SC - Request

[Greg Lindahl]

Sharon L. Harrett wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Melissa Martines wrote:
> >
> >      The Laurels DO encourage people to present whatever ONE dish they are
> >      entering in as period a fashion as possible, but the lavish spread
> >      actually irritates several of the Laurels I know who judge cooking on
> >      a regular basis.
> >
> >      What are the norms in some of the other kingdoms?  Is Meridies the
> >      only one that discourages the meal entry?
> >
> >      lady Morgan MacBride

> Lady Morgan,
> 
>         No, Meridies isn't the only one. Here in Trimaris, the entry rules
> specify one dish only. Our A&S competitions have been shrinking due mostly
> to misconceptions and officer changes, and the Food Preparation Category is
> usually lightly entered (this past one we had three entries)
>         I entered this past with a dish of Roasted Quail (2nd generation,
> home grown, home butchered) rosted in the oven(no spit available and it
> rained, so...) prepared from a redaction of my own from a combination of
> period sources. The Quail were wrapped in bacon, roasted, and served with a
> sauce on the side. The plate was garnished with parsley, marigold flowers
> (the old kind) and pickled pears. It was nominated for non-pariel, but was
> not succesful. I did get a perfect score, and the "Laurels' Acclaim" scroll.
> 
> Ceridwen

Interesting! I think that in the East, there isn't any set rule as to
how many dishes can be in one entry, but this may vary between the
different A&S events, be they Ice Dragon (which, next year, will no
longer be an event in the East, but in AEthelmarc) or Northern Lights,
or what have you. I don't often do the competition thing, because
there's simply too much of it in my mundane existence for me to really
enjoy it. However, I have entered one competition, details supplied
elsewhere, and judged a couple, too.

My take on the issue of whether one or many dishes should be allowed in
a competition entry is that it probably depends on the presentation. I
think that a big, elaborate spread could make fair judgment difficult
because:

a) it COULD be argued that it takes up too much room
b) it COULD be argued that some judges will be impressed by, and award
points for, the 	
	pretty napkins, or garnishes, or whatever, which aren't really part of
the process of 	
	cooking, any more than a tournament winner is determined by the beauty
of his 
	armor. 
c) it COULD be argued that an entry of several dishes is distracting to
the point where the 
	various good points of the entry will obscure its weaknesses, and also
obscure 
	another entry which is  more simple, but which might contain more
intrinsic merit.
d) it's difficult to make fair, quick judgment calls on documentation
when there's just so 	
	much of it.
 
I also got a perfect score for my picnic entry, which I didn't really
feel was merited based on the quality of the meal. I think I would have
given it a pretty high score, had I been judging it, but I wouldn't have
thought it was perfect. It just wasn't. I wonder now if that score was
influenced by the fact that with five types of food and two beverages,
their various deficiencies might have been lost in the shuffle.

Adamantius
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