SC - RE: Iron Chef Competition - long

[Debra Hense]

Thorbjorn and Dame Selene Colfox
I am combining your messages and answering both at the same time.  

Thorbjorn wrote:
<<<I guess I just don't like competitions were the goal is to not lose points,
I much rather the goal would be to earn the most points.>>>

Dame Selene Colfox wrote:
<<<This needs work.  I find it needlessly complex.  What is wrong with the original
method?  The only change we made to the TV version was to increase the number of judges
from 4 to 5, obviating the need for a tie-breaker.>>>

I haven't ever seen the show, just what people have told me about it. And
the points is just something I threw out so that people could and would
give me input on how they rather it was judged.  I have no idea about
how they score so if you could elaborate I would appreciate it very much.

Because I haven't seen it, I'm not trying to recreate the show in its entirety.
I am however trying to give it a bit of Calontir twist with the emphasis on
teams.  Thus, the bartering for excess ingredients. But, bartering may be 
one of the parts that gets thrown out depending on comments received.

One of the goals may be to serve the results to Royalty, for their feast
one night at Lilies.  So, the sops rights may be right out as a fund-raising 
idea to recoup costs.  (Lilies is a Calontir war where Calontir fights against
Calontir.  Non-Calontiri take whichever side they think will be the most
fun.) Teams may be asked to declare for a side ... for a war point.  

This is currently being planned for Lilies - June 9 through 16th at Smithville
Lake near Kansas City MO.  Keep checking the Calontir Web page for 
updated info:  http://calontir.sca.org/ 

Dame Selene Colfox wrote:
>>> 
> +the teams supply their own spices, period cooking sources,
<stuff between deleted>
+Must be able to point to a specific period recipe for each dish.

How strict are you going to be about this?  Cariadoc-strict literal, or is
'period-style' within the restraints of available resources permitted?  I wouldn't want
a serious point-loss on account of not having thought to bring galingale or whatever.
<<<
I was hoping that they would each bring only one book or two. With those
teams less learned bringing a copy of Cindy Renfrow's book and working from
it.  I'm still learning and developing the rules... This is not a hard and fast set I
sent to the list.  I was hoping that people would know at least one book fairly
well, and be able to cook from book.  The ingredients we're supply are all basic
to most SCA feasts.  The only variation they might not be prepared for is which
meat they are getting.  I might have a source for Mutton, so they may get that
to work with instead of Beef or Pork or Chicken.  Or they may get two meats
Pork and Chicken.  The ingredient list hasn't been set yet either.

I wasn't going to pass any judgement on their cooking utensils.  Just that they
use the firepits provided for their cooking.  I figure for most cooks that would
be challange enough. :-)  We would provide fire grates and spits for each fire
pit.  But, because the number of teams will probably not be determined until
the day before the competition (we weren't sure about requiring pre-registration)
we won't know how many pots and pans to bring - we will have a few for loaning
but the majority of them should bring their own stuff if possible.

Dame Selene Colfox wrote:
<<<> (If someone specializes in spanish or french cooking, then their spices will reflect
> their specialty, as will their cookbooks.)

Si ja da!  cf. The Prince of Pasta, the Crown Prince of Szechuan Cooking, etc. in the TV
show.  Of course, many 'specialized' cooks know something outside their specialty.  It's
worth noting that Iron Chef French Sakai has licensed a line of =Italian= pasta sauces,
sold in single serving packets. They are pretty good actually.
>>>

But, but, I was hoping that people would go more for their own specialitys so that we
could get a good variety of dishes.  :-) 

Thanks, and keep those comments coming.  We're getting closer to getting
a workable set of rules with each comment that comes in. :-)  

Kateryn de Devleyn