SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #2875

[Heather Taylor]

> Ru re Iron Chef:
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> The concept is a modified iron chef, where the dishes created are served
> for feast.  It will be modified in that each team will be told the
> ingredient in advance and need to come up with menu and ingredients list in
> advance.  They will have the choice of shopping themselves (with a budget
> set by me) or letting us do the shopping for them.  I'll also be using this
> to try and balance the feast and coordinate kitchen resources.

Good idea, this is pretty much what we did.  Too bad we don't have Fuji TV's
budget, eh?

> The more teams we get, the less each will have to do - the intent is to
> produce a 2-3 course feast, with basics (bread, butter, perhaps rice)
> provided by our folks.  If we get 6 teams, we can do an excellent 3 course
> feast with each team only having to make a couple of dishes.  If we get 2
> teams, they're likely to be working much harder.  If we get 10 teams, no
> one will have to do more then one dish.

You are planning this as the feast?  Um.  People are going to get Really Tired
of the theme ingredient by the time they're done.

> If teams want to do some or even all the work in advance, that's ok.

Oh no, part of the chef's challenge is to do it all On The Spot!

> All teams will be asked to at least have a representative present in the
> morning for the schtick announcement of the ingredient.  (A friend is
> teasing me about making me something really loud to wear and a marzipan or
> sugarpaste pepper to bite into.)

Hehehe, I want pictures.  Lady Kaga Glitz, anyone?

>  The kitchen is HUGE and has many
> separate workstations.  They serve lunch for 4100 students every day from
> here, so we should have all the equipment we need.  (I can provide pictures
> and a sketchy inventory.)  There will also be room in the main hall to
> create workspaces, and I'd like to see at least a couple of people doing
> prep work or dessert stuff out there who can answer questions.

I'm all for making the cooking part of the "show" for the populace. Put as much
as you can on view to event attendees.  Who says artsy stuff has to be boring?

School kitchens are just the best.  I'm badgering the Baroness of Angels to run
a kingdom event at Caltech just so I can use that kitchen again.  O Joy!  O
Rapture!  O Steam Cauldrons! O Warming Cabinets!

> I am considering (and am certainly open to comments) the idea of having a
> different theme ingredient for each course.  Regardless, the theme
> ingredient is likely to be either a fruit (apple, plum) or something like
> ginger - something that is common to most cuisines in period, versatile in
> how it can be prepared, and to which few people are allergic.  (I'm
> actively soliciting suggestions!)

Well, that's one way to keep people from getting completely appled-out [or
whatever] by the end of the day.  We used Plum, which I thought was used in
Japanese and European cuisines, but proved surprisingly difficult to find in
period cookbooks.  Apple sounds like a good bet.  Cherry, pear, or if you have a
source and want to really challenge them, quince.  Maybe a good kind of fish?
Salmon is popular and many fish-haters will at least try it.  How about a whole
smallish beast, such as a whole lamb or piglet.  Oh, dead of course and the
entrails made accessible, but what a challenge!

> The product of all this will be served for the feast that night.  There
> will be 3 levels of judges.  The "Iron Chef" type judges who think
> everything is wonderful and include people like a jock (Knight?) and a
> psychic - these will be mostly for show and laughs.  Then the people will
> be allowed to vote for their favorites as well, and we would also like the
> cooking laurels to do the same.

That's one way to avoid the problem of a tie vote.  We had five judges, which
obviated the "tie" problem for the most part.

You might make nice with other cooking awardees amongst the East Kingdom's
armigerous or grant-level arts orders, if they're not already entered.
Remember, they are tomorrow's Laurels and probably know their stuff already.

> I'm not requiring documentation for this, since my goal is to make this an
> easy way for someone who is terrified of doing an entire feast to try doing
> just a piece, and laugh a little on the way, but I certainly think that
> people who do should be rewarded at least by the laurels.

Probably sensible, who wants to lug all those books and get them messy?  Part of
the charm of Iron Chef is the composition of new dishes never before tasted,
each in the chef's own specialty area.

> Current timetable is that I would like teams to let me know by 7 Deadlies
> (Feb 10th) if they are participating, with a menu/ingredients list due by
> Ice Dragon (March 24th).  If we have a lot of teams, I may ask different
> one's to tell me their specialties and assign types of dishes that
> way....  Once the team list is finalized, I'll announce the ingredients to
> each team captain.
>
> A team can be however many people you want - in the real iron chef
> competitions, each chef has a bunch of helpers running around, and I see no
> reason to change that.
>

Don't forget to encourage the team captains to dress up in matching tunics and
hats, maybe baronial or household livery colors?

> There is no rule that says that a team has to stick to the budget I provide
> - just that anything above and beyond it is out of their own pocket.  (Or,
> as I said, we can do the shopping here - I'll base budget's off what it
> would cost me and as long as we're still clear of the $7/head total it
> shouldn't be a big deal.)

BYO truffles, foie gras...

Oh I'm pining here, and there's NO WAY for me to afford to go far less cook for
this.  Make it really great, could you?  And post pictures where we all can find
them.

Selene

Dame Selene Colfox
OP, OLC, OHA, ODC, SR etc.
Iron Chef Altavia
Sable Fret Pursuivant
selene at earthlink.net