SC - Limiting the unexpected at Feasts

[Micaylah]

Euriol said...
>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.

I heartily agree with this. I always publish a menu before anything I do, to
the extent that I will even publish ingredient lists and on pretty paper and
place them on the feast tables with the menu. I believe a published menu can
have several advantages to it. Although I might have a tentative menu in
mind, it is only after I scope out the sight very carefully, will I make the
final adjustments to said menu. Then I publish it for the allergy prone and
vegan types that may need to make alternative plans for feast. It also gives
me that "control" over which organization is established.

While I believe that catering slightly to allergy and vegan types is fine, I
have the somewhat unpopular opinion that I will not cater too much to them
as they are the minority and unless they are peasant types or on a feast day
of some sort, will not find a "true" period feast with JUST vegan dishes.
Most people are hardy carnivores and that is where I choose to make the
feast "worth" sitting down to. I have heard time and time again from people
at other events about not having enuf protien at feasts, etc. So to avoid
that, I tend to cook very heavy on the carnivore side. 

I have learnt that old adage "you can't please all of the people all of the
time" to be quite true and you know what...I don't care...at least not anymore.

At our first Ealdormerean Crown in April (I think it was April) the
feast-o-crat and cooks got a big surprise when they found only one stove and
limited people and facilities to prepare a feast for 300. Because there was
a day site and a night site they couldn't just run off and grab gentles to
help. Given that every possible thing that could go wrong DID, from an
insufficient site, a small fire, to frozen hams...etc. (not to sure what all
happened), they put out a marvelous feast BUT would have excelled even
better, I think, had they checked out the site beforehand. I am assuming
that they didn't check it out because any cook of previous experience and
knowledge would have seen this site kitchen and would have headed for the
hills as fast as their legs could carry them.

Micaylah

PS If any of the cooks from Crown are on this list and I am wrong in
assuming this, please feel free to correct me. All I know is that they had
there hands full trying to cook in this kitchen.

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