headcooks-msg - 5/17/01 Advice for SCA headcooks. Feastocrats. No one should have to go on counselling after they run a feast. -Sianan NOTE: See also the files: feasts-msg, feast-menus-msg, fst-disasters-msg, HC-butchers-art, p-menus-msg. ************************************************************************ 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 Stefan's 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: THLord Stefan li Rous mark.s.harris@motorola.com stefan@florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: cook grain w/o burning From: schuldy@zariski.harvard.edu (Mark Schuldenfrei) Date: 13 Jan 94 21:35:02 EST Tarrach Alfson wrote: My lady is about to take on her second large feast, and has asked me to see if any of you out there know of a good way to cook large quantities of grain (ie. barley, bulgar wheat, etc.) without having it burn to the bottem of the pans. Any information will be greatly appreciated. If you can get Angharad's little pamphlet on the mechanics of large scale cookery, you will find it invaluable. The short answer is, preheat the water (hours before you think it will need to be preheated: the volume goes up with the cube of amount, but the surface area at the bottom increases only with the square: add in the additional surface area radiating heat away, and you've got a long time to wait). Them stir like the dickens. Commercial food establishments sell wonderful paddles for this purpose, for about 7 dollars. Because of the dynamics of the system, the normal convection you would find in a small batch will not suffice. Stir about every five minutes. Tibor (I spent a lot of time in kitchens before I discovered heraldry and fencing.) -- Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy@math.harvard.edu) From: jtn@nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: cook grain w/o burning Date: 14 Jan 1994 18:12:02 GMT Organization: The Rialto Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn. Tibor responds to Tarrach Alfson: >Tarrach Alfson wrote: > My lady is about to take on her second large feast, and has asked me to > see if any of you out there know of a good way to cook large quantities of > grain (ie. barley, bulgar wheat, etc.) without having it burn to the > bottem of the pans. Any information will be greatly appreciated. > >If you can get Angharad's little pamphlet on the mechanics of large scale >cookery, you will find it invaluable. Gee, thanks for the plug. Those who are interested in this (or the booklet with the recipes) can email me for info; I do have a bunch of them. >The short answer is, preheat the water (hours before you think it will need >to be preheated: the volume goes up with the cube of amount, but the surface >area at the bottom increases only with the square: add in the additional >surface area radiating heat away, and you've got a long time to wait). > >Them stir like the dickens. Commercial food establishments sell wonderful >paddles for this purpose, for about 7 dollars. Because of the dynamics of >the system, the normal convection you would find in a small batch will not >suffice. Stir about every five minutes. If you can get someone to, stir constantly. But there's another trick, if you can get a large enough container and the means to drain it (the steam kettles that high schools use to cook veggies in are perfect): use _much_ too much water. Boil the grain in _lots_ of water; drain before serving. Works well with rice (so long as you're not trying to retain the delicate flavor of a special variety like basmati), and reasonably with others. Try at home first. With rice, boil for 16 minutes, then drain. Cheers, -- Angharad/Terry From: ayotte@milo.NOdak.EDU (Robert Arthur Ayotte) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: cook grain w/o burning Date: 14 Jan 1994 02:35:33 -0500 Organization: North Dakota State University ACM, Fargo ND In article you wrote: : My lady is about to take on her second large feast, and has asked me to : see if any of you out there know of a good way to cook large quantities of : grain (ie. barley, bulgar wheat, etc.) without having it burn to the : bottem of the pans. Any information will be greatly appreciated. : Tarrach Alfson : Dahleen@badlands.nodak.edu Cooking time is the key. Starting with boiling water (not simmering) and then add the rinsed grains. Bring it back to a boil and then near the end of the cooking time turn off the heat. (depending on volume can be up to 30 minutes). And use a lid to keep the temp as high as possible. If your going to strain the grain from the liquid, just use more fluid (barley). Sometimes cooking the grain ahead in smaller batches and adding it to a boiling mix can do the trick as well. Horace From: ayotte@milo.NOdak.EDU (Robert Arthur Ayotte) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Cooking Lots of Rice (was Re: cook grain w/o burning) Date: 14 Jan 1994 15:40:26 -0500 Organization: North Dakota State University ACM, Fargo ND : Is the method for cooking large batches of rice similar? Cariadoc, in his : Miscellany, mentions (off hand) that there is a way to cook rice that : depends mostly on the retained heat of the boiling water but he doesn't : give details. : Konrad Rice is easy. First you need a very large pot. (sorry that was just too easy....) but I digress. I have used this method for rice and rice mixes (then with lentils) and it works well every time. Measure your liquid (2 times by volume of fluid to dry) plus 3-5% Bring the liquid to a rapid boil. (yes they are right it's gonna take a very long time so keep the pot covered). Herbs may be added here. To the rapidly boiling liquid add the dry goods (rice) and bring back to a boil while covered. Once it's boiling again turn the heat off and wait 20 minutes covered. It's done. The water will retain enough heat to cook the rice. Horace Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 14:02:10 -0400 From: "Philip W. Troy" To: sca-cooks@eden.com Subject: Re: Food Restrictions and Feasts Michael F. Gunter wrote: > > How do you handle getting people with dietary restrictions to notify > > you *before* you start buying food? > > My attitude is that I try to avoid or at least substitute for the more common > dietary restrictions (no pork, plenty of food for vegetarians, etc...) but for > the less common problems. Well, if they tell me I try to make some accommodation > but if not, tough cookies. > > > I just cooked an event and had *one* person (out of nearly 150 attendees) who > > told me ahead of time that she had an allergy. Meanwhile, I know several > > local vegetarians did not tell me, ... > I always try to make sure that vegetarians are well taken care of at my > feasts, it is just pre-supposed planning. Besides, having good edible veggie > dishes can make for a less expensive feast. > > > I also had one person attend who could not eat a single dish I made because > > of dietary restrictions. At least he was prepared to eat off-board, which wasn't > > scheduled and everyone knew that. If he had let me know ahead of time, I > > could at least have made something special for him for lunch and dinner. > > The sign of a caring head cook. :-{)} > > > Derdriu > > Gunthar It seems to me as if you are pretty much doing all that you can to accomodate the maximum number of people. I also had one person contact me in advance regarding dietary restrictions at an event I cooked for a couple of weeks ago. As it happens, that person proved ultimately unable to attend anyway. There will always be a certain amount of this sort of thing. Ways to deal with it include: 1. Include a loud, tactless notice in the text of the event notice to the effect that you are willing to accomodate the dietary restrictions of the event rs, but that you will have to KNOW ABOUT THEM IN ADVANCE. 2. Post (prominently) a menu with an attached ingredients list. Leave plenty of room for addtional hand-written notes, in case you decide during the day to throw an unscheduled tot of ginger in something. Have a herald announce shortly before the feast that persons with dietary restrictions should check the list for recent annotations. 3. Keep your menu constructed so that the feast is modular. Meat dishes should contain meat. Vegetable dishes should not. Dishes that fit neither category clearly can often be made in their "fast day" or Lenten form. For instance, a green or black porrey can be made with butter instead of bacon. It will often say this right in the primary source recipe. This will take care of most of the problems you might encounter. You can also set aside a small portion of the dish before the questionable ingredient is added, to be reserved for the use of vegatarians, people with allergies, or whatever it may be. 4. You may or may not choose to provide additional vegetarian "main courses" for such people as have contacted you in advance: I have never found this to be necessary, and have never known anyone to go hungry because of it. I am certainly willing to do so if I am asked to do so, but I usually am able to set up my menu with sufficient variety that if someone has to avoid up to about 40% of the meal, they will still be fed more than adequately. I feel that if you have done these things, you have faithfully discharged any responsibility in this area as a chef. Running a kitchen isn't easy, especially if you are actually doing the cooking as well. I don't mean to sound harsh, but while I feel a cook should accomodate the minority, I also feel that this should not be at the noticeable expense of the majority. If providing what is in essence a separate feast for folks with dietary restrictions detracts from your ability to provide the rest of the attendees with their money's worth, then you need to rethink your plans. Cheerfully anticipating a flood of intriguing responses to this, Adamantius From: Mark Schuldenfrei Subject: Re: Food Restrictions and Feasts To: sca-cooks@eden.com Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 13:02:19 -0400 (EDT) How do you handle getting people with dietary restrictions to notify you *before* you start buying food? I would let grown-ups be grown-ups. If they fail, they fail. My wife (the frequent cook for events) usually prepares a feast that is quite edible for vegetarians, anyway. We have quite a few of them here. Many of them come prepared to supplement the meals, anyway. I guess the real question is, what is the role of the cook at an event. In some places, it is to feed everyone, no matter what, no questions asked. Around here it appears to be to provide an authentic medieval dining experience that will satisfy the senses and nutritional needs of the guest. Just as we wouldn't expect all present to be able to partake in authentic dance, we cannot expect everyone to partake of an authentic feast: especially if they don't call ahead. On the other hand, anything and everything feasible should be done for those that plan ahead. My wife once made kosher versions of a feast for a table of observant Jews, except for the chicken: she asked them to purchase a kosher chicken, and furnished recipes to them so it could be cooked in advance: and included their costs in the feast budget, in fairness to them. Tibor (Whose dietary restrictions are legion, so I no longer eat feasts) From: "Kay Jarrell" To: sca-cooks@eden.com Subject: Re: sca-cooks Re: intro Date: 4/10/97 10:38 AM You know, the reason cooks bitch and moan about how hard it all was is so those who see food "appear" on the table will have some small clue as to how much work, time, training, experience, frustration, diplomacy, effort and late ngihts went into not just the plate they see but the education of the cook. I have had few rewards so sweet as a round of applause from an SCA feast, or the members of a class here at work, but the work had to get done, first. Kay of Tre Asterium C.L. ************************************************** Chef Kay Jarrell The Executive Education Center Univeristy of Michigan Business School kjarrell@umich.edu Date: Thu, 10 Apr 97 17:09:52 EDT To: sca-cooks@eden.com Subject: sca-cooks Complaining Mark Schuldenfrei wrote: > > Any have any suggestions on how to get > > comfortable cooking for 200 rather than 40? > > Gunther wrote: > Comfortable? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! > You'll never be comfortable as Head cook! Abandon all hope! > > Nope. > > Plan, plan, plan some more. Make lists, work out timelines, make some more > lists. Have people you know, and trust, practice the recipes and take > charge of each one. > > It isn't that bad. I was going to address this and hadn't figured out how to do so delicately. If we (the experienced cooks) make it seem like cooking is the greatest trial and a miserable experience, how will we ever get others to join our ranks? This is like saying to newcomers "Oh, fighting is miserable, you get all hot and sweaty and bruised and battered and it takes forever to learn to be any good and its mortifying when you lose and the equipment is expensive and some big Duke is probably going to beat the tar out of you". Certainly not what we do where I'm from, and not a very good incentive to getting people to fight. Yes, cooking feasts is a lot of work. But with some reasonable organization and advance planning, it doesn't need to be a miserable experience. I teach a whole class on Feast Planning for our Kingdom University and it sells out every time, so there's certainly interest out there in "doing it and doing it well". My great tool for feast planning is the clear plastic sheet-covers. You can put the period recipe on one side, the redaction on the other, and write on it with a grease pencil to check off steps, or note "cooling in left hand fridge" or whatever. Keilyn From: "Greg Lindahl" Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 12:58:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks Feast Budget > I'm a big believer in buying produce in season: not only does it save > money, but it gives a more period effect. A medieval feast would not > have had fresh asparagus and fresh apples at the same dinner. A good > reference for produce seasons is _The Goldbecks' Guide to Good Food_, > a revised and expanded version of their classic _Supermarket Handbook_. I also have an article on the web which discusses this issue: "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul: Halving Feast Costs". It can be found at: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html - -- G. B. From: "Richard Cockrum" Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 16:31:09 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - asbestos undergarments (silly) > Last time I was in the kitchen I was crouching in > front of the oven, lifting out a roast when someone let little terrors > (children) into the kitchen. Little kids have no regard for the safety of > others and playfully gave me a push. Sianan's balance, not very good at > the best of times, went off and she fell forward banging her cheek against > a *VERY* hot grille. To this day I still sport an interesting lattice of > scarring on my cheek and forehead. Not too noticable, but still there. > > -Sianan This brings too many memories of my various feast scars to mind! ( Ask BMDL chirs. about my burn record sometime:<) Any way, as a special presentation from some of the canton members, I was given a set of WELDERS LEATHER GLOVES !!! Bless you Bonnie & Chuck :) These actually are a great thing to have around! The gloves are longer than the oven mitt things , mine come almost to my elbow! You can find them at most home builder type shops, ladies get the smallest set you can find, the fingers will be too long for most women in the medium or large sizes! You still need to use pot holders if carrying heavey, hot things for a distance of more than ten feet, but they really save your arms and wrists from those oops! types of burns! Lady Glynis of the Inn of the Laughing Fox From: "Sue Wensel" Date: 14 May 1997 17:40:12 -0500 Subject: Re(2): SC - trial feasts > If you wanted to do it as 4 seperate evenings of one course each, that > would be much better then dropping items you know how to do. (That > compatibility issue). Personally, though, I test cook also to find out > things like the number of pots and pans and burners I need, space issues > on countertops and timing issues on cooking. (Another story: one of my > early feasts looked incredible on paper, but the autocrat didn't get me > in to look at the kitchen until the day before the event. The kitchen > had a normal, house-sized stove. I had 3 of my major foods requiring > on the top of the stove cooking. Needless to say, I did a bit of > juggling and creative cooking. (I cooked on item in the oven in pan of > water, and had a person assigned to make sure that the other two industrial > size pots didn't fall off the stove (which just wasn't big enough to hold > them).) I absolutely agree. My first (and so far only) feast, things were so hectic in my mundane life that I didn't get to look at the kitchen until the day of the feast. We were planning to do 48 pies but had only two ovens with one rack each. Fortunately, we found another partial rack and were able to get twice as many pies (12 instead of six) in that oven. That plus serving the soup first instead of simultaneously saved the day. I am just glad that I had pre-baked everything else. When you visit the site, double-check what burners are functional, what ovens are working and what are the quirks of the stove. Just what you don't need is to leave something "cooking" for half an hour only to find the pilot didn't light. Also make sure you know where all the switches are for lights, garbage disposals (if you are so lucky), and stove hoods. Find out where the fuses are and what to do if you blow one. Find out who your site contact is and know how to contact them. > So, while I realize it's a lot of work, invite 3 to 7 friends over and > cook one serving plate worth of each with your best estimates on timing > and get them to taste the courses together. Your feasters will be glad > you did! > I always thought you would test the feast out on you, your SO, your autocrat, and your autocrat's SO plus anyone else who is game enough to try. For my feast, we did a run through the week before -- lunch was held at lunch time and the feast at dinner time. Word of caution: when you serve out the food, divide your portions as you would at the event. We slice the bread and got a much higher person to bread ratio than we were getting at the event (Just pop a few more loaves in the oven!). > Ruadh All in all, the feast went wonderfully. Just some notes from the school of hard knocks. Derdriu From: Philip & Susan Troy Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:20:17 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Cook's Knees L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt wrote: > I had major knee surgery about 8 months ago and am coming up on my first > concrete-floor feast kitchen since the op. PLEEEEEEASE give me some hints on > what to do to avoid cook's knees. I've got the excellent shoes bit down pat > and am thinking of investing in some of those blue dense foam sleeping mats > as floor mats. Does anyone, anywhere, have some good hints----Don't ask me > to cook sitting. My personality won't allow it. > > Aoife Hello again, Aoife! Regardless of my stodgy views on pies ; ), I've been cooking in the SCA for going on 13 years, and have earned my living as a chef as well. Here's what I've learned in that time, speaking as a cook who can still easily remain standing AND coherent (well, as coherent as I usually am, anyway) for around 16 hours or more, despite my grey hairs: Necessity 1) Really good shoes. They have arch support, HEEL support, and probably a steel toe. Knapp used to make a steel-toed, black leather "dress" sneaker that was ideal. Good traction (another essential), too! Many chefs wear a special clog with a stiff but jointed sole that provides excellent support, and has the advantage of being able to be kicked off, in the event of dousing them with boiling oil or other disasters. Unless you need to run in them, they may be the ideal kitchen shoe. (I can't afford them myself!) Necessity 2) Thick, padded socks, such as hikers and mountain climbers wear. You can get them in a sporting goods store. They have extra thick padded sections on the toe, the sole, and the heel. Pretty expensive, but 5 pairs saved my life when I was the man in white (and funny checked pants)... Necessity 3) Remember to flex your Achilles tendon. Try to bend your ankle til you can touch your shin with your toes. I assume you won't make it, but the effort is helpful in preventing funky bunions on your heels, and other weird calcium deposits that eliminate the elasticity of your tendons. Necessity 4) This may or may not be a problem, depending on the kind of person you are. With all respect to everyone on the list, one of the best ways to avoid injuries to joints is to lose any excess weight you may be capable of losing. Less weight, less joint stress. It's that simple. It sounds so easy, and it is so hard in reality, but if you are one of those people who can do this, it is helpful. Necessity 5) Seltzer. Here endeth the messin'! Adamantius From: Bronwynmgn@aol.com Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 11:40:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Cook's Knees << I had major knee surgery about 8 months ago and am coming up on my first concrete-floor feast kitchen since the op. PLEEEEEEASE give me some hints on what to do to avoid cook's knees. I've got the excellent shoes bit down pat and am thinking of investing in some of those blue dense foam sleeping mats as floor mats. Does anyone, anywhere, have some good hints >> Well, speaking as my mundane persona as a physical therapist, I can give a few suggestions. I certainly won't ask you to do the entire feast sitting down, but it would be a good idea to intersperse short sitting periods (10-15 minutes each) in your cooking time, every hour or two. The dense foam mats may be too soft - they'll be unsatble and that will make your knee work harder. The kind of rubber mats some people use in the back of theit trucks would be better - you don't want anything you are actually going to sink into, just somethng that will take a little of the hardnes off the floor. Also be sure that it is something that will absolutely not slip (rubber seems to be the best for this, too.) Barb Croll Licensed PT (Bronwyn doesn't know anything about this.) From: "Sue Wensel" Date: 19 May 1997 09:56:42 -0500 Subject: Re(2): SC - Cook's Knees > L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt wrote: > > I had major knee surgery about 8 months ago and am coming up on my first > > concrete-floor feast kitchen since the op. PLEEEEEEASE give me some hints on > > what to do to avoid cook's knees. I've got the excellent shoes bit down pat > > and am thinking of investing in some of those blue dense foam sleeping mats > > as floor mats. Does anyone, anywhere, have some good hints----Don't ask me > > to cook sitting. My personality won't allow it. > > > > Aoife Adamantius replied (edited for brevity): > Necessity 1) Really good shoes. They have arch support, HEEL support, > and probably a steel toe. Knapp used to make a steel-toed, black leather > "dress" sneaker that was ideal. Good traction (another essential), too! > Many chefs wear a special clog with a stiff but jointed sole that > provides excellent support, and has the advantage of being able to be > kicked off, in the event of dousing them with boiling oil or other > disasters. Unless you need to run in them, they may be the ideal kitchen > shoe. (I can't afford them myself!) I too have knee problems (and damaged nerves in the bottom of one foot) and have searched high and low for solutions. In addition to the good shoes insert Dr. Scholl's Backguard (tm) insoles in them. They provide an extra pad at the heel which is designed to take the strain of standing off your lower back. It also helps cushion your knees and feet. The team who developed them ought to be beatified. Other things I do: 1. Grab a chair and rest your bad leg on it. Try to make sure the seat of the chair is nearly knee high or you will really strain your hip. If you can't find a chair, grab a stool and put your feet on it. Sometimes, I just stand on my knees on the chair. Alternating resting your feet on a stool is recommended for everyone, not just for those who have knee or back problems. 2. Check with your local building supply stores for the rubberized grease-resistant mats like factories use. They resist getting slippery from grease and are designed for prolonged standing in one place. You will need to clean them with very hot water -- I don't know how easily they clean. 3. Walk around. Go out to the feasting area periodically to check how things are progressing. Check out the nearby areas of the event. Hook up with the autocrat to see if things are running on time. Check with troll to see how attendance and on-board look. 4. Don't forget your anti-inflammatories. They can prevent the inflammation that can cause continuing damage to joints. 5. Ask someone else to carry that heavy box. Does anyone know where you can get arch supports of an arch 5 inches long and a little over an inch high. Nothing I buy in the store is long or high enough. Derdriu (whose last job involved keeping an eye on the ergonomics of the time) From: dragon7777@juno.com (Susan A Allen) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 20:28:55 -0700 Subject: SC - Cook's Knees Get a low stool to raise your foot up, so that one knee is flexed alternate that and be sure to walk about, I have a really bad back problem and the foot stool really helps, with the knee flexed, blood circulation to the legs is opened up (standing tends to clamp closed the blood supply, leading to edema (water) in the feet and varicose veins (yuck) Leg wraps also help, ace bandage or varicose stocking sort of like leg girdles. Susan Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 04:47:16 -0500 From: gfrose@cotton.vislab.olemiss.edu (Terry Nutter) Subject: SC - Booklets Hi, Katerine here. I'm normally pretty shy about anything that smacks of an ad, but there are so many people on this list who seem anxious for this sort of thing that I'm violating my usual rule. Experienced cooks probably want to move to the next message now. I have a couple of booklets that can be ordered by mail. They were designed for beginners in the SCA (i.e. there's probably nothing here that an experienced cook would find particularly enlightening, but people with less experience may be interested in either or both). The "big book" has twenty-five recipes from 14th and 15th C England and France, and some general information on food, ingredients, and stuff like that. The recipes themselves are in the format I've been posting here (in fact, several of the ones I've posted came from there, with some transformation but not a huge amount). It's 65 pages (plus front material), in what I think of as the standard booklet form, that is, 8.5 x 11 sheets folded in half, with four pages to each sheet (counting both sides, of course), single spaced, in the smallest print that is easily legible. This one is 17 sheets plus cover. The "little book" discusses feast planning and execution, i.e. everything *except* recipes. The main topics are: * menu design -- including matching to budget, equipment, kitchen, and staff, how to find recipes, and balancing the meal; * staff -- who and how many you'll need; * preparation -- purchasing, cooking ahead vs. on site, transportation, timing [including allowing for problems with large quantities and thermal mass], getting recipes and ingredients ready, and basic safety; * peripherals -- serving, presentation, clean-up, and leftovers; * execution -- delegation and disaster control; * references. It's 29 pages of text, in the same format (eight sheets plus cover). Crude financial details: $5 for the big guy, $3 for the little, plus $1 mailing cost for the first booklet and $0.50 for each additional. Anyone interested in a copy of either one should email me at jtn@cottagesoft.com. Cheers, - -- Katerine/Terry Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 18:22:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Uduido@aol.com Subject: SC - Burned Rice-saving In a message dated 97-09-22 09:53:04 EDT, you write: << As to the burned rice, I always tell anyone I'm teaching that if a dish doesn't come out right, it's better to toss it and go without, than to serve a poor dish. Everything else could be absolutely fabulous, but it's the burned rice everyone will talk about later. >> This is NOT a period solution but works wonderfully well for turning burnrd rice into a 'gret' dish and it really does work. If you burn you rice, IMMEDIATELY remove it from the heat and scoop out the part that has not burnedd. Take a goodly amount of tea leaves and crumble then into a powder. Stir into the rice until well-mixed. I burned the rice at Will's and some wonderful gentle told me to try this. I did. ALL of the rice got eaten and many people wanted the recipe. Uh, let's see.....take a pan of rice and burn it.........:-) Lord Ras Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:00:20 -0400 From: Donna Kenton Subject: Re: SC - Field Expedient Noodles I did an outdoor feast with noodles. I pre-cooked them until they were almost done, then tossed them in a little olive oil, and packaged them in ziplock bags, one serving bowl's worth per bag. I made the accompanying sauce and bagged them, too. When it came time to serve, the sauce bags (bag and all) were put into boiling water to heat them. Each noodle bag was emptied into boiling water for a couple of minutes, then scooped out, a bag of hot sauce poured on, and then given to the waiting server. Every table had hot noodles. Rosalinde - -- Rosalinde De Witte/Donna Kenton * donna@dabbler.com * http://www.dabbler.com/ Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 09:26:23 -700 MST From: "Jeanne Stapleton" Subject: Re: SC - Documentation > How does everyone present documentation for their feasts? Do you > add it as an addendum to the menu or do you offer it at all? > > The ever curious, > Murkial I've done it in various ways, or participated in feasts where there have been a couple of methods: - One is to present small placards or menus at the table with snippets of documentation - Another, which I personally like a lot, is to prepare a small brochure with recipes and documentation for sale for a trifling amount, or to roll the cost into the feast fee and offer one to each diner who enters the hall. Berengaria Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 11:45:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Mark Schuldenfrei Subject: Re: SC - Documentation - One is to present small placards or menus at the table with snippets of documentation Usually we do that, just citing recipe name and source. - Another, which I personally like a lot, is to prepare a small brochure with recipes and documentation for sale for a trifling amount, or to roll the cost into the feast fee and offer one to each diner who enters the hall. My wife bribes her cooking staff with a copy. It seems a fair recompense. Tibor Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 11:59:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Uduido@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Documentation << How does everyone present documentation for their feasts? Do you add it as an addendum to the menu or do you offer it at all? >> I make 20 copies of each recipe page that includes the original recipe, it's source, my translation and the redaction plus any notes on parts that need clarifying. I then colate them and staple them together. Anyone of the first 20 people who wants copies of the recipes can then have them for the asking. Lord Ras Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 14:54:29 -0500 From: Debra Hense Subject: SC - Documenation I've always made up little souvenir cookbooks of the feast. They contain the source as well as my redaction. They come onto site with me and are available for anyone who asks: can I see the list of ingredients? Then, several are placed on each table. Extras are available if more than two or three at a table want a copy. They are all free. But then, I started out cooking for College Madrigals... Before I ever conceived of cooking my first feast for the SCA. Kateryn de Develyn debh@microware.com Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 21:26:56 -0700 (PDT) From: rousseau@scn.org (Anne-Marie Rousseau) Subject: Re: SC - Documentation > How does everyone present documentation for their feasts? Do you > add it as an addendum to the menu or do you offer it at all? > > Murkial Here in Madrone (Seattle), we often will take the recipes from a big feast, along with piles of documentation and produce a pamphlet pretty much at cost. These are made available by word of mouth, or through our kingdom stock clerk. For a recent smaller meal at an event, I handed everyone a copy of the recipes (with attendant documentation, of course) as they stepped up to the line to fill their plates. Worked very well, especially since they had the tasty stuff in their mouths and could read the paper and see it was period to boot. Hah! - --Anne-Marie, on a constant crusade to show people that authentic medieval food is not nasty, wierd or brown glop. Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 10:55:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Mark Schuldenfrei Subject: Re: SC - potential problem foods Berengaria wrote: Anyway, I happen to love spicy foods. I also happen to be a bonafide sodium chloridaholic, which means I don't "get" people complaining about salty chicken broth and too-salty onion dip (love the stuff). I adjust for others' tastes as best I can, go very light on the salt, but I refuse to cook bland food when I have other choices. I agree completely about the bland foods. In general, however, food tastes the same whether you salt it at the table, or during the cooking. (Unless the salt is part of the cooking process you are using, like brine or koshering, or whatever). I would recommend, therefore, that you cook almost exclusively without salt, and let those that use it put some in at the table. There are exceptions, of course: like oatmeal or cream of wheat that requires some salt in the cooking, or spinach. But, even then, with a light hand. To give you an idea: my wife and I are both very pro-flavor cooks. We have been using the same box of salt for about 5 years. Now, try to take away our garlic.... (:-) My blood pressure is fine, thanks. But I know plenty of people on diuretics in an attempt to reduce their BP. Excess salt for them is just begging to give them problems. Tibor Date: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 07:19:53 -0600 From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt Subject: SC - Cooking AROUND Court >Court drag on past the Dinner Hour in a former East Kingdom Kingdom? >Never!!!! > >What do you think about putting large fans blowing aromas from the >kitchen directly at the thrones? Do you think that would end court any >sooner? > >I've got people bugging me to do a RP event,..... convince me that it will be >okay. I need to make a decision soon. > >Julleran Well, my first ploy is to send my schedule directly to the crowns involved. They can then see when court is supposed to be and when the feast is supposed to be. Theoretically, they can then tell you if they think court business can take place in that time frame. Additionally, have a runner check with their Majesties just before the tourney ends (or right before court), to see if it started on time. Next, I like to plan a first remove that is either mostly cold food (salad, bread/butters/ quiche), or is easily "held" (mac and cheese, soup/stew, etc...). I save the labor intensive stuff for later in the feast. This way, you have some "fudge time" built right into the feast, and essentially you're prepared to slap the entire first remove on the table at once, saving all that serving time and complaints about where the food is (they'll be starving by the time court runs over AND the feast is served dish-by-dish). I also go with family style serving in this scenario. There ARE things one can do. You'd be surprised. Just plan on having a flexible first remove. BTW, by sending my schedule to the Crown, they had a good idea of my needs. At 1st Crown last summer, the East King had a messenger who came to tell me exactly when THEY wanted the feast served, (ie: how late they thought it would be). With lots of creative footwork, and a flexible schedule (and professional warmers) the last dish was served on time, even though the first dish went out 1 1/2 hours late(I had a generous 2 hours planned for the feast, *knowing* full well that that would be eaten into by a late court). The first remove was fancy but cold. But you can do that in June. WE stuck to our schedule. The 1st remove was ready to serve sitting in the cooler, and the servers just walked in, took a dish, took off the plastic wrap, and took the dish to the table, came back for another..... Aoife Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 21:40:29 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy Subject: Re: SC - SC Feast n the law Charles McCN wrote: > A thread running on the histrenact list (a small europe-based list) asked > how people get around the legal requirements that usually exist for > people feeding other people for money. (We don't - we ignore them and > hope we don't poison anybody) > > Any other thoughts? I wrote an article about kitchen sanitation several years ago (~10) for T.I., which suggested that, as our various respective governments don't seem to be engaging in gratuitous DEregulation, that it would behoove cooks to know a little bit about how to get various local food handlers' certification. What makes this a bit of a problem is that some lawyer somewhere could easily decide that a case of food poisoning is the fault and liability of the licensed food handler on site. The SCA probably doesn't require it for that very reason, in the same way that I have been discouraged from getting too specific on the topic in other SCA-wide publications. The SCA cannot _appear_ to sanction any specific act or statement which would result in injury to members or others. If I say, in an SCA publication, that it is okay to butcher raw chickens on a wooden cutting board, and then prepare salad on the same board without washing and sanitizing it, ans surprise, someone gets sick, there's a good chance the SCA will share in the liability. On The Other Hand, people who do have such licenses, certificates, etc., receive very good, and very inexpensive, training, which will help prevent such difficulties as massed cases of salmonella at Twelfth Night. My papers from the New York City Department of Sanitation and the State Board of Health would tend to make me the duck in the shooting gallery, but I am not defenseless by any means. I run my kitchen in such a way that I am certain that either nothing will, or can, go wrong in the way of food-borne illnesses, or if it does, I will have saved documentation indicating I have done everything in my power to avoid it, and that I am not responsible for the Red Tide in the scallops, or whatever it may be. In other words, the certification is kind of a two-edged sword. There is, of course, no law that says you have to be certified as a food handler, at least where I live, and there's also nothing that says a certified food handler must publicise the fact that he is certified. Sometimes I'll have people mention it if I have reason to believe it will make the difference between being allowed to use a site's kitchen facilities, or not. Some places, like Universities, will often balk at a bunch of crazies using, and possibly messing up, their kitchens, while they sometimes have less of a problem if the crazies in question are licensed, and, presumably professionals. No need to correct them, of course, on this point. Basically what you need to do is follow the regulations as set down by your local Health Department, Department of Sanitation, or whoever handles this where you are. To do that, you need to learn the regulations. You may or may not want to actually get the certification, but it is important that you know the stuff, more or less. This includes various temperature controls for bacterial growth (i.e. how to use a refrigerator and a stove, 101), how to avoid cross-contamination (such as storing the raw chickens on the rack UNDER the cooked beef, and not the other way around, since drips are a minor inconvenience in one direction, and potentially deadly in the other, but luckily liquids don't drip UP). Then there is Sink 101, which includes basic stuff about washing dishes, pots, equipment in general, and a bit of plumbing theory, so as to be able to avoid things like raw chicken heads backing up into the sink of the building next door. Basic first aid is optional, but I feel that every manager should be able to take care of his or her people in an emergency. Beyond that, there is the stuff we have already beaten to death on the subject of allergies and how to deal with them, posting accurate, up-to-date ingredients lists, etc. Yes, this seems like a heck of a lot, but the bottom line is that you love your friends, and want them safe. I think most of us will go to great lengths to assure that. Adamantius Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 14:00:28 -0600 From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt Subject: SC - Kitchen Commandments Have I forgotten anything? This is going to hang next to a bag of hair-ties outside the kitchen door, next to the menu and ingredients lists. Aoife Kitchen Commandments 1. Thou shalt wash thine hands upon entering the Kitchen, and often thereafter. 2. Thou shalt tie back thine scraggly locks before entering the Kitchen. 3. Thou shalt not pester the cooks, and thou shalt obey the Chef. 4. Thou shalt pay for thy disturbances of the kitchen staff with chocolate. Likewise, thou shalt turn a deaf ear to the rowdy disturbances of creativity in the kitchen. 5. Thou shalt not borrow kitchen equipment or supplies without permission. Thou shalt return every piece of equipment thou borrowest in tip-top condition, promptly. 6. Thou shalt honor thy cooks with backrubs and praise often, for verily, without them thou wouldst go hungry. 7. When thou carest not for what is put before thee, thou shalt simply say "No, Thank-you", for those who wouldst shout "My God, that's disgusting" shall surely forfeit their lives at the hands of those who have slaved hours to prepare it. 8. The Cooks of thy acquaintance surely have not been fed while they have toiled for you. Therefore, thou shalt save them some of the food if they so desire it. 9. Thou shalt have a soft chair and a glass of "something with a kick" for thy wearisome cook when the feast is done. While thy cook relaxes, thou shalt help clean the kitchen. 10. Thou shalt help thy cook load the wagon for the journey home, for verily will thy cook be falling down tired after providing such an awesome meal. Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 10:48:17 -0600 From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt Subject: SC - Help! >From: "rond" > >Iam new to the SCA and for my first project I get to feastocrat an event. >Great isnít it! >Please oh please I can use all the help I can get. Us gypsies are not >always the most organised. > Annastasis Well, let's see---Feast-0-crat 101 in one easy lesson. That's a tall order! First I suggest you gather the following information: 1) When is the event (what modern date, time. etc, i.e.: how much lead time do you have until then)? 2) What is the theme (ie: 14th century France, etc., or is a generic-themed feast OK?) 3) What are the cooking facilities like? 4) Who will be helping you? 5) What is the attendance estimate? 6) What is your budget per person? Ask for about $2.50 per person minumum for each course of dishes, and more per person per course if you are serving fewer courses, with a minumum of $3.50 per person for a one-course feast, or $2.00 for a bread-and-stew type feast (we call that a half-feast around here). 7) How is this all being served, and who is coordinating that? Consult with them. 8) Who is your clean-up crew (or are you also responsible for that?). Once you have this information, it should be easy to find your "direction". Next I suggest you begin by using already redacted sources for your recipes. A good one to start with (let's get you off on the right foot, cooking documentable food right away!), is Elizabeth and Cariadoc's Miscellany, which is online at http://www.sca.org . You'll need to click on the Arts and Sciences Icon. Also there you will find other useful resources such as "Take a Thousand Eggs or More" by Cindy Renfrow. For your first event, I suggest you stick to one source, plan a menu (easy=2-3 helpers)--one course of dishes, or middling-hard=4-6 helpers---two courses of dishes, or downright exhausting=6-10 helpers, three or more courses of dishes). As a rough European rule of thumb, pick your meat and surrounding complimentary dishes, and a beverage for each course. Include a vegeteable dish for the vegetarians, a starch dish, and a fruit dish, along with your meat dish to satisfy the MODERN diners, if you have a vocal and pernickity group of eaters to whom you must cater. Dessert is optional, but a good idea, espescially if it can be made in advance, such as fruit tarts, small cakes, candies, etc. Now that you have a menu planned, cost it out with supermarket prices. If this adds up to over your budget, re-plan your menu. Always have a "fudge factor" of about 10% of the budget that you plan on NOT spending, so that you can run out and get those extras you forgot to bring/buy the day of the event without busting the budget. For very small events, this is crucial!!!! Next, scale down your menu to serve 8-10,and invite over a few SCA friends and you helping cooks. Cook the feast for them, and record your process of cooking AND their reactions to the dishes. Re-plan and cost your menu according to any changes. You can do this test-cooking in installments if you want to, but make sure the dishes go together well. Once you have all this down, get a check from the group for the amount of the allownace per person. If you go over this amount, my method is to pay out of pocket and get re-imbursed later, tho this happened to me only once in 13 years of cooking. At this point, you must keep your receipts faithfully, because you will have to account for every pennny with a receipt or else pay for the difference! I tend to keep a special envelope in my purse for these receipts, with a running tab of what I spent, and then any difference in cash I get the day before the event so I won't have to confuse the troll with sums taken from the cash box for emergency ingredients. Re-deposit any excess in your account and after the event and write a check for that amount to the shire, so there is always a paper trail of what you did with that money and why. The next step is to make a detailed schedule of what gets cooked when onsite, and what can safely be prepared ahead of time, what prepwork gets done early, etc., and when serving happens, and what order things are served in. This will be posted on the kitchen door or some other handy place the day of the event. Put a pen or pencil with it so you can cross items as they get done. This way, anyone who comes in volunteering to help should consult that schedule for things they can do. Include dish washing, etc. on the kitchen schedule. Now you have a schedule. You also need a presentation menu (at least 1 per table, made up a few days before in case of emergency changes)and a recipe list or at least ingredients list to post (I make a pamphlet with the sources, redacted recipes, ingredients, with the menu on the inside front cover, but folks here think I'm nuts to do it---it has come in handy many many times, though. lately i have been running out of them, and hav to e-mail an entire feast's recipes to different people who wanted a pamphlet but didn't snag one in time). Now you have a workable menu. Multiply your recipes by the number expected onboard (get a concrete number 1 week ahead, if possible!!!). Sort out the odd ingredients found only in special places--you'll have to get them seperately from the rest of the groceries. The next step is to call a restaurant supply house and price out bulk items (ie: half a case of leaf lettuce is $12.00 currently in my neck of the woods. That's 12 large heads of green or red leaf lettuce, which would cost me about $20.00 in the grocery store. Half a case of lemons (perhaps 50 or so)is 9.00, which beats 4-for-$1.00 any day of the week. I just bought 2 cases of chicken parts for .55 a pound, fresh---never frozen, and packed specially for me. They will sell me untrimmed whole top rounds, still cry-o-vacced, for a significant discount (maybe 1.29-40 a lb.). They gave me a 3% discount for ordering a week ahead and a 5% discount for non-profit group----get that tax number from your seneschal and call ahead of time!!!!). You are now significantly under budget, and your autocrat loves you. This is a good thing. Order your groceries for pick-up early the day of the event unless there are storage facilities onsite, in which case get them the day before. Take a beefy guy to help you load/unload them. Then take a nap, you're going to need it! The day of the event, arrive onsite and post your schedule. Stick to it if at all possible. At least an hour before serving happens, make sure the servers have talked to you and the head server, so there is no confusion and they know what the dishes are roughly made from and how to pronounce the names, and who is serving which tables. It is handy to have a person coordinating the dishes travel from the kitchen to the staging area, and the server's taking of dishes from the staging area, if you are serving family-style or individually (not!). When it is time to toast the cooks, make sure someone comes to get you, so you can take a bow. While you're out there, look around. All those happy faces are there because you did a great job! That's my method. It has never failed me. I hope it works for you, too! PS We didn't cover what to do about Royalty, etc. Do you need to know that now? Aoife Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 11:04:10 -0500 From: "Decker, Margaret" Subject: SC - Feast info Mike Hobbs wanted info on feasts. Here's mine. Plan your Menu as far in advance as possible. Learn which food suppliers (including wholesale if legal in your area) sell the items you will need at the highest price and which at the lowest for each item. Use the highest prices for setting your budget, then watch for sales that drop things below the lowest price and pick up what you can that way. Now purchase remaining items at the lowest priced vendors on your list. Be sure you have included all non-food items such as aluminium foil in your budget. Base price for the feast on what will break even if only 2/3rds of the people you plan on feeding at table show up. I have never lost money on a feast when I followed the above even when food prices flucuated wildly. Baroness Margarite du Battenhelm who usually only lurks and lets her beloved Bear say it all. Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 14:56:48 -0700 From: david friedman Subject: Re: SC - Re: EK Crown Feast Adamantius comments on What Went Wrong: >... and a populace who simply >refused to read the menu and feast notes posted all the heck over the >place (my usual kitchen "bouncer" was away squiring his knight and >fighting in the Tourney). Le Menagier gives, at one point, a list of all the supplies and personnel that were needed for one particular wedding dinner and among them we find: "Item, big strong sergeants to guard the door." Elizabeth/Betty Cook Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 09:14:50 -0600 (MDT)From: Sabia Subject: Re: SC - Allergy rantOn Mon, 11 May 1998, Erin Kenny wrote:> Like I said before, I don't expect people to cook around me, but I> can't eat even the basic things if we can't be a little bit careful> about things like cross contamination.>> ClariciaI must whole heartly agree that cross contamination is a problem, butIhave found that a relationship with the servers to be helpful. Bytalking openly to the servers about the upcoming courses they can thenspeak with those they are serving and at that time request a isolatedserving of the food. The most common request I have seen is for avegitarian to request a seperate bowl of the rice (or whatever) dishthat on the main tray might be exposed to meat products. In addition toposting a list of ingrediants at gate, i prefer to have one for theservers, plus give a verbal rundown/warning of foods as they are goingout. An unfortunate mishap at a recent feast had us having the serverswarn each table that the garlic sauce was not safe for those allergic tomushrooms (this was due to a dish of diced mushrooms being bumped andfalling on several of the serving dishes). In light of the fact that mostof my kitchen crew were new to the SCA kitchen we also met several timesin advance to discuss cross contamination and how to avoid it. I havefound that most people - when they understand the why - are very goodabout being careful, it does not seem though that a large portion of thepublic are aware.Sabia (sabia@unm.edu) Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 16:07:05 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - Chivalry The simple answer is "control the feast hall." Whoever takes responsibility for the feast (not necessarily the cook, although I have done double duty), needs to take control of the feast hall, reservations and entertainment. They handle the organizing, scheduling, and timing of everything occurring in the feast hall. The best feasts I have had were when I knew what entertainment had been scheduled in what order and how long the performances would run. If the high table wishes to hold court, your hall co-ordinator and the court herald need to work out the approximate timing of the awards and presentations. The kitchen is responsible for notifying the co-ordinator and the herald of the actually timing of the courses. In this case, let the herald announce the course and stall the court, while the food is delivered and people fall to eating. If the desire is for entertainment, select your entertainers and arrange your entertainment to suit. If this is not possible, have people who wish to entertain during the feast sign up with the hall co-ordinator to be properly scheduled "in the interests of fairness and courtesy." Find out what they intend to do and the approximate length, then it can be scheduled. Position your strongest performers, the ones who can command an audience in a tempest, just before the courses are to be delivered. In general, they have bettery time control and are less likely to have their feelings hurt if you have to step on them. If you work with them in advance, good performers can stall a delay in the kitchen and present the delivery of the next course in such a manner as to make the entertainment and the food work together. It should be remembered that a feast is not just food. It is a performance of the art of dining. To make it work, you need to plan what will occur, prepare to make it occur, and communicate the details of the occurence to those who will take part. The feast begins with the layout of the hall and ends with taking out the last of the garbage and everything occurring in the feast hall that falls in between needs organization and scheduling as much as the work in the kitchen. Bear Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 09:48:08 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: SC - RE: Limiting the unexpected at Feasts > One thing that helps to be able to stick to a published menu is knowing > the facilities available to you ahead of time, preferably several months. > > Euriol of Lothian Knowing the available facilities is nice, but it is not a guarantee of being able to stick to the menu. I've had sites change within two weeks of an event and I've experienced four ovens dying in succession in the last three hours before the feast. Frankly, for me, a feast is an exercise in logistics. Creating a menu that can be prepared at any of a number of sites, establishing the budget, obtaining the best food at the best price and storing it, laying out the feast hall, occasionally arranging the entertainment, handling the pre-event food preparation, organizing the delivery of food and equipment to the appointed location at the appointed time, then cooking and delivering the planned meal to the tables as planned. Controlling what you can limits the unexpected, but it doesn't protect you from major problems, such as the four ovens dying, and it doesn't stop the clock for the feast. If you have prepared properly, it does give you the opportunity to overcome the problems. The biggest drawback I find with this method is that I internalize the details over so long a period, I forget to communicate some of those details to my assistants (this was pointed out by one of those assistants, so I am now taking pains to correct the flaw). Bear Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 16:25:34 -0400 From: mermayde@juno.com (Christine A Seelye-King) Subject: Re: SC - Greetings! >I buy antibacterial soap by the gallon. I've gotten food poisoning a few >times (not by my own hand) and I'm a freak about making sure that neither >I nor anyone I feed ever gets it. > >Celadon Me too. I love antibacterial soap. I bathe with it. The best thing about it is (from a feastcrat's point of view), is that with a bottle of it sitting on a handsink, volunteer kitchen workers get the hint that that's why the handsink is there, you are washing your hands to kill the bacteria before you touch food! Such a simple thing that has been so hard to get into people's heads before this simple piece of 20th century commercialism came into being. Ah, the Middle Ages as they should have been (without germs? why, you might as well try to re-create the Middle Ages without the church! Bwua-Hahahahah!) Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, Meridies who can tell you about all kinds of food bourne illnesses, and will, if you take her preliminary Feast Appreciation Class at a Royal University of Meridies event (event and class plug) Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 23:41:16 -0400 From: Bonne Subject: Re: SC - courts running long > Frankly, it's the autocrats job to either communicate to the kitchen > when dinner will be served early enough so that plans can be changed, or > to see that the day's activities move along so that court can happen and > dinner be served at the scheduled time. And it is the cooks job to arrange for some leeway with the food. The cook ought to be able move feast a half hour or even a full hour either way without going into a panic. It seems to me that arranging for the first dish, or more than one dish at all to require crucial timing is foolish, though I understand re-using serving dishes is a consideration some places. I've heard of feast running hours late, but not seen it, it would be the event stewards job to keep the cook informed throughout the day so that the cook can plan accordingly. Last feast I was at started out with platters of cold foods: breads, cheeses, pickles; then moved on to soup that was in crockpots and could have been served a little sooner or later, as needed. Then came the meats and pies that had to be HOT. Court didn't run late (our baron likes his supper!), so the cold platters and second course were eaten leisurely to allow time for the meats and pies to finish. If court had run late, the first courses could have been hurried by combining them. Or either dish could have been held back and served later during the feast. Perhaps to cover another waiting period. though I've got some nerve saying this when I've not been the head cook. I think I'll do my first while Wulfbrand is Baron. He likes his supper and won't easily let it be delayed. Bonne Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 10:03:14 -0500 From: "Weiszbrod, Barbara A" Subject: RE: SC - HELP!!!!! Alys here. Most of you won't know me because I dont post often, and Gunthar always introduces me as Barbara, so if you've met me you still dont know Alys. I am Gunthar and Thyra's roommate, and have worked with him on all of the large feast that he as done. My main input is organization (Gunthar has none, so it is needed). Here are some things that make it easier for us. When planning portioning for that large a group I have two rules of thumb, plan for 4oz of each meat per person, and no matter how many veggies you plan on making, cut it in half. Unless you are going to grill or stir-fry them with seaseme oil, then people can't get enough of them. For the last feast Gunthar did (Steppes 12th Night, 500 people) I took the receipies and made a spread sheet of the ingredients. This helped me do fewer shopping runs since many ingredients are duplicated. I multiplied the receipes to make enough for 20% fewer people than we were expecting. Not everyone will eat everything. Next I went to the store and didn't buy a thing. I got pricing on everything from at least two sources. When you are cooking for this many it is very easy to spend a ton of money before you know it. After deciding where the best deals were and what things we just couldnt afford to do I had a comprehensive shopping list. I know this seems a little work intense, but I think that it was worth it in the long run. Alys Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 01:10:29 -0500 From: allilyn@juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON) Subject: Re: SC - HELP!!!!! Check out the kitchen as soon as possible. Know what pots, pans, mixing bowls, electric gadgets and all the cooking stuff you will have access to, and what you'll have to bring. For the things you bring, get some good firm colored tape, in the hardware store, and put a piece on each item. Helps to know what's yours at the end of a long, frazzled day and night. Look for 'work stations' you can set up: Tape up a copy of the recipe that will be prepared there, with a list at bottom of it detailing items: 9 x 13 pans (4), large slotted spoon, bread knife, cutting board, etc. Serve into xxx dishes, with large serving spoons. That sort of thing. Keep an extra copy in a notebook in case it falls off the wall into the goop. Get a notebook or folder, now, and start it with printouts of posts you get that are helpful. Add all your notes, questions, etc. You'll make it! Allison Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 00:58:34 -0500 From: allilyn@juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON) Subject: Re: SC - A question of concern... Incidentally, do you all know that Walmart's sells big boxes of non-latex (some people are allergic to latex--don't get those) disposable gloves quite cheaply? They are in the band-aid section. Great for handling raw chicken, etc. And wearing to clean a kitchen before using it. A zip-lock bag containing a dozen pairs of medium gloves costs almost nothing and could well be kept in the supplies box. Allison Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 10:51:03 EDT From: DianaFiona@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - An unusual cooking method In a message dated 8/12/98 6:57:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, sunnie@exis.net writes: << A similar method to taking chicken or roast that is mostly cooked at a feast and putting them in coolers (no ice, of course). The meat continues to cook for up to 2 more hours in the cooler while you use the oven for other things. It works great when you have limited oven space. Brenna >> It does indeed! It's a standard technique in our only-two-oven site. We do tend to cook things completely first, just to be safe, but it certainly keeps them hot until they are served. In fact, you have to be a bit careful--I warped the inner walls of my own cooler (Thank heavens it *was* mine, not someone else's!) pouring one of Apicus' pork dishes in it while still bubbling. I wanted to make sure it stayed hot until feast, which it certainly did! ;-) We have even made bulgur by putting the grain in the cooler and pouring the hot soaking liquid over it, stirring, and closing it up until it was needed. Worked beautifully! Ldy Diana Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 14:45:15 -0400 From: Brenna Subject: Re: SC - Safe temperatures (was: Cooking meat in coolers) > Perhaps I should rephrase it. > > Given the properties inherent in cooking poultry, would it be wise > to further cook it in a cooler where the "temperature danger zone" may be > attained? Okay, the whole story... we put the birds, drippings, pans and all in the coolers so everything is red hot (375 to 400 degrees) when it is put in the coolers. It helps even more if the coolers are lined with towels to radiate even more heat and protect the coolers from burn marks. Usually the birds spend an hour in the coolers. If it needs more, then more (if feast is delayed). We have never had to reheat, but if they are not too hot to handle you can pop them back in the oven again. Brenna Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 13:10:32 EDT From: LrdRas@aol.com Subject: SC - Fish at Feasts sianan@geocities.com writes: << I got changed pretty quick into my normal garb, ran back to the kitchen and served forth a Patina of Soles. What do you know, everyone ate it. Anything for my art -Sienna >> I have bad experiences with fish at feasts (a certain eel pie and a sweet fish custard come to mind) BUT when I personally have cooked and served fish at a feast it has always gone over well and no leftovers. :-) When the decision to serve fish is being made, it is one of the few areas where I take modern tastes into account. Although I don't serve a non-period dish at the main feast, I always serve fish simply prepared> say boiled (e.g., sauteed) in olive oil or dredged in flour and fried. By far the biggest consideration when looking at fish as a potential course at a feast is expense but choosing whiting or cod usually a good alternative to more expensive brands such as salmon or flounder. Including shrimp or scallops also is not prohibitively expensive if they are chopped utilized in some of the extant frittour type recipes from Apicius or other period sources. It is always a big hit and I have only received 2 complaints. One was from a person who was allergic to fish. And one was from someone who wanted more when there was no more to serve. I suggested that the first person not eat the fish and invited the second to join the cooks who were picking over the left over bits and pies in the pan. :-) Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 20:14:24 -0400 From: "LHG, JRG" Subject: RE: SC - nerves If I may be so bold as to add my two pence' worth... Make your kitchen schedule and hang it on the wall/door with a pencil on a string. Cross off things that are done. If someone wanders in to volunteer unexpectedly, you can then point to the list and say "is there anything on the list you can accomplish?". If not right away, they will then know (without quizzing the very busy kitchinier--that's you) when to return to help. The added benefit is that you know where you are timewise at a glance. Aoife Subject: 1st time feastocrat seeking advice Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 14:25:05 -0500 From: allilyn@juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON) To: angelicadanion@hotmail.com CC: him@gte.net, stefan@texas.net Hi Tessa and Helen, There is a big discussion going on between the list members of the chirurgeons list and the sca-cooks list in regard to cooking safety. This is something for you two to think about. Perhaps you are experienced in the kitchen, even if not as SCA Kitchen Stewards, and if so, I apologize for taking up your time. If not, a few things to double-check: 1. Make sure you and your assistants are healthy when working on the food 2. Be paranoid about storing food cleanly, safely, and at proper temperatures, and not leaving out--cooked or uncooked--for a long time. 3. Wash hands frequently, definately between touching different foods. Keep a 10% bleach to water solution handy, for rinsing your hands, and for washing cooking surfaces. Buy the anti-bacterial dishwashing liquids rather than a bargain brand. 4. If working outdoors, keep LOTS of coolers handy, with bags of ice, or frozen, capped quart bottles in the bottom. Use something heavy--for insulation--and preferably light reflective--to throw over the coolers when closed. If serving from coolers, or for other uses, make nylon net throws, weighted with fishing lures, to put over food to keep the bugs away. Buy net in your shire colors. This stuff washes well. 5. Use different implements--spoons, knives, spatulas--for different foods. I'm really bad at this, grabbing my favorite spoon or knife and using it over and over without doing more than a quick wipe. 6. Keep garbage bags closed--they draw flies. Close and dispose often. The smaller bags can go away faster than the huge ones. We hope to have an article written by a food handler with a certificate, if one volunteers, but this will get you thinking. I know how the mind gets 'tunnel vision' on the recipies and preparing them for a feast. Allison allilyn@juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA Kingdom of Aethelmearc Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 17:23:57 EDT From: CONNECT@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Reducing feast fees and cleaning spice grinders Pardon me for jumping in, but I thought I'd share my experience at keeping feast costs down. I made a lot of phone calls, and explained to folks that I was in charge of a fundraising dinner for a non-profit organization. I contacted the wholesale produce market close to me, and arranged to get the fruits and veggies (including some edible flowers) all at wholesale rates. I talked with the best bakery in the state and got to buy huge loaves of bread at wholesale rates. I talked to a local quality butcher, and got a very good price on chicken breasts. I got wine at wholesale rates from a local chain of gourmet wine/beer store. Just for asking and filling out a form, I got a $25 certificate from a huge grocery store chain, which offset about 3/4s of the cost of the individual serving pastry shells I could only get from them. I talked to a local bulk food store, and got a really great price on the bulk almonds and dried fruits I needed. All this work meant I brought a three remove meal for 100 in under the budget of $500. Anyone can duplicate my efforts, as we all use the same Tax ID number. It just takes some forethought and a little time. Your humble servant, Rosalyn MacGregor (Pattie Rayl) Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 10:54:33 -0400 From: "Groulx, Michelle" Subject: SC - Peoples Perceptions (Was: Ending it-Ending It-OT-OOP) I like the idea that someone posted about posting the information in the event flyer ahead of time. Here are some others I have come up with. Post the ingredients at troll, the kitchen, and in a pamphlet that could be sold as a fundraiser (whole recipes for the feast--writing books is period, after all). In addition, a note could be put in the event flyer to snail mail or e-mail the cook before you even come out (or make your reservations) to find out if the feast is alright for you. And here I always thought that this was standard practise throughout the SCA. I always have scads of ingredient lists around, both at the Gate and on the tables themselves. I now (given technology) post ingredients electronically for all and sundry to view way ahead of time. While I may have the reputation of not catering too much to minority groups (ie allergies, vegans) I sure would feel rude if I didn't at least give some indication of the ingredients for people to vote with their feet or no. Micaylah Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 21:48:15 EST From: LrdRas@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - meat days and fast days - MIXED? Which brings up the subject of leftovers. DO NOT ASSUME that the clean-up crew knows what should or chouldn't be saved. And never assume they will save anything that is left. Taking a few extra minutes after the feast to point out what should be kept will save a lot of hard feelings and assure that perfectly good food is not relegated to the dumpster. Ras Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 16:09:01 EST From: Bronwynmgn@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Which books? oftraquair@hotmail.com writes: << >From the cooks I was helping this weekend I was hearing bad things about the site she has chosen. Something about a residential stove and all the burners not working. But, Katherine stepped in to assure us that the kitchen is entirely renovated and fully capable of preparing a meal to serve the 200 the hall will sit. >> Make a trip to see the kitchen. Take careful note of the numbers of burners and stoves. Don't even think about making up a menu until you know what cooking surfaces you have to work with. Make sure everything works! Also, if your group doesn't have a lot of their own cooking gear, find out ahead of time if you are allowed to use the pots/pans, etc - some sites allow this and some don't. Also make sure you can use the fridge, and how big it is. Otherwise you may find yourself in a very sticky situation at the last minute. Brangwayna Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 14:05:25 -0500 From: "Jennifer Conrad" Subject: SC - OOP WholeFoods Market As a whole, Whole Foods Market is one of my favorite places to shop for SCA related food and for everyday. (Their dried strawberries are to die for!!!) I also like that they sell their spices in bulk. For feasts, this is great. I figure out how much I need of each spice for each dish, and when I go to buy the spices, I bag them as needed for each dish & write what dish it's for on the bag. I may get strange looks at the register, but it's alot easier when putting everything together at the site. They are also the only place that I've found pheasant and quail.(Year round!) Luveday Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 01:13:51 EST From: LtSpicy@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Baked Goods Was Shopping savvy for Feasts-revisited Not too long ago I mentioned having access to a professional bakery. This could help immensely on providing fresh baked goods for a feast. I worked for the owner as his bookkeeper for a long time, and thus have a pretty good "in". But others can do the same: Typically a wholesaler bakery in a small town will only be in operation at certain times of the day, with the place "dead" at times, perfect for my Feast Head Baker. They only operate from 11pm to 9am. So I can use the facilities (50lb doughmixer, walk in fridge, 6 plate rotating oven, etc...) during the day to my hearts content. I also know of at least 3 other local bakeries that do the same, not to mention the several full time bakeries. A walk through the local phone book and calling could also get you access! Lady Kinuko Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 00:08:37 -0800 From: david friedman Subject: Re: SC - Politically correct Guide lines Some additions: Do a rehearsal, not merely of individual dishes, but of the feast--a miniature version for eight people or so. That way you get some idea of how well balanced it is, what you are planning to make too much or too little of, where some of the time crunches may be. A while after a course is served, have someone wander around the hall redistributing--taking a platter from a table where the people don't want any more and transferring it to a table where the people have eaten it all up and are asking for more. That reduces wastage, and makes your guests feel as if they are being paid attention to. If one of the cooks is at leisure at some point during the feast, preferably the head cook, have him wander around the feast hall answering questions etc. Figure out which parts of the feast can be done in advance without compromising quality Sketch out a tentative time line showing when each scarce resource is being used for what purpose--burners, ovens, large pots, whatever the things are that you might, at some point in the process, not have enough of. That is a way of spotting bottlenecks. Have a contingency plan for what you will do if substantially more people than you expect show up--an extra course of bread, fruit, cheese, for example. Locate the nearest supermarket to the event, in case of emergency needs. David/Cariadoc http://www.best.com/~ddfr/ Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 21:50:17 EST From: Aelfwyn@aol.com Subject: SC - Northern Lights Feast Thanks for those good thoughts for our feast yesterday. They made that big red thing in the kitchen turn out to be one of those recently discussed warming/holding ovens. Dinner was scheduled to be served at 6. At about 5ish the Queen herself came to apologize and tell me that things with the Pentathlon were running long and there were some awards for Court, etc. and we probably wouldn't be eating until 6:30 or so. Turned out we were not able to start serving until 8! That warming oven saved our dinner. It kept the roast chickens, pork and beef from drying out and even kept the hardier veggies hot without dryness. I'm sold and will look for one of these as a desirable component of future site kitchens. Aelfwyn Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 10:55:43 -0500From: "Gaylin Walli" Subject: SC - I have survived my first large feast10 things I learned from my first large feast. Cooked for70, fed 80....(1) Given the proper weather temperature, a '94 FordEscort GT serves as a perfectly acceptable refrigeratorfor non-meat items.(2) No matter how many you bring, you will always needmore knives, towels, serving trays, sponges, hot pads,storage bags....(3) New walking shoes are a poor choice of footwearfor 2 days worth of cooking. The old hiking boots wouldhave been a much better choice.(4) No matter how much you like or hate a recipe,other people will like or hate it more. You can'tplease everyone, but those you do please willwant the recipe.(5) Butchers do not understand numbers unless theyare listed in pounds. Order by pounds. Always. Checkyou order at the store. Then check it again.(6) Presentation of even a so-so dish can turn it intosomething spectacular. Fresh greens, herbs, and seedsprouts are your friends. I am now a believer.(7) Bring cash for last minute store trips. Employeesat food town get testy when you use a credit cardfor last minute low dollar purchases.(8) Guard your cast iron pans with your life. Kindsouls will foolishly try to WASH them. With soap.(9) A proofer can be used as a warming oven and is,in my opinion, the single greatest invention ininstitutional cooking kitchens, second only to theclosely tied large stand mixer and the industrialstrength dishwasher.(10) Bring clothes to change into after the feast.Without them you'll get caught covered in flour,ground meat in your hair, and bread pudding onyour hands and some fool will drag you up intocourt to give you an award just as you're taking along-awaited sip of some really good homemadewine that was kindly donated to the kitchen staff.It was a success. I took home two small ziploc bagsof leftovers and we only threw away one thing thatcame back from the tables. No one complained aboutbeing hungry. Can I go to sleep now? :)Jasmine Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 08:38:20 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - Kitchen Steward Panics, film at 11:00 > First. I keep getting told I'm underestimating the roast beef. I figured > about a pound and a quarter for a table of eight, REMEMBER, there's other > meat dishes. > > 1. What, in the lists estimation, is adequate to keep a riot from > happening and yet allowing us to keep the leftovers to a minimum? I tend to use a minimum of 4 oz. per person, so a minimum of 2 lbs per table of 8. If you serve the beef first, you will need more. Carnivores will pig out and everyone else seems to eat normally rather than pace themselves. I like to serve a sweet dish before the first course. The sugar helps assuage the ravenous appetite and slows the tempo of the feast. It can also buy you 10 to 20 extra minutes, if things are not going well with the first course. Bear Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 09:55:28 -0400 From: "Peters, Rise J." Subject: SC - Order of presentation Regarding the order of courses, my experience has been that if you serve the beef in the first course, you will need a little more (and/or to present it on a bed of starch, which is a good idea), but that everyone then goes into the rest of the feast feeling fairly content. You give them their beef, they eat it, and then they're happy; they are psychologically satisfied; if you serve eels or little pigeons or whatever in the third course, they don't care. Giving them the beef up front makes them feel good about the whole feast. Conversely, if you give them chicken as the first meat, then you get that "oh, not chicken again" reaction; it doesn't matter what comes afterwards, they'll remember the chicken. We've served saracen stew followed by roasted spiced chicken, and we've served roasted spiced chicken followed by saracen stew, and the first feast got better reviews than the second. Small, statistically suspect sample; YMMV. Caitlin, in Storvik Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 10:03:38 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - Kitchen Steward Panics, film at 11:00 > >>I like to serve a sweet dish before the first course. The sugar helps > assuage the ravenous appetite and slows the tempo of the feast. It can > also buy you 10 to 20 extra minutes, if things are not going well with > the first course.<< > > I doubt that you mean a dessert type item here; could you give us some > examples? I like the idea. Actually, the items might be considered desserts in a modern context. I have started feasts with fruit filled brioche, an apple tart, honey sweetened apple cake and currant cakes. I also try to have a loaf of bread and butter on the table before the first course comes out. In the future, I'm considering using panforte, wardens in syrup, or fruit filled krapfen (the modern version is the Berliner). The dishes are all items which can be prepared in advance, keep well, and can be served cold. > I've got a couple of 2 course dinners in the planning stage, unusually, > which throws off my thinking. It interests me to see the various > reactions here as to the roast placement. > > Allison With the Ansteorran carnivores, I think placing the beef later in the meal works better. However, one places the dishes where one must for the the proper artistic effect. Bear Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 11:04:25 EDT From: CONNECT@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - after feast thank yous In a message dated 4/12/99 11:32:14 PM, memorman@oldcolo.com writes: << > The thank-you cards our mothers > made us write are still nice. > > Lord Frederich Holstein der Tollhase You are absolutely right! I try (although sadly I don't manage it every time) to send out notes to everyone who works in the kitchen with me. A little appreciation goes a long way towards motivation. Elaina >> I make up small gifts to hand out to people who help me. For the last event I did, I made up red and white chocolate suckers in the shape of an elephant (our baronial badge and colors). These went over very well. :) Yours, Rosalyn MacGregor (Pattie Rayl) Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 22:15:35 -0400 From: renfrow@skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow) Subject: Re: SC - First Feast > I am doing my first feast with-in a month. The hall will hold 100, >but my shire advisers said to plan for 48. I am making meat pies and >dumplings ahead and freezing them. But my real concern is what do I do if >the morning of the event 50 more people decide to stay for feast. Do I run >to the store and buy all the food over again and make every thing again. >This point is making me real nervous. I will welcome any of your suggestions >or horror stories (only if they have HAPPY ENDINGS) > >Anna OftderTurm Hello! I agree with Adamantius. Offer a limited menu to the late-comers. Cut off the sign-up for the feast several hours ahead of time, giving yourself enough time to send someone to the store, if necessary (but sending someone to the store can be a disaster for your budget if you're not careful) . Some things, such as soups & salads, can be expanded easily. I'd forget about making dumplings, or other labor-intensive dishes. Someone mentioned ready-made pie crusts. These can be good, if they're not too expensive, for last-minute custard or quiche pies. It's a good idea to keep on hand ingredients that will keep for a long time if they wind up not being needed, such as eggs, rice, dry beans, root veggies, etc. Malasade is basically scrambled eggs on toast, & is a good easy last-minute dish. Gelyne (hen) in broth is also easy & inexpensive, & will stretch pretty far if you make it with rice instead of breadcrumbs. Flavored rice, Browne fryes (dark bread dipped in egg batter & fried), and Pokerounce (spiced honey on bread, topped with pine nuts) are all quick & easy. Something I like to do is prepare chardwardon (wine & pear sauce) or apple moyle (applesauce) far ahead of time & can it. That way I only open what I need. There's a recipe around here somewhere for dry balls of mustard, that can be mixed with vinegar? when needed. Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu renfrow@skylands.net Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 11:05:29 -0400 From: "Peters, Rise J." Subject: RE: SC - Words of wisdom Luveday asked: > In July, my husband and I are giving a class dealing with being a Kitchen > Steward for the first time. What I would like to know from you good folks > is what information/ tips/ hints/ etc., would you have liked to known before > doing your first feast? (1) Be good to your feet. If your feet aren't happy, your day will go poorly. (2) Allow more time for prep (chopping, etc.) than you think you will need, by about 25%. If you have time left over, take a rest and eat something. (3) Snacks are your friend. (4) A happy kitchen full of friends produces better food. (5) A small 2-burner coleman camping stove should always be in reserve against that moment when you need just one more heat source. A coleman stove works as well in a fancy kitchen, sitting on the counter, as it does in a campsite on a picnic table. (6) Someone other than you should do the bulk of the heavy cleanup. Insist on it. Be prepared to stay around and give direction, but if you are in dishwater at 11 p.m., there's something wrong. (7) There is no such thing as too many serving bowls. Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 14:16:54 -0400 From: Wade Hutchison Subject: Re: SC - Words of wisdom There are some pratical cooking tips that may not yet have been mentioned: Increase roasting/baking time for full ovens vs. home oven with a single dish at a time. Explain how fast a large pot of starchy material will scorch on a gas stove! Extra time to bring large quantities of water to boiling. Bring adequate cooking tools if you're not sure the site has them - some scout camps that we cook at only have liquid measures in 1 qt. plus sizes, so having smaller measuring cups and spoons may be helpful. Also some smaller pots for intermediate ingredient cooking. I guess this could be summed up by saying you should know what's available in the kitchen - and be prepared to bring anything else you need. Check and see if your shire or group has a 'kitchen kit' with cleanup and cooking supplies that would be available. Line up adequate helpers before the event. Drop in helpers will speed things up, but you shouldn't count on them! -----Gille MacDhnouill Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 14:48:06 EDT From: Varju@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Words of wisdom A few tips I can offer: Make your first course, or even first two, foods that are served cold or can be kept warm with little effort. This makes it much easier if court runs late or there is a major crisis because you have one less course to worry about. Always bring extra paper towels, dish detergent, trash bags, oven mitts, hot pads, dishcloths and dish towels. There never seem to be enough of these when you need them. Try to keep a bit of money on hand to run out to the store if you find you've forgotten something. Also have a volunteer to do these sort of errands for you so you don't leave the kitchen. If possible pack all of the pots, pans, mixing bowls, spoons, extra clean up items etc the night before so you don't have to worry about them the day of the feast. Check around to find out if there is a place that sells bulk herbs and spices. This can save you money and they are usually willing to order anything you may need. Noemi Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 11:29:18 -0500 From: LYN M PARKINSON Subject: Re: SC - accommodating at feasts 2 suggestions. 1--take a pencil to the feast. If there are changes, pencil it in or hand the pencil to a helper and say "Put 'dandelion' beside the salad ingredients" 2--write 'purchased pre-made ingredients' beside a dish that has them. A recent cook did not know of an ingredient that is generally labeled 'natural flavor' in an item she used. Bouillion cubes sometimes have a mushroom base, or nuts, or spices that aren't listed. If you tell us it's got a purchased ingredient, chances are good we know about its safety or lack. Then we eat it or we don't. Allison allilyn@juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA Kingdom of Aethelmearc Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 17:22:47 -0600 From: "Brian L. Rygg or Laura Barbee-Rygg" Subject: Re: SC - Words of wisdom Other bits that also come to mind are: 1. Take your microwave (mine is also convection) 2. Wash all serving dishes the night before 3. Bleach 4. Dish towels 5. Put your name on the bottom of personal pots and dishes 6. Hire (eat free) head dish person 7. Make sure you have all your medicine (have chronic illness and can be a real b***h when hurting) 8. Eat and drink plenty of fluids (I always need reminding when cooking) 9. Have a head server to organize the servers 10. Have the honey and other butters made ahead of time (dished up ahead of time is nice too) See attached handout for Feastocrats that I did up a few years ago. Raoghnailt Marie BÈatrix de la Barbe (Laura E. Barbee-Rygg) rygbee@montana.com Guidelines for Feastocrats 1. Remember that you are working FOR the Autocrat. Coordinate with him/her on menu, feast fee, approximate number of people to be expected (based on past experience plus a "fudge" factor), what kind of kitchen facilities are expected, and this type of information. 2. Some advice on how to set a budget: Calculate the number of expected diners and multiply by the feast fee -- 50 people X $5 =3D $250 (try not to go over $225, just in case). Don't forget that having Royalty show up at your feast will increase the numbers by 15 to 40 people, depending on the time of year and whatever else is going on. 3. How to set a feast fee: A feast is NOT a money-making proposition. You want to come out about even, giving fair value for the money paid. It is cheaper to cook for larger groups than for smaller ones -- a feast for 50 can cost as much as one for 75. Figure out what you would pay for a meal in a restaurant (not McDonald's), and use that as a basis. Or you could decide ahead of time that you want to serve a special meat or type of feast and go from there -- figure what the costs are going to be and from that, set your feast fee. The Autocrat might plan to balance a high site fee by setting a low feast fee -- make sure you're consulted, and that the fee will be enough to cover the necessary expenses. 4. Pick an Assistant Feastocrat. Line up servers as needed. Let the Autocrat know that you expect a cleanup crew. Let's be realistic -- after all day in the kitchen, you don't need to be in there. 5. Check out the kitchen facilities ahead of time -- you don't want or need any surprises the day of the event. Find out what dishes and cookware you can use, if any, and if necessary bring your own (or borrow what you need). You need plenty of serving platters, bowls, and serving utensils. If the kitchen is in a different location than the Feast Hall, coordinate with the Autocrat about HOW the food is to be transported (don't laugh, this happened to me). 6. Be realistic in the amounts of food to be prepared. Allow 1/2 to 3/4 pounds (8-12 oz.) total of PROTEIN per person -- meat (minus bones), eggs, cheese -- and don't count any meat in the soup unless it is a meat-rich stew. Figure 1/2 serving of a vegetable -- approx. 1/4 cup per person (the people who don't want any will more than cover the few who want more). "Fish is a vegetable." Soup will stretch a meal. Don't go overboard on the sweets. Sauce amounts AREN'T generally multiplied by the number of times you are making the recipe (a little goes a long way). 7. Choosing a menu doesn't have to be hard. Talk to experienced feastocrats, look at ethnic or period cookbooks, and talk with your local Cooks' Guild (if you are fortunate enough to have one). TRY your recipes ahead of time (Cooks' Guild is a good place to do this). 8. Use in-season produce and meats to cut costs: Winter squash in the fall, turkeys & geese in the fall, ham in the spring (around Easter), fresh fruit in the summer and fall. Try to get your hunters to donate venison, elk, or whatever else they've got for a period and FREE main dish -- it can really cut costs. [You can ask the Shire to sponsor a deer tag and have a Shire member go out and get a deer for a feast.] This is also a good way to include fish in a menu -- have your local fisherman clean out his freezer. If you have a Shire baker, ask her/him if they would bake the bread -- nothing eats up a budget faster than buying bread (I've baked bread for 100, and it didn't take that much time). 9. Set your menu to feed a set number and stick to it -- nothing is worse than not having enough food -- and make sure the troll knows the cut-off. If you can be more flexible, it is recommended to add dishes, rather than increasing the amount of foods you are already preparing. 10. Shop the sales for a month ahead of the feast, if you have storage room. Check with your local meat markets about a deal on quantities of meat -- don't forget that we are a non-profit group and many businesses will give a discount. Use foil pans for messy meats that can just be thrown away to save time and energy. We have a Shire pantry to keep the leftover flour, sugar, spices, coffee, etc. from each feast -- make sure that you get the list from me (or whoever has it) and don't buy needless duplicates. 11. Prepare as much of the food ahead of time as possible, space permitting. Use any available refrigerator and freezer space Shire members can spare. Slice cooked meats ready to reheat and serve (beef and ham). 11. Start by being an Assistant Feastocrat FIRST. I highly recommend that your first feast is NOT your Shire's premier event unless you have mundane experience in catering or cooking for large groups. Start with a smaller event and work up from there. A SAMPLE MENU (for 40-50) FIRST REMOVE bread with butters (honeyed and/or herbed) soup 1st meat vegetable sweet SECOND REMOVE 2nd meat starch (noodles, rice) vegetable sweet Added dishes for larger numbers should include additional meats, cheese, a vegetarian dish, fresh fruit, another dessert, and don't forget those wonderful (but usually time-consuming) sotiltes (subtleties). In Service to the Shire and the Dream, Lady Raoghnailt Marie Beatrix de la Barbe Sources: The Known World Handbook, 20th-year ed. Mistress Maire NiNuanain, OL, lecture and class notes from the Universitas Atenveldtus A.S. XXVIII (1993). and my own experiences as Feastocrat cooking from 40 to 100. Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 08:30:56 PDT From: "Bonne of Traquair" Subject: Re: SC - Words of wisdom >what information/ tips/ hints/ etc., would you have liked to known before >doing your first feast? > >Luveday Make sure that you define your job. The very first weekend after you've asked/been volunteered, sit down and make a list of everthing you think is going to need to be done or purchased. Form an opinion as to whether you think each task is more easily doable by yourself, or more easily included with similar autocrat tasks, or whether you or the autocrat need to assign the task. Then discuss it with your autocrat. THEN start planning your feast. Bonne Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 18:10:49 GMT From: "Bonne of Traquair" Subject: Re: SC - Feast Stories from 11th Night Investiture (LONG) >One thing that really worked well for me was the notebook. Oh, yes. You gotta have a notebook! My paperwork on the feast moved from a spot in my daily notebook calendar thing, to it's own full-sized binder months before hand. The idea was that my deputy could take the book and take over if need be. She had copies of the original recipes, but not all my notes and expansions and lists and spreadsheets. I happened to have the kind of binder that let's you slip something into it to make a decorated cover. That's where the event-flyer went so I'd also have that info on hand if needed. The only thing I had that you didn't mention was nifty, glare-free page covers to keep spills off the recipes being used in the kitchen, important as our ink-jet ink is not waterproof!!! Bonne Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 12:24:05 -0800 From: "James F. Johnson" Subject: Re: SC - Feast Stories from 11th Night Investiture (LONG) Bonne of Traquair wrote: > The only thing I had that you didn't mention was nifty, glare-free page > covers to keep spills off the recipes being used in the kitchen, important > as our ink-jet ink is not waterproof!!! I had the covers at the site, I just never used them. I didn't cook from the notebook, but from one set of recipes taped to the wall. The were fine that way, as I never really touched them, and they never fell, it just allowed me to scan them really quickly. The covers I had were the glossy kind, as my original plan was to cover them before taping them up (but I started off a little late....), and use a dry erase pen to check off various steps in each recipe. In that specific regard (writing on with a dry erase marker), the glossy covers do better, as they lack that pebbly surface that discourages wiping the marker medium off. And the glossies are easier to wipe and clean from most spills. The just catch light glare really well. Fortunately, my printers are laser types, but I have access to a colour jet if I want. Seumas Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 10:04:03 EST From: LrdRas@aol.com Subject: SC - Education-Public Consumption key In a message dated 2/27/00 3:33:37 AM Eastern Standard Time, seumas@mind.net writes: << The performers are not waiting for the occasional curious person to take a chance and come to the concert hall or theater, and pay for the experience as well. They are going out on a mission of conversion. That is what I advocate. Seumas >> In this, my friend, we have reached common ground. I really don't know how to achieve this conversion other than by example. Local feasts in this area are more often than not sold out weeks in advance and I can't think of a feast in the last 3 years that still had onboard space available at the door. Our shire (and several surrounding shires) limit onboard space to 80, 100, 125 or rarely 150 gentles. Ample room is provided when possible for off board people to sit as close to the action as is possible either in the same room or in and adjoining area. We have several cooks jockeying for the position of Kitchen Steward so finding a person to be in charge is not an issue. The various local kitchen stewards have varying techniques for planning and presenting the feast (which always contains period dishes with a few notable exceptions). For instance I tend to include at least one major dish that is either entertaining or unusual, a major meat in each course and fill in dishes of vegetable, grain and fruit concoctions. No pre-feast experimentation is carried out other than determining what quantities of what ingredients should be purchased. I tend to work directly from the period recipes (rather English translations) and permanent redactions are written down after the fact based on actual preparation. Both the feasters and myself taste the dishes for the first time in several hundred years when it is served. Master Gille uses a combination of recipes previously redacted by others with an occasional personal redaction. He tends not to use salt and pepper for reasons that are vague to me. He pretests most of the recipes. THL Thorstein uses all period dishes from 'famous' works and fills in with a few 'traditional/ethnic' tidbits that may or may not be period. He tests all recipes before the actual feast date. Feasts are usually 3 courses with each course consisting of 3 to 5 dishes. These courses are served after the initial service of loaves of bread, cheeses, fresh fruit and/or vegetables and some sort of a broth/soup dish. Each table of 8 is required to choose one person from the table to act as server. Each dish is served family style with the main dish sometimes being paraded through the hall and presented for approval at High Table. Special dishes that do not appear on the tables of the attending nobles are always served to high table. The ingredients for these special dishes are paid for by the Kitchen Steward or from private donations. The Kitchen Steward has total control over the content of the menu after being informed of the event's theme by the Autocrat. Menu structure seldom deviates from the theme. For instance, a recent event theme was Lady's Champions Tourney. Since the pageantry of Burgundian tournaments came to mind, the theme was middle eastern and this was a fun and laid back event, I chose to present a period middle eastern feast as it might have been done in a barbarian court. For Schola I presented a French Repast. Will's Revenge feasts are often taken from Forme of Curye. Rarely are late period recipes used by any of the local Kitchen Stewards. For demos, St. Matha's Guild actually sets up a period cooking site with fire pit and the other outdoor things associated with a military field kitchen. This set up is rather small and portable and features a boiling dish of something, a spitted creature of some sort, a table with samples of period spices, vegetables and fruits, period cookbooks, charts, illuminations, agricultural tools, etc. Period gingerbread and sometimes pasties of rabbit or spinach and cheese are offered as tasting incentives. Recently, we were invited to set up a display of medieval artifacts and reproductions in a room at a local museum. Part of this display included a cooking section. Cooking displays are a common part of the numerous school demos we conduct each year throughout both the Lewisburg and Williamsport school districts. Seumus is correct. Education is the key. Making period cookery a high profile item at events and demos is part of that education. Taking advantage of every opportunity to focus people's minds and senses on period cookery is the key. Uncompromising dedication to the study and presentation of period cookery is the way. al-Sayyid Ras al-Zib, AoA, OSyc, OKey Guildmaster of St. Martha's Guild Apprentice of Master Huen Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 11:39:12 +1100 From: Lorix Subject: Re: SC - was mushroom allergies & food hygene rant When I am cooking, I am very careful about the perils of cross-contamination particularly when I am cooking for others. I make sure that all utensils are washed between the preparation of each dish so that I can assure my feasters that each course has only the ingredients that I have cooked in it. On a related note, food hygiene is something that many people don't seem to think about. It is amazing how many people will come into a kitchen and offer to help & don't wash their hands before wanting to start helping . . . it's got to a sort of joke status when I am cooking now because there is a chorus from all in the kitchen when someone walks in to "wash their hands". Food hygiene is my pet obsession (particularly when cooking for others) and to combat the problems with some volunteers' personal hygiene, there is a general rule that _anyone_ whose hands are going to be in the food must wear the plastic disposable gloves provided. In 99.9% my fears are probably groundless, but I prefer to take precautions to avoid that 0.01% ;-) I vividly remember one feast I attended several years ago as a wayfarer. As is my won't I wandered down to the kitchen to offer my assistance & after one horrified look inside abstained from eating most of the feast. That was just prior to the first course when I saw the state of the kitchen, I didn't truly realise how bad it was till later when I had the 'pleasure' of cleaning the same kitchen, (it was the practice in that group that if you cooked, you didn't clean). This kitchen had a lovely large stainless steel bench that ran right down the middle of the kitchen for food preparation. It had various cupboards & benches all around the sides of the kitchen, 2 big steel washing sinks, an industrial dishwasher & an insinkerator. From my point of view it was a dream kitchen to work in (I didn't mentioned the industrial oven ;-) Preparation for the feast had obviously commenced at one end of the preparation bench & continued down the bench with each new course, judging from the food debris. There was vegetable peelings (and other 'waste' food parts) in little piles all along the bench & piled all over the floor. In certain sections of the kitchen people appeared to have seated themselves to prepare the food & let the food peelings fall onto the floor rather than the bins available (and I mean mounds of slippery peelings just waiting to be stepped on). Every conceivable space was stacked with dirty serving platters or food preparation utensils. It was obvious that stuff had dripped off the discarded platters onto the benches & that rather than cleaning the surfaces, food had been chopped in amongst the mess. At the end of the feast, I had succumbed to the succulent strawberries served hulled with bowls of cream. When I saw the kitchen, I truly wished I hadn't. Legs of lamb had been served as the meat, but appeared to have been frozen when they went into the oven, because whilst burnt on the outside, they where uncooked past 2cm in the meat & hard/cold against the bone. There had obviously been attempts made to carve some of the roasts at one end of the metal serving bench (before they were simply sent out uncarved & uncooked). Because the floor was slightly slanted, so was the bench. The meat had been cut directly onto the bench & blood had pooled & run down the center of the bench to the other end & the dripped off onto the floor. What was extremely distressing was that the strawberries had obviously (the debris was there & so was the cut marks on the bench & in the dried blood) been hulled in amongst the blood. I mention this only insofar as it is not enough that we consider food allergies, but we also need to consider food hygiene, cross-contamination issues, length of time food is left refrigerated, dangers of re-heating food & not heating it enough to kill bacteria, etc. Food poisoning might have been period, but we _really_ don't want to recreate it in the current middle ages. Lorix Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 02:13:12 -0500 From: Christine A Seelye-King Subject: SC - Not Killing yourself in the Kitchen >Among the cook-ly types I hang with, we have a little tradition. >When one of us is the Kitchener for an event, the rest of us are >Dobermans. The one who's on the line for the event is physically removed >(and with some of our over-achievers, physically can mean picked up and carried >out) from the kitchen for at least one half-hour at mid-day and taken someplace >quiet where they can have a real lunch served to them. This has been >extremely helpful to all of us, since cooks have a tendency to forget >about themselves when they're hard at it in the kitchen. > > Wolfmom My late husband (Master Knikolos, who was originally from Trimaris, one of Taly's proteges, btw) got me started bringing a prepared lunch when I was cooking. The first time he walked in with a Subway sandwich, I said "But we have all of this food here!" to which he replied "And how much of it is ready to eat right now?". He was right, and having something in the fridge to eat for lunch is now part of my routine, or part of the pre-planning I teach to my students. You are so right, it is easy to forget to care for yourself when you are in the process of preparing a feast (or autocratting, or any other large task). Christianna Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 18:16:40 EST From: allilyn@juno.com Subject: Re: SC - Feast Fixin's >> Another, similar concept is to portion out things like butter and cold sauces/condiments into the small bowls or cups they will be served in, and put them on trays in the cooler early in the day. Space won't always permit that, of course, but it works nicely when you have the room.............>> More coolers for your little dishes, if you can do before. Save washed cans all the same size. Set in cooler bottom, scatter ice around but not up to the top of the cans. Set trays on the cans, above the ice. If cooler is deep enough, put more cans and more trays built up in layers. Regards, Allison, allilyn@juno.com Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 22:10:10 EDT From: RichSCA@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Open/Closed Kitchens WAS: Feast planning/Administration I do not think I am operating on the same definition of an open/closed kitchen as everyone else. But for me this is usual :-) I love to work in kitchens. This is how I met "my" Peer, years ago. Sometimes when I arrive at an event I stop by the kitchen to ask if they need any help. I have been told (nicely) "No, thank you. We have our own kitchen staff". It has been explained to me that many times households, groups and others are "in charge" of preparing the feast and they have assigned all the tasks to their group members and need no "drop-in assistance". For me this would be a "closed" kitchen. Now if I drop by your kitchen to see if you need any help and you give me a pile of onions and a knife then (to me) this is an "open" kitchen. Open for anyone willing to help to help. I find that many people WANT to help at events. There is a friendliness in the kitchen. For this reason when I cook a feast I try to make sure that I have "something" for someone to do if they ask to help. Someone can watch a pot to make sure it doesn't boil over or to run to the pantry and fetch things if there is not actual cooking assistance I require. Now I do take care to not have the kitchen so filled with people that no one can move and also try to limit the amount of non-working visitors in the area. I am VERY conscious of food health and safety and strive to make sure that my kitchen staff will insure "safely" prepared food. I always welcome a "non-busy" Chirurgeon (with first aid kit) to "man" the kitchen and keep us company. Rayne Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 13:35:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Morgan Cain Subject: Subject: Re: SC - Open/Closed Kitchens As one of the many who started in the SCA by chopping things (explaining my original heraldry of a leek and a knife, crossed), and moved on as head cook for over a dozen feasts and helping at countless others, I have mixed views of open kitchens. I do, however, totally oppose CLOSED kitchens because that discourages people from helping! I have made a lot of neat friends, and whiled away many otherwise-boring hours, by wandering into a kitchen and offering to help. I might get the chop-veggies job, and I might get to arrange things for High Table or roll pastry, and it might be anything in between. With an open kitchen, I generally have some rules and require others to abide by them: 1) In the kitchen, you are WORKING! No standing around idly talking -- that's why we have so much space in the hall. (Of course, I would make an exception for a person who wants to hide in a quiet corner for a short time, if they asked and we could afford it. Within an hour before service, not likely.) I have thrown out of the kitchen someone who volunteered to help, and then spent the time walking in a circle nattering inanely. Several attempts to get the person to either (a) work or (b) SHUT UP were unavailing, so out he went -- bodily! 2) People MUST adhere to rules of hygeine. Long hair MUST be tied up or under a cap; flowing garments must be restrained. Washing of hands mandatory, and if you fool with your face or hair, wash again. (The occasional nose rub with back of hand may not be an issue for a chopper or stirrer, is for dough worker.) Sick people not wanted, especially if sneezy or sniffly (but if it's an allergy and you wash hands after blowing, you're allowed; I make judgment calls, and have allergies). I'll try to bring a squirt bottle of soap, or bars (this is a great time to use superfatted and "beauty bars" as hands get a lot of washing and every extra emollient helps), and rolls of paper towelling SPECIFICALLY for hand-washing needs. 3) Surfaces are to be washed as frequently as needed, or after every step in the process, whichever comes first. Not only is this good hygeine, it speeds up the cleanup later. This is also MANDATORY for sticky-sweet and floury items, as they can cause grief later if not cleaned up promptly (chisling off hardened flour-glue or sugar residue is tedious, and more so at 10:00pm). 4) I bring washing-up gear, to be sure that proper supplies are in place, unless I have cased the location beforehand and been assured about the supplies. Having a couple backups never hurts; I run them on a separate receipt and keep if not needed. These include bleach-containing and antiseptic products for washing counters. Bleach solution is a must for cutting boards and countertops after meat was prepared on them, unless, at least for the former, you can put them into a sanitizer. 5) I try to have things for people to do at various levels, and ask them to understand and come back later if the only items going are high-experience ones, with chopping to occur later. I don't mind if someone told to, for example, stir the apply moyse for forty minutes, asks questions about feast planning and the other things going on while they work. I am also fairly broad-minded about skill levels, and don't assume the aged person can cook expertly any more than I assume a preteen is there just to please the parents by getting out from under their feet. I do check for skill levels and may adjust for ability to reach the countertops or top of the soupkettle. 6) EAT. I insist that the cooks and feast preparers EAT and DRINK as required. This might be on the run, it might be the "failed" tarte that browned unevenly or a spread of bread and cheese and fruit, but I have things set aside specifically for the kitchen crew. There is no excuse for someone not eating all day just because they are cooking! Now, if someone decides to cook because they have food problems and also refuse the munchies, and never told me about their problems, they had better bring some food of their own. I try to provide a very general assortment of things for the cooking crew, and also items that don't require you to sit down and eat but can be handled with one hand while stirring with the other. I also make it a policy to serve the servers DURING the meal, not one of those simple pre-feast meals some people use. I am rarely hungry at 5:00pm when people insist upon serving this, and usually still busy with some other chore about the site. So I miss supper and then am forbidden to eat during feast! With proper planning, the feast service allows time for the servers to eat the same food as all others have. I do try to forbid them from sitting at main tables because that makes it harder to collect them for the next course, but try to have tables near the kitchen door for them to use. YMMV, of course. ---= Morgan Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 18:10:31 EDT From: ChannonM@aol.com Subject: SC - Re: Open/Closed Kitchens-Rewards I have always tried to make my kitchen an inviting place. I ensure that I have music and a copy of my recipes as a special hand out to the staff who help. I ensure that everyone takes breaks regularly and when I notice someone not eating, I buy their lunch. In addition, when I am called out to be thanked during the feast, I in turn call up everyone who helped from those who spent the day to those who carved radishes for garnish, to the servers and give them a token of my appreciation. One year I gave out flowers, another a pewter salt spoon, this year I burned in a Celtic Cross on the back of wooden spoons (30 of them) My fear is always that I won't have enough to hand out. I have people who travel to assist in my kitchen from as far away as New York (Baron Sean and Lady Illya) and Northern Michigan. I don't think it's because I give them things though, I think they have a good time and feel welcomed and appreciated. That's what I want anyone who works in my kitchen to take home with them, the warm fuzzy's :) Hauviette Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 18:30:21 -0700 From: "James F. Johnson" Subject: SC - Staff rewards RichSCA@aol.com wrote: > What I would like to know is how does the various cooks on this List "reward" > their assistant chefs, stewarts and servers. Or do they? (for this change > of topic - please change the SUBJECT LINE to include the word "rewards" or > something along that line. Thanks. For my last feast, I supplied chocolate (post period be d**ned! It was in the kitchen, not the hall) and later gave each person (most not being ardent cooks themselves) a choice of powdre forte or powdre douce in small handblown glass bottles. Mistress Alys the Dish Goddess got one of each. My hall steward got saffron, she being highly fond of similar colours and someone who would use it. Seumas Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 11:42:53 +1000 From: Black Jade Subject: Re: SC - Staff rewards >> What I would like to know is how does the various cooks on this List >>"reward" >> their assistant chefs, stewarts and servers. Or do they? (for this change >> of topic - please change the SUBJECT LINE to include the word "rewards" or >> something along that line. Thanks. For Coronet in September 1996 I provided a 5kg box of reject chocolate for the Stewarding Team. I wasn't actually a part of it, but a lot of my friends were, up to and including my husband (then boyfriend) who was Baronial Reeve at the time. It was used for everything, from first aid situations to soothing frayed tempers A papercut or slipped knife doesn't look half as bad when you get chocolate for your pain, and it's a lot harder to shout when you have some chocolate in your mouth. It was the best spent $25 in my entire life. While the various people still had their nervous breakdowns, at least it was done quietly without any really audible screaming. Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 20:31:02 -0600 From: "Karen O" Subject: Re: SC - Open/Closed Kitchens & rewards For helping, the married set that stayed with me all day, I gave a bottle (5th) of my home brewed Hazelnut Liquer. The Head Server, who is very new & this was her 1st major event, was given a bottle of peach chardonnay I had brought to "share" with my staff. My very lovely & efficient assistant cook, I gave a jar of homemade chokecherry syrup & a 6pack of beer I had also brought to share. I have in mind another something for her. I have to think about a special something for the fellow who came in and started working & stayed til every dish was washed. I hardly know him, and haven't an idea what would please him. On the otherhand, I have been generously thanked in Court by Head Cooks -- when I thought my work was miniscule. Time to think about the review for last Saturday's Feast Caointiarn Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 22:55:01 -0700 From: Anne-Marie Rousseau Subject: Re: SC - thank you tokens. hey all from Anne-Marie maybe I'm old fashioned, but I find a heart felt thankyou to each person means more than any token or gizmo. I try really hard to make a point of going about the kitchen, throughout the day, and making sure each person knows that their efforts are appreciated by me. Courts here run in the multiple hours. People are bored and tired and want to go dance/drink/eat/fight/go home. The populace is not amused by the kitchen head running the jillions of helpful staff through to thank them individually, and I find that I ALWAYS miss someone, and then we all feel bad. different people need different levels of strokes, but I find that a sincere expression of gratitude, from me, to them, seems to go a long way... - --AM Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 09:22:26 EDT From: DeeWolff@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Staff rewards What a great idea! I usually provide chocolate and one year everyone got Raspberry jelly I had made. I also gave out spoons at another one, but I was stumped at something different. Thanks for the spices idea!!! Andrea Ostgardr Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 11:51:45 EDT From: DianaFiona@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - thank you tokens. acrouss@gte.net writes: << different people need different levels of strokes, but I find that a sincere expression of gratitude, from me, to them, seems to go a long way... >> True--I still like the idea of doing tokens, at least for those who helped in a major way, though. But a slight twist that I've done, and have seen done, is to write thank-you notes to the main crew after the event is over. Most of the time these are local people, or good friends from out-of-town, so you generally have their names/address available. Mind you, I *hate* to hand write notes, as my spelling is, ummmmm, very "period" ;-), and my handwriting is pretty bad to boot. But it *is* effective--when I've been on the receiving end I've had the warm fuzzies all day afterwards.............. :-) Ldy Diana Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 20:37:53 EDT From: LrdRas@aol.com Subject: Re: SC - thank you tokens. acrouss@gte.net writes: << different people need different levels of strokes, but I find that a sincere expression of gratitude, from me, to them, seems to go a long way... >> True...but just to be 'nice' at Schola I passed out a pot stick to each of the main participants during the day as the 'mood' hit me. The sticks have practical value in the kitchen and a nice momento to take home or add to your cook's gear. At the Crown Tourney that I helped out at, Adamantius gave each main player a very long handled wooded spoon. I still use it at every feast I do and it always brings fond memories. Other 'token's could be scented soap, herb plants, wooden spoons of any size are always great, a small favor to worn on the belt I am currently eying the leg bones of the roc who feedeth her young with elephants as a possible source for token material, the possibilities are endless and need not be expensive. Ras Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 09:25:28 -0700 From: Anne-Marie Rousseau Subject: Re: SC - Re: SC Kitchen Crew management hiya all from Anne-Marie last night was our annual Baronial Banquet. For the first time I got to be on the Hall Steward side (taking lessons from our 20+ veteran hall steward). wow! what a rush!!! what we have found works in the Madrone Culinary Guild: 1. preplan what dishes and pots and pans and stuff you'll need throughout the cooking and serving. If you KNOW that you'll be needing that pot for the paste en pot AND for the colliflowers in Egg sauce, make sure to tell the people using them that they'll need to be used again. Mark it on the recipe sheet. 2. Each recipe has its own sheet that is taped to the wall. A person comes in and if they decide to do a recipe, they take it to their area where they'll be. On that sheet is the expanded recipe with amounts, instructions, what to use to cook in, what to cook on (stove? which one?), and who the "expert" is for the final taste ok, questions, etc. 3. We also have a kitchen schedule on the wall. I do mine in an BIG excel spreadsheet. Map out what dishes go into the oven or onto burners when. Mark out time to clean the kitchen (I give us an hour before we even start cooking to disinfect counters, rinse pots that have been in storage, etc). Each dish is its own line item. Be sure you've included time to peel all those carrots, slice lemons, etc. Be sure you've included PLENTY Of time to bring water to boil (figure at least an hour for a big pot, more if you're only got little wimpy coleman stoves. And dont forget that when you put that 20 lbs of colliflower in, you'll need MORE time to bring BACK to a boil...) Put on the schedule the job of washing that large skillet that you'll need again, and the job of washing the serving trays as they come back if you need to reuse them (its a VERY happy thing if you dont need to do this last...the push of getting those last minute dishes out will take all the hands you can use!) as people come in the kitchen, tell them to wash their hands and look at the kitchen schedule. If they're enthusiastic but not pariticularily skilled, they can see that there's parsley to chop, or greens to wash, etc, and take those on easily. If they know how to make a good emulsion sauce, you can put them on those tricky egg sauces. Have them Cross the task off the list (with the pencil you have taped to the wall with the schedule) when its done, and put their initials by the dish they've taken on, so folks know who to ask about it. 4. Make sure you have enough bodies for dishing up. The culinary guild here prides itself on excellent period food, served HOT. Time things carefully, and at the push to get the dishes out, make sure you have enough bodies. Lay out the 18 plates on one table, and dish up. Have your garnish already prepped so you can just toss on the calendula petals, or parsley, or lemon zest or whatever onto each plate. when the plates are ALL done, have your servers take them away! 5. This is important, and the import was stressed last night becuase we didnt get to do this (and it made us lose our minds!) Know EXACTLY how many tables yuou got, and how many people per table BEFORE the banuqet starts. That is going to tell you how many serving dishes you'll need, and how much food goes on each serving dish. Figure out what is going to be served on what, and what spoons are going with which bowls BEFORE you need to dish up.We did it at noon, for example, for a 7pm serve time. Make stacks, counting out carefully. Make a list and tape it to the wall at the dishup station so the hall steward can tell at a glance which dish goes into what serving containers, and which spoons/etc goes with which (ie which is goopy and needs bowls and ladles, what can go in basket6s, what can go on plates. Think about colors too....dont put that brown stew in a brown bowl if you can avoid it). 6. MOst importantly, the head cook CANNOT be the hall steward. She'll be too busy fixing disasters, putting the final touch on the food, and tasting everything for final quality control that she wont be able to handle server questions and the dishing up, much less garnish. Ideally, you have one person as hall steward, and a crew of about three or four (with at least two people who know what's going on) for dishing up etc, and if you can have a couple for Team Garnish, that's wonderful. 7. Try to line up dishwashers ahead of tiem. Get some for during the day (we find that a crew of two or so suffices) as well as after the banquet (that's when you need lots more!). Make sure they know that they'll be doing dishes, and that you appreicate them very very very much! its a grubby job, but some people really get into it. We had a Countess Pelican/Laurel, a double peer from about 1500 miles away, the sargentry and handful of enthusastic recruits pitch in at the last and it made a