SC - A question on Servers (ALSO: testing meals)

[maddie teller-kook]

Margo Hablutzel wrote:

>         Has anyone tried the "a person sitting at table comes and gets it
> for the
>         table" technique?
>
> I have seen this tried, but you have the problem of how to politely let
> people know that the next course is available, and that the person may or
> may not have any skill in serving.  Some tables will choose a different
> person or pairs of persons per course.  In addition to the oft-mentioned
> traffic jam at the serving area, you can get collisions as people try to get
> up from the tables and come over all at the same time.

I have seen this type of serving work. You need a bit of organization. First,
you place a flag on each table with a number (this does not include the high
table).  When a course is about to be served.... you call up one person from
each table (example, Tables 1-5). They must bring their flags with them to
identify their table.  When they get to the window, they tell the kitchen
workers how many servings to put on the tray.When serving a multi-course feast,
you just let everyone know that they need to wait until they are called up
before approaching the kitchen.
Should help solve some of the problem.

Meadhbh

>
>
> On another topic (trying to save bandwidth a bit), I agree that RECIPES MUST
> BE TESTED beforehand.  Even if you know the recipe, you may not understand
> how the recipes for a given course work together.  There need to be
> contrasts in texture and colour as well as contents.  It's no good to offer
> a stew and a cooked dish of greens and a pudding in the same course, you
> feel as though you're being given pablum!  You can also test serving
> methods, and determine if your platters are big enough, the bowls deep
> enough, or whatever.
>
> We would do tests in conjunction with fighter practice, and I've seen this
> in two different places.  One has evening practice and the other a Sunday
> afternoon, with dinner following.  The people in attendance are served
> dinner that consists of one course of the proposed meal, and they might chip
> in, or we took turns bringing supper and contributing to the meal each week
> (which may or may not be a feast pre-cook).  This is good as a test of
> quantity (one recipe may make four servings while another makes eight, so
> the number of multiples need to be adjusted) and tastiness and gives a
> fairly random assortment of food allergies, sensitivities, and objections.
> (One person claims that anything green is inedible, including carrots of
> which the only part you see as they grow is green.)
>
> And just before I slip back into lurking, a brief hop into soapbox to argue
> that use of the term "remove" for a course appears to be an entirely OOP
> affectation and misuse of a Victorian term.  It is a repellant as
> "feastocrat."  IMVHO.
>
>
> ---= Morgan
>
>            |\     THIS is the cutting edge of technology!
>  8+%%%%%%%%I=================================================---
>            |/   Morgan Cely Cain *  <mailto:Hablutzel at compuserve.com>
> Hablutzel at compuserve.com
>                      Barony of the Steppes * Ansteorra
>                         (and sometimes in Atlantia)
>                           daytime:  <mailto:margolh at nt.com> margolh at nt.com
>
>        OLD CELTIC SAYING (quoted in the Celtic Calendar 1999):
>     "There are three things you should never trust: the hoof of a
>         horse, the horn of a bull, and the smile of a Saxon."
>
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