic kind depicted in the pages of glossy food magazines, where everyone is beautifully dressed, happy children scamper around the table, while adults laugh and talk animatedly and all the food arrives steaming hot at precisely the same time. Then there is the other kind of holiday meal, the real kind, where someone has forgotten to buy a very important ingredient, the back burner on the stove won't light and the turnips can't be boiled, Aunt Mary is arguing with her husband (and everyone else) and the side dishes are ready and get cold long before the main course has finished cooking.

While we can never match the magazine image, we don't have to suffer through the second one year after year. The key is careful planning and advance preparation.

In professional kitchens, every aspect of a holiday meal is thought through long in advance. Chefs order their poultry, fish and meats months ahead of time. Local markets are scoured and farmers consulted on what produce will be available at holiday time. Not only do chefs think about the food in advance, they also think about which cook will be responsible for each task, how far in advance items can be prepared, how dishes will be reheated, what serving platters will be used, how each dish will be garnished and what utensil will be used to serve the meal.

It may sound complicated, but you can do it, too. (And it will be easier than sorting out the chaos on the day of the meal.)

The art of preparing to cook a meal successfully is called mise en place, a French term that literally means "to put in place." Chefs use this method to insure that all their meals are successful, and so should you.