As with many things, "It Depends"™ You're absolutely correct that a true mise en place, for most dishes, is more of a hyperoptimization for people who aren't c

As with many things, "It Depends"™ You're absolutely correct that a true mise en place, for most dishes, is more of a hyperoptimization for people who aren't cooking on a line. Things like quick stir fries are an exception, mind you. I started, as most people do, prepping as I go. My cooking sucked. Not just because I prepped as I went, but partially so. I'd get to step 3 and see for step 4 I needed chopped onions, so I'd start chopping onions. But step 3 was supposed to cook for less time than it took me to chop onions, so step 3 went on too long. In this sense, a full mise en place helped me get better at the actual cooking parts. As time went on I developed better cooking habits. I'd understand the full recipe prior to cooking. I had a better body of experience to estimate how long chopping those onions would take so I could plan ahead on if I should be doing it ahead of time or while some step < 4 was going on. I also had a better conception of the economies of scale in that perhaps it would be faster prepping items A, B, and C at the same time instead of separately but item D didn't matter. Once you get to that point I think you're absolutely correct in that a hybrid model is better overall, but I think one needs to go the full mise en place route first to develop better cooking chops (pardon the pun) prior to going that route.