À la minute

À la minute is French for "at the minute". In a kitchen, it means a dish or a part of a dish is cooked when it is ordered, in the last few minutes before it goes to the table. The opposite is cooking ahead and holding food warm, or reheating it.

How to do it

1. Decide which parts of the meal must be cooked at the last minute and which can be made ahead. Seared fish, steaks, omelets, pasta, risotto finishes, fried food and pan sauces are best à la minute. Stews, stocks and braises are better made ahead.
2. Do all the prep in advance. Chop, measure and line up everything for the last-minute dishes. This is your mise en place.
3. Heat pans, the oven and the plates before your guests sit down.
4. Cook in the order the food must leave the kitchen, starting with what takes longest.
5. Plate and serve right away.

Why it works

Many foods are at their best for only a few minutes. Fried food goes soft as steam escapes, fish keeps cooking after it leaves the pan, pasta keeps soaking up sauce, and a butter sauce can split if it is held too long. Cooking à la minute means the food reaches the table at that peak.

Common mistakes

• Trying to cook too many dishes à la minute at once at home. Pick one or two, and make the rest ahead.
• Starting to cook before the prep is done. Every pause to chop something means food sits in the pan too long.
• Forgetting to warm the plates. Food cooked to order cools fast on cold plates.
• Cooking à la minute for a large crowd without a plan. For big groups, batch cooking and serving family style is often easier.

In recipes

A recipe that says "finish à la minute" or "do this just before serving" wants that last step done at the very end. Restaurants run this way through the brigade system, where each cook handles one part of every order.