feast-serving-msg – 2/24/08
Ideas for serving feasts. Suggestions on how to organize for feast serving.
NOTE: See also the files: feasts-msg, feast-decor-msg, feast-ideas-msg, feast-menus-msg, fst-disasters-msg, p-menus-msg, pot-luck-fsts-msg.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 20:32:37 EDT
Subject: SC - Re: Feast Logistics
Sir Gunthar writes:
>> Before I really blew up, another member of our party took care of the
matter by talking with the head server. The reason for this story is
that IMHO a Head Cook's main duty lies in the enjoyment of the feasters.
I truly understand the stresses involved in cooking a feast but there
should always be someone to take care of the little disasters that always
happen during feasts.<<
One of the 'easiest' feasts I ever served was due to Lady Catriona of
Silver Rylle, EK, who took it upon herself to 'train' the servers. Not
all were from our shire. She got from me the specifics of exactly which
serving platters and bowls and serving utensils needed to be gotten back
to the kitchen quickly in order to be washed and ready for the next
course, just how many slices/ladles/et al were available for each diner,
which foods might have extras for refills--in short, everything a server
might need to know. She had a list of the people for whom there were
special preparations--no mushrooms, or no whatever-allergies--and she did
all the talking to the servers and supervised.
At the last minute, the Feast Master is at the busiest, checking
everything and co-ordinating everything in the kitchen. Having someone
like Cat take over is truly a blessing. The problem lies in the fact
that most people don't want to be away from their friends during feast,
or let their own food get cold while they work. Finding such a person to
do that job is not easy. Some shires in the East give 1/2 price or even
free feasts to servers in order to get servers. They show up just before
feast and there is not enough time to 'work with' them. The last feast I
did, I told the soup servers that was all the soup. They were back in a
few minutes, having served 1/3 the tables with large amounts, and they
wanted more. That gives the Feast Master a bad rep, and isn't fair. If
you can develop a good corps of servers, do so for your own peace of mind
and that of your diners.
Allison
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:40:26 -0500
From: mfgunter at tddeng00.fnts.com (Michael F. Gunter)
Subject: Re: SC - feasts in each Kingdom
Also, on the interkingdom feast anthropology. Another thing which is beginning
to catch on is what I did for Coronation. Servers paid half price for feast and
I served them the complete meal before the feast began. The servers were then
assigned tables and told to make them happy. The benefits to this were varied,
the servers were fed so could concentrate on their wards, they knew what each
course was and so could answer questions, (hopefully) they knew they were
appreciated by both the Cooks and their tables, and also there was very little
confusion about what and who went where.
Gunthar
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 10:34:17 -0500
From: Debra Hense <debh at microware.com>
Subject: SC - RE: allergies - long-winded response
<snip>
By the way, for servers, I always make an extra table serving or two
of everything for the servers specifically. And they have a special area
set aside in the kitchen, or to the back of the serving hall, where they
can sit and enjoy the exact same food as the feast goers. Or, they are
allowed to sit one at each table where they are serving and so may eat
with the feasters. They are never allowed to make do with what comes
back or what is left over. They are doing me a tremendous favor for no
pay, the least I can do is make sure they get to eat well.
Kateryn de Develyn
debh at microware.com
From: dvick at crl.COM (Donald E. Vick)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: how to present boar's head dinner?
Date: 22 Jul 1997 23:47:52 -0400
In article <Pine.A41.3.95b.970722160746.82710B-100000 at homer08.u.washington.edu> you write:
>Hello: I just stumbled across this newsgroup and was wondering if anyone
>knew of a resource (or actually knows the answer) that tells how a boar's
>head dinner would be prepared and presented. I have found medieval
>cookbooks with recipes but no books on the art or presentation.....what a
>set table would be like, which accompaniments, you know, the works. If
>anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great. Thanks!
Believe it or not, there is a very detailed description of how to
serve a boar's head in a modern cookbook - "The Joy of Cooking". It's
in the chapter on game and you should be able to find the book in any
library or bookstore.
Hugh the Barefoot
Barony of the South Downs, Meridies
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Thaddaeus Vick, Linguist to the Masses | dvick at crl.com |
| | |
| I could be wrong. After all, there's | |
| a first time for everything. | http://www.crl.com/~dvick |
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From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: how to present boar's head dinner?
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 13:35:04 -0400
Organization: Computer Operations, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Excerpts from netnews.rec.org.sca: 22-Jul-97 Re: how to present boar's
h.. by Donald E. Vick at crl.COM
> Believe it or not, there is a very detailed description of how to
> serve a boar's head in a modern cookbook - "The Joy of Cooking". It's
> in the chapter on game and you should be able to find the book in any
> library or bookstore.
Speaking of cookbooks, Terence Scully's translation of Chiquarts "On
Cookery" (a 15th C French cookbook) has a few pages on presenting a
boar's head. Describes how to cook it, how to endore (is that the
word?) it, about putting the banner of the lord you are serving it in
front of on the head, and about how to make it breath fire. One of
these days when I get really ambitious, I'm going to try it.
toodles, margaret
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 10:40:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - Hand washing ritual at feasts
Meriel of the Marsh asked about hand washing.
We would love to know just how this is done. Should the servers go
around to each seated person with pitchers of scented water and a
towel of sorts, with a helper to catch it in a suitable container; do just the
fingers get washed ritually or is it both hands properly; and when does
one time it for, so that the food doesn't cold in the process and there's an
awful hiatus?! Or what and how, please?
Ah, laving. If I recall correctly John Russell's Book of Nurture (primary
source) and Henisch's book Fast and Feast (secondary source) all discuss
laving ceremonies. Gervase Markham (I think) has a recipe for scented water
for laving, which I have been meaning to make for quite some time now.
Generally around here, we reserve it for high table, and individual tables
may do so as they wish. A pitcher with laving water, and a catch bowl are
carried by a servitor, who also has a towel over one arm. Hands are held
over the bowl, and water is trickled over them from the pitcher, and the
guest dries their own hands on the towel.
I am right handed: so the towel goes over the left arm, and the bowl in the
left hand.
We do this about 5 minutes before the meal begins.
Trivia on serving. Didja know that proper table service in a restaurant is
to serve food over the left shoulder, and to take away empty plates from the
diners right side? This comes from period. The proper way to sit at table
is to take a long napkin, and drape it over the left shoulder and across the
lap, and to pull the long tablecloth up, and over the lap as well. Full
bowls can be served over the left shoulder, and if they spill, they hit the
napkin.
Last year, at the Pennsic Royalty Dinner, the East gave out commemorative
napkins. Princess Elspeth and Baron Steffan (of the East) were the only
people at the table to properly lay them over their left shoulders. I had
to thank them for making my day. And when I did, I noticed that they also
had the nappery drawn over their laps. I told their server to please serve
them over the left, and take away from the right.
Tibor
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 14:05:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Stephen Bloch <sbloch at adl15.adelphi.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Hand washing ritual at feasts
Meriel of the Marsh writes:
> ... I haven't managed to find
> anything on washing hands at feasts.
> We would love to know just how this is done. Should the servers go
> around to each seated person with pitchers of scented water and a
> towel of sorts, with a helper to catch it in a suitable container; do just the
> fingers get washed ritually or is it both hands properly; and when does
> one time it for, so that the food doesn't cold in the process and there's an
> awful hiatus?! Or what and how, please?
I've only been to two or three feasts where this was done. One was the
Midrealm Cooks' Collegium in 1992 or 1993. Only a few dozen people
were there, so it didn't delay things terribly. I think we had two
servers go around with ewer, basin, and towel. The second was a dinner
for twenty or so in Enchanted Ground at Pennsic, 1995, with (by strange
coincedence) largely the same collection of people. It can work, if
you have a high enough ratio of servers to diners. A compromise, for
when you have few servers or lots of diners, is to put finger-bowls of
scented water on all the tables in advance.
In re the food getting cold: my understanding is that most medieval
cooking was done a significant distance away from the feast hall, often
in a separate building, and that most of it was close to room
temperature by the time it was served.
mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
Stephen Bloch
sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 1997 14:41:16 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Serving at a Feast
Bonnie L. Clapshaw wrote:
> I am looking for advise or suggestions regarding feast servers.
>
> I am in charge of the servers during the feast at AnTir's Fall Crown
> Council this November. I would like to have the Head Table served as
> period as possible. My understanding (to date) is that only those of
> high enough rank served the King and Queen when they dined and that
> some jobs had a specific title and person such as a Carver.
>
> Is this true? Where would be a good place to start researching?
Check Bridget Anne Henisch's "Fast and Feast", Terence Scully's "The Art
of Cookery in the Middle Ages", and last, but (surprisingly enough) not
least, the Larousse Gastronomique entry entitled "Ecuyer Tranchant".
This last is an office that reached its height of complex responsibility
(and commensurate perks) in France immediately prior to the revolution,
but it had its origins in the fact that it was considered a bad idea, in
period, for the King to allow anyone but a trusted retainer (generally a
knight) near him with a sharp knife.
One of my great pet peeves over fourteen years in the SCA is the
frequency with which various peer-types leap at the chance to do this
job at high tables, only to botch it severely, resulting in an
unappetizing presentation and much food waste, which is essentially an
insult, however unintentional, to both the cooks and the other diners,
who might otherwise have seen their money spent more wisely.
So, my inclination is to see to it that someone who knows how to carve
and serve is the one to do it, and if you want them to be high-ranking,
you can either discreetly inquire about those people's actual skill
levels and experience, or you can offer to find someone to teach them,
or you can write to your royalty about advancing the rank of those who
carve and serve well ; ) .
I hope I'm not foaming at the mouth excessively on this topic; it's just
one of my buttons...please disregard those portions of this response
which come under the heading of mad ranting...
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 22:13:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: rousseau at scn.org (Anne-Marie Rousseau)
Subject: Re: SC - Serving at a Feast
>Bonnie L. Clapshaw wrote:
>>
>> I am looking for advise or suggestions regarding feast servers.
>>
Adamantius suggests:>
>Check Bridget Anne Henisch's "Fast and Feast", Terence Scully's "The Art
>of Cookery in the Middle Ages", and last, but (surprisingly enough) not
>least, the Larousse Gastronomique entry entitled "Ecuyer Tranchant".
Please, also check out _The Art of Dining_ by Sara Paston-Williams.
Lovely book, pretty pictures and she really gets into describing HOW food
was eaten as well as what, etc. Also, Scully's translation of Chiquarts
work has a neat section in the front where he discusses the titles of the
people on Chiquart (big chef guy for a Savoy duke in 1400's) payroll.
Good for you for doing this extra bit! From our experience, we find that
it adds immeasurably to the overal impact of a meal.
- --Anne-Marie
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 11:03:38 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Philip's Bad feasts
>> Too many people fail to realize that the organization of the feast hall
>> and the instruction of the servers are integral to making a feast a
>> pleasing experience.
>
>I was at an event recently where I was at High Table. The service was
>a little off, when they came out they were wonderful but I wound up
>refilling people's drinks and even scraping everybody's dishes so they
>could be used for the next course. This is bad when the people at High
>Table have to do their own service. On the occassions the servers did
>come out they were very courteous and helpful.
>
>That's why at my last Coronation feast and at 12th Night the servers will
>be assigned tables with the orders "make your table happy".
When I lay out a feast site, I try to arrange the tables so that they
can be reached easily and so the service can flow from the kitchen to
the tables and back to the kitchen along an easy to follow one way path.
I have the entire service overseen by a head server (usually one who
has worked with me before). The head server does not serve, but handles
problems. One server (assigned) for each two tables works for me, with
two to four floaters (depending on the size of the feast) handling
drinks.
The High Table is supposed to have two servers stationed at it, to run
the necessary errands, but the food is often brought by "hats" not
seated there. Drinks are provided by the floaters.
The worst experience I have had with a feast was the First Calontir
Crown Tourney, where no one in the hosting group understood the dynamics
of a feast and the people by the kitchen ate while the people opposite
the kitchen starved.
Bear
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 21:18:21 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Re: [Mid] Suggestions needed
>: I have been designated Head Server for our local 12th Night feast, and
>: I would like suggestions on how best to organize and handle my end of
>: things.
First things first, if you are the Head Server, your job is to be sure
everyone is being served, that the service is flowing properly, and that
any problems which appear are handled quickly and quietly. You should
not be serving. You should watch and instruct the servers.
If you must speak to the Head Cook through an intermediary, be sure it
is someone who has worked regularly with the cook. Preferably someone
who can read the cook's mind. Every layer in a communications chain
introduces approximately a 25% error rate.
How are the dishes going to be served? One server can handle up to two
tables if everything for a course is going to be delivered to the table
on a single platter or if you are delivering one dish at a time to the
table (a custom I find appalling). If you are going to serve four or
five individual dishes to the table, one per table should work,
especially if you have them team up and serve everything to a table at
one time. If you are serving individual plates, you could need 2 or
more servers per table.
Assign a couple people to the head table. If the Crown is present, see
if any of the Nobility who are not at the Head Table would be willing to
serve. Your people are there to make sure the job gets done.
Set up an area to stage the food before delivery to the table. Usually
this is manned by kitchen staff, who are preping the dishes, but it may
be up to you to suggest/arrange it.
Use a seperate set of servers to handle drinks. Usually a single drink
server can handle about 4 tables.
Check the layout of the tables. You must have enough space for the
servers to reach all the tables. Try to establish a traffic pattern, so
the servers move in one direction from the staging area to their tables
and return to the staging area by another path. Leave enough room
between the tables, so hoop skirts don't get in the way of the servers.
Be sure the servers understand the pattern they are to follow.
Are your tables standard size? If so seat a specific number of people
at each table. It allows the staging people to evenly distribute food
without knowing the specifics of the table. I like standard 6' to 8'
folding tables with 8 people to a table.
I often start feasts with bread or finger food on the table. It keeps
people occupied while I spin up the first course.
What entertainment/court/idiocy will be occurring during the feast? Is
it continuous or can you stage it to occur while people are eating? How
will it effect your servers and service?
Be sure the servers know what is expected and what their jobs are going
to be. Unless you have an experienced crew, getting together to talk
over how you are going to handle things might be a good idea. Coffee,
tea, and ideas.
About 1 hour before the feast, look in the mirror and say, "It's show
time!" Your crew will have it together or they won't. If they have it
together, you get to graciously circulate through the crowd and
determine if anyone needs anything. If they haven't got it together,
you get to run all over creation straightening out the messes. In
either case, you've done what you could for planning and preparation and
the only thing left is execution (hopefully , not yours :-) ).
Bon Chance
Bear