SC - Open/Closed Kitchens

[Adler, Chris]

>I don't agree. Perhaps Lord Cadoc might gift us with a rendition of >the 
>tale of his first excursion into my kitchen. It involved chopping >onions 
>for a lamb meat ball and inch think pieces sticking out all >over. From 
>there he progressed to making one of the best dishes the >Schola feast saw 
>still chopping and dicing. ;-)

OKay, I've stopped laughing enough to type.  Yeah THOSE meatballs...
*I* happen to like my onion, uhm, chunky, yeah, that's it...they
were good anyway ;-) That was soooooo long ago...

I think it could be best summed up as "literal translation" of a
recipe.  It didn't say dice, it said chop, so I chopped.  I was
working as a su (spelled wrong) chef at the time so I was used
to literal recipes for things.  I had to start thinking a bit
more in the medieval mode.  I did the mincemeat pastries (I still
hate filo dough though) at the schola entirely by hand (a couple of hours of 
mincing, chopping and shredding) along with a creative
interpretation of the word "Wash."  Ras, did you post the recipe for
those and I missed it?

>I think that anyone who is turned off by being put to work if they >show up 
>in the kitchen may not have a clue as to what cooking a feast >entails. I 
>always put people to work but the reality of the matter is >that if you 
>have a certain 'fame' there will be who show up to >socialize and shake 
>hands or 'watch' you work, etc. Those type of >people are by necessity 
>discouraged from those activities by having a >personal PR individual to 
>sift through the valid as well as the valid >attempts at taking up the time 
>of the kitchen steward or
>the crew in general.

Yeah, I usually get that task because I'm the most visible person in the 
kitchen and get bugged the most.

>The Queen of Aethelmearc showed up in the >kitchen to get away from 
> >everyone for a while. She ensconced herself >out of the way in a >doorway 
>leading to a supply room that was little >used. We ignored >her presence as 
>she intended we do at the time...

Yeah, she said it was the only spot in the building where they couldn't find 
her :-)

>I have had children volunteer to help and I set them to picking
>apart parsley or setting up plates for individual courses, washing >greens 
>and other veggies. The important part is to make it clear that >if you are 
>in the kitchen you are there to work and not to hang out >unless it is 
>billed as a spectator class which situation I cannot >envisage happening in 
>my kitchen.

And one of your child volunteers went on to produce the boarshead at the 
schola, one of the better executed recipes.

>Hands on yes, spectator no.

Amen.

Cadoc
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Cadoc MacDairi, Mountain Confederation, ACG
Shire of Abhainn Ciach Ghlaiss

"I feel the air rise up in me
Kneel down in prayer the stone of years
I wonder how well you can see
Inside my shell I wait and bleed..."

   Slipknot -- "Wait and Bleed"

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