SC - Servers eating free

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    Down here, the tradition has generally been for the servers to bring the
food out to the table, and then everyone plays pass-the-plate while the
server dispenses the food individually. I hate this - it's slow, sloppy, and
very labor intensive. Family serving is SO much easier, even with regular
servers - they just dash & drop, and don't have to stand there with a spoon
in their hands.
    When I plan a feast, I divide the number of guests by 8 - that gives me
the number of tables I need to portion for. Cooking for 250? That's 30
tables plus High table. When I set up the feast hall, I leave out ONLY the
number of tables that will be needed, put the others away and cover them
with something. Then I let the hall steward know that anyone setting up
another table is to be sent to the kitchen for butchering. (an unannounced
course . . .) You now have X number of seats physically present, and no way
to add more without your knowledge and immediate retribution. MUCH better
control.
    Instead of figuring a per person portion, I start figuring on table
portions, which makes the planning a WHOLE lot easier. Now I have a handle
on how many serving vessels needed, and I can cook table portions separately
if needed. That's where the glaringly modern aluminum pans come in - cook &
serve in the same vessel, which can then be thrown out. Muriatic acid (a
weak solution of Hydrochloric acid) tarnishes the pans very nicely.
    One other advantage to restricting the number of tables set up is that
crashers are IMMEDIATELY obvious - if someone with a token can't find a
seat, it's because someone WITHOUT a token is seated, and it's time to check
them. The hall steward also needs to keep an eye on the tables to make sure
that the table of 8 isn't suddenly a table of 10 or 12 as people 'make room'
for their friends. (a major source of annoyance)
    I learned long ago (and to my very great sorrow) NEVER to serve a buffet
style feast. I've seen people go through the line balancing 3 plates which
were overloaded to the max, and those coming in towards the end were left
with nothing. What was even more infuriating was the amount of wastage on
the part of those overloading their plates - most of that food wasn't eaten,
it got tossed. I don't comprehend that kind of mentality, but I'll be
switched if I ever do a buffet style feast for the SCA ever again.

    Sieggy

- ----- Original Message -----

> In truth, other than the very rare buffet-style service, every feast I've
ever
> been to in Atlantia (and we're going back a long way here, folks) has been
> served family style.  Either servers deliver the dishes to each table
(each dish
> containing the approximate amount equivalent to servings for each at the
table)
> or, as I mentioned in another message, one person from each table
retrieves the
> dishes for each course.  In feasts where there are more than one course,
usually
> the folks at a table will share the duty of retrieving the food.  It has
always
> seemed to work out well.  I don't think I've ever been at a feast where
someone
> at the table took more than their fair share.  But then maybe I've been
lucky.
>
> The only trick to this is to make absolutely sure you know how many tables
there
> are.  I've served feasts where I kept getting varying numbers on how many
tables
> there were...a real pain.  The other thing, unless your group has an
enormous
> quantity of serving gear, as the contents of dishes are eaten, somehow you
need
> to get the dishes back to be reused.  Usually someone from the kitchen
will
> circulate through the hall looking for empties.  Often, however, the
people at
> the table will return dishes as they empty them.
>
> Kiri