For many enthusiastic cooks the festive season is a great opportunity to show off their skills. But if one of your guests has Parkinson’s disease, you may wonder: how can I prepare a dinner that everybody will enjoy? Here, Yves Meersman, the chef with Parkinson’s behind the Parki’s Kookatelier cooking project, shares his expert tips for a ‘mise en place’ that will help you create the complete festive dinner
As a host you dream of enjoying the delicious meal you prepared with so much love and passion in a festive ambiance with your family. But the reality can be different, as too often you find yourself busy in the kitchen – at best you see your guests between the two courses. That’s not the idea!
That’s why I present to you a festive meal with ingredients you can prepare the day before, or ‘pre-cook’ before the guests arrive on the day itself, leaving you only with the finishing touches to add to the festive meal.
Tip: You can adapt dishes to accommodate the chewing and/or swallowing problems of guests by blending or mashing ingredients
These 12 mise en place rules can be applied to any menu
- Order all ingredients and products well in advance.
- Make sure you have enough storage space in the fridge to keep all part-prepared dishes cool.
- Pre-cook fish or meat until half done, cooking the rest during the re-heating stage.
- Parboil all vegetables in advance, cool well under running tap water, drain, pat dry and put in a dish lined with butter. Season the parboiled vegetables just before reheating.
- Potato gratin can be pre-cooked in the oven until almost done. Put the pre-cooked dish – after cooling – in the fridge. Take out one hour before reheating the gratin.
- Pre-cook rice and dough products until almost done, cool immediately and reheat for one minute in a hot, well-spiced stock; or toss in slightly heated farm butter or olive oil, just before serving.
- Cold sauces such as cocktail sauce, tartar or vinaigrette are best prepared the day before to enhance the flavour – store in the fridge. Take out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving to bring it room temperature – again, this will enhance the flavour.
- Prepare sauces the day before without the trimmings. Warm the pre-cooked or sautéed trimmings and add to the warm base sauce just before serving.
- Season all warm preparations such as sauces and soups, with a taste booster just before serving.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180-200°C, but turn down to 140-150°C when reheating as this will improve the cooking process.
- Cut pre-cooked meat into smaller portions after reheating.
- Take the temperature of the meat or fish as many times as possible with a thermometer to make sure that it’s fully cooked.
Parki’s Kookatelier is a Belgian project focusing on specialised nutrition for people with Parkinson’s disease. The authors are Yves Meersman and Randy Mellaerts.
For more information, visit their website here.
