SC - za'atar

[Sue Clemenger]

Anahita al-shazhiyya bint-al-karim al-Fassi asked: 
> But, as i said, i'm thinking of making Compost. i'd have to start 
> this some time ahead of the feast. What i'd like to know is, how far 
> ahead of the feast should i start this?

Mine came out fine starting three or four weeks ahead of time. And now,
an additional two months after the feast is still fine if not better,
as the currants didn't get added until the week before the feast. I
did not "can" mine. I believe Adamantius was recommending this for
a long storage time.
 
> Also, must i have one of those big ceramic crocks or can i use a 
> couple big glass jars (i think mine are 2-gallon size) or what? The 
> feast is for between 50 to 100 people. There are i think four courses 
> with four dishes in each course.

I bought a 2 quart ceramic crock because I was going to let the guests
serve themselves from the crock and I wanted something medieval looking.
I got mine at Garden Ridge. Unfortantely, what I found out from this is
that ceramic crocks are a lot more expensive than glass containers.
 
> I've worked two feasts and i finally attended one at which i didn't 
> work for the first time last weekend, but i don't yet know how to 
> "manage" the cooking crew. I intend to volunteer for a couple more 
> feasts this year to learn more, but i thought i'd pose this to the 
> list.
 
> Since i've never managed a kitchen crew before, i'm not sure of the 
> "best" way. There's cooking going on from around 8 AM until shortly 
> before the dessert course, although most of the crew arrives between 
> 10 and 11 AM. What happened last year was one or two people worked on 
> each dish - chopping, mixing, cooking. When the dish was done, they 
> moved on to another dish or took a "play" break.

There have been a number of discussions on this list that described
various methods and ideas for running a kitchen. Take a look at these
files in the FEASTS section of my files:
headcooks-msg     (94K)  7/ 2/99    Advice for SCA headcooks. Planning feasts.
kitchen-clean-msg (14K)  6/11/99    Cleaning the kitchen after an SCA event.
Run-a-Feast-art   (14K) 11/ 2/98    "About Running a Feast" by Minna Gantz.
feasts-fish-msg    (7K)  9/14/99    Serving fish at SCA feasts.
feast-serving-msg (78K)  1/10/00    Ideas for serving feasts. How to organise.

I hope this helps.
- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****