Stefan's Florilegium

cookg-classes-msg

cookg-classes-msg - 11/29/99

Ideas on teaching and running classes on cooking.

NOTE: See also the files: AS-classes-msg, AS-food-msg, teaching-msg,
AS-classes-lst, AS-ideas-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that
I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some
messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefanšs Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with
seperate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes
extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were
removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I
make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the
individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these
messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this
time. If information is published from these messages, please give
credit to the orignator(s).

Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: Lord Stefan li Rous
RSVE60@email.sps.mot.com stefan@texas.net
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Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 02:11:31 -0800
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss@gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Long...How to run a cooking symposium An Tir style

Hi all from Anne-Marie
kat asks about running a cooking symposium.
I have taught cooking classes, and organized symposiums, collegiums and
Ithra sessions of all sizes and flavors (including the classes at 3YC). How
we do it here in An Tir may not be how you do it wherever you are, but
maybe you can glean some helpful info from this. Also, please realize that
I tend to plan things within an inch of their lives. i don't like suprises,
and am happiest when I know what's going on.

1. As an instructor I am happiest if I know exactly how many I need to plan
for. This tells me how many handouts I need to have, how many recipes to
have ready and how much food to buy. It also allows me to have a budget and
not take it in the shorts when only three peopel show up for the class.

2. Sometimes a session is run so that there is no pre-registration, so you
have no idea how many students will be in the class, paying the fees. As
the autocrate/organizer/Chancellor, can you cover an difference between
reciepts and clas income? ie, "OK, get supplies for 10 students. If you get
les than that, the event can eat the difference". That way the poor
isntructor won't get stuck with a bunch of costs.

3. Carefully schedule the kitchen and make sure the instructors know what
time is theirs. I've taught classes where I thought I had an oven, but it
turns out the roast fromthe last class was in there, so I had no oven after
all. Make sure the instructors know that their class slot includes clean up
time, and that the kitchen is to be left ready for the next instructor.
Ditto with the equipment/pots/pans/etc.

4. Strongly encourage instructors to provide a handout. If nothing else,
with a bibliography. Ideally, a set of the recipes to be used in class.

5. Ideally, instructors should be responsible for providing all their own
materials, including grocieries. You'll have enough to do. In one case, I
flew in from Seattle to teach at a Western Collegium, and so one of the
event staff (bless her heart and soul!) did my grocery shopping for me from
a very detailed list (I gave brand names when I could, and if it was wierd
stuff, i just stuffed it into my luggage).

6. I find that cooking classes work best if you have four hours. This is
time for a short lecture on history, sources, etc, time for reading through
the recipes together and answering questions, plenty of time for cooking
and plenty of time for eating and clean up. I've done them in two hours,
but that's with already reconstructed recipes and me riding shotgun on them
the whole time to keep on track, quick playing with the marzipan and then
eating on their own lunch hour. Lecture classes can be done in any length
of time. I've delivered lectures from 15 minutes to four hours long (ugh).

7. I highly recommend publishing info on the classes in your newletter, in
a catelog, or something so folks can see what great classes you're offering
and hopefully come. You'll want to include the time, who the instructor is
and a fascinating blurb about the class explaining why you just don't want
to miss this. Oh, and the class fees, if any, and what the student will get
for that money.

I'm sure there's lots more I can say about this...just ask. Oh, and don't
forget to have fun! :)
- --Anne-Marie

Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:49:09 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr@best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - help! - How to run a cooking symposium?

Kat asked about cooking workshops/symposia.

1. Our typical cooking workshop is: we find out how many people are coming,
select recipes, do shopping. People arrive, we hand them a stack of
printouts saying, "Here are the recipes, pick one." People cook recipes,
being reminded frequently to measure everything, time everything, and write
everything down. When something is finished, everyone tastes and comments.
(Cariadoc: "too little pepper, too much saffron!" Elizabeth: "too much
pepper, too little saffron!") What was done plus comments get recorded on
our master; copes are made for anyone who wants one to take home and play
with some more.

2. We once did a cooking symposium as an official event. We had, as I
remember, some hands-on classes (Alys Katherine did one on sugar plate) as
well as lecture classes and discussions (how to grow period fruits and
vegetables; period Islamic cooking; how to do period food at Pennsic: three
different points of view). Classes were out of persona/mundane clothes;
evening was in persona/in garb. We finished off with a feast by Madeleine
des Mille Roses that was a masterpiece (I use the word literally)--very
well researched, menu as well as dishes, and excellent food.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 17:03:48 -0500
From: david friedman <ddfr@best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Cooking Classes

Roibeard wrote:
>I've seen several references on the list about cooking classes and was
>wondering what you are teaching. I want to teach a few classes on medieval
>classes but don't know where to start (i.e. period foods, spices, methods of
>cooking, etc.)

Here is our basic outline for a class on cooking from period sources:

I. The Problem: Primary Sources--finding, reading, redacting

in which we explain why we think it is better to use primary sources, how
you go about finding them, why you have to be careful about translations,
and how you go about making sense of 14th or 15th century English.

II. Redacting

in which we explain how you go about working out recipes, with examples
from our experience (especially the mistakes) and some free samples of what
got worked out to our satisfaction, and we explain how our cooking
workshops work.

III. What is out there and where

in which we discuss what sources are available: English/French 13th-15th
c., Italian, German, eastern Europe, Islamic, etc., and also what we
haven't found.

IV. Ingredients and sources : spices, gourd, murri, verjuice, sourdough

V. Discussion and questions

The handout is the source list from the beginning of the Miscellany and a
page of examples of 14th and 15th century English recipes for people to try
to read.

We also teach a class on period Islamic cooking; there, we describe the
sources first and then go through a whole lot of recipes fast, pointing out
what is characteristic in spicing, procedures, and so on. The handout for
that is simply lots of period Islamic recipes with our worked-out versions,
taken from the Miscellany.

Each class takes about an hour talking fast.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 22:49:54 -0500
From: "Sharon R. Saroff" <sindara@pobox.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Kindergarden through 3rd

>I am currently trying to help a local school teacher organize some activities
>for her TMR class (Trainably Mentally Retarded) and have been asked to
>provide some recipes that the home ec teacher could use to make some period
>snacks appropriate for people with the mental capacity of Kindergarten
>through third grade.
>
>I am at a loss as to what to suggest.
>
>Ras

I taught a class like this a few years ago. I remember doing lots of
recipes that were quite normal for anyone learning to cook. The one they
seemed to get the most out of was when I did a unit on different ways to
make things rise. I did a biscuit recipe using baking powder, a recipe
that used baking soda, a scottish fruit bread that used 5 eggs to make it
rise and a raisin bread recipe that used yeast.

I also found that my students worked well as a team and taking turns. One
mixed, one measured the dry inqredients, one measured wet, one washed the
dishes, one dried them, etc. There are a lot of cookbooks on the market
that are specifically designed for young children. I would suggest trying
to match similar period recipes to ones in those books.

SIndara

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