SC - SC- Kitchin Bitchin'

[RANDALL DIAMOND]

Sabia wrote:

>>>>Greetings ! this is a last minute quick qusetion.  The 
dinner I am cooking for tomorrow I have just found out
 has increased from a (generous estimate of 120) to 
a very firm 160+ likely to turn into 200.<<<<

Sabia, I hope your dinner turned out well.   In my kingdom
anyone waiting so long to inform the cook of such a drastic 
increase in the required number to be served is in serious 
jeoprody of being served as well.  Perhaps I shouldn't have 
been so critical of the post on butchering a human carcass.
I had forgotten there were a few instances where I might have
considered its use.   Such inconsideration from your autocrat
is extremely distressing and IMO is doing a great disservice
to the folks who were wise and considerate enough to reserve
their feast early.  The streching of the food prepared is literally
robbing them of what they have paid for and expect for their
enjoyment.  A thinned out feast IMO is simply not a viable
option.

My solution to this problem (and I have used it several times) 
is to inform my autocrat as to the number of persons I going 
to cook for and the absolute limit to which this number can be 
expanded by a definite date.   Any more and I resort to my 
secondary feast menu which would be served a la carte outside
the feasthall (like in an open picnic pavillion if one is available).
This is a well defined shopping list of items and quantities (broken
down in units of 4 persons and cost allowances)  that I hand the
autocrat the morning of the event and point in the direction
of the nearest Kroger's.  I will usually have one of the kitchen staff
supervise the setup of this (wholly mundane) secondary feast.
Whole roast chickens, crusty breads, grapes, prechunked deli cheese
and fruit pies are generally the core of this menu.   And you know?....
not one person who actually ate at the secondary feast EVER 
complained to me about the food.  If fact, many complemented me
on my solution.  The folks who did complain were attendees ot my
primary feast who thought what I was doing was terribly wrong, 
splitting up households and friends who expected to sit together.
T.S. ... Elliot!  Strict feast-tokens-at-the-door policy was enforced 
no matter who whined, bitched and moaned.  This is my "kill em all 
and let God sort em out" approach.

I have been critcised for my attitude but when you carefully plan for
months and preorder supplies to be picked up on the way to the 
event, it simply is not rational to attempt a last minute expansion
of everything.  Of course, I do not usually do any precooking and 
prepare everything pretty much from scratch at the event site, so 
there is some lattitude built in.  But I am not going to turn my
kitchen staff into scullery slaves trying to crank out a huge increase
in the food to be prepared at the last minute.  Several weeks notice 
is o.k., if the kitchen (and the staff) is up to it and I can get more 
(dependable) staff to volunteer.   My kitchen philosophy is to make 
the onsite feast cooking experience fun for my staff with wine, 
chocolate and other goodies provided by me, with music and with
impromptu classes in technique or recipe improvisation (like when
 you find out one of your ovens doesn't work).

Am I being an unreasonable kitchen despot in my expectations???
Christiana, Di... you have been to my feasts haven't you.  I would
appreciate your two cents as I know you both have run into this
problem before in your own groups.

Akim Yaroslavich
"No glory comes without pain"