Re(2): SC - trial feasts

[Sue Wensel]

> 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
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