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

"Finally abook 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

Chefs across the globe have honed an incredible system for working with efficiency called "mise-en-place." In this book, Dan Charnas reveals how to use those principles in any kind of work, outside the kitchen. Culled from dozens of interviews with culinary professionals and business executives, Work Clean offers a simple system and elegant metaphor for organizing one's life and accomplishing one's work. Work Clean spells out the 10 major principles of mise-en-place or "putting in place" for chefs and nonchefs alike: 1) preparation is prime; 2) arranging spaces; 3) cleaning as you go; 4) making-the first moves; 5) Finishing actions ; 6) slowing down to speed up; 7) call and callback; 8) open ears and eyes; 9) inspect and edit; 10) total utilization. One by one, charnas shows readers how each of these principles work in the kitchen but most importantly, demonstrates how they can be used in offices, homes, and other settings.