SC - Feast Prep Questions

[Decker, Terry D.]

One of the first tasks of the cook is to check out the kitchen which is
going to be used, even if you have used it previously.  Ovens go bad,
utensils disappear, and things may not be as they were the last time it was
used.

My Barony has a selection of cooking pots and utensils and serving utensils.
I added twenty serving spoons my last feast as part of the feast expense.
Where necessary, disposable foil pans are often used as serving dishes.

My personal equipment is my knife roll, my food mills, a scale, and some
cooking utensils the Barony doesn't own.

The first question is how many people were you feeding?  Portion sizes are
going to be based on the quantity of a given dish divided by the number of
feasters.  For planning purposes, I like 12 dishes with a 4 ounce portion
each for a total of 3 pounds of food per person.  I don't expect all of this
to be eaten, but with a proper variety, no one goes away hungry.

For your feast, I would have dropped the cheese and spread the sweets
through meal rather than have a dessert course, for example:

Bread, condiments, gingered apples

This provides bulk and something sweet to help assuage the appetite.

First course:

sausage, cabbage with apple, Crustade Lombard

Second course:

Chickens in gravey, turnips in mustard sauce, rice in almond milk, sallat,
bread

Present the boar's head sotiltie

Third course:

Roast pork on a bed of frumenty, buttered onions and apples, pies of pears,
bread 

Sauces to be served in the various courses with appropriate meats.

In my view, there are too many apple dishes in the meal, so I would drop the
apple sauce.  The first course gives a mix of textures and tastes, the
cabbage should not be overcooked.  The second course is a soft, white course
which needs the salad to give it color and texture.  I question having both
rice and frumenty in the same meal, so making the frumenty a bed for the
pork helps fool the mind into accepting it.  Lighter, softer breads should
be used with the more delicate dishes, coarser breads with the heavier
meats.  Spreading the bread through the meal helps fill in when the meat is
limited.

While rice can go well hot or cold, most cooked grains are glutenous muck
when served cold, so grains need to go from the stove to the table
immediately.  Also, 1 cup of dry grain will produce enough cooked grain to
serve 8 people at a feast, at least among the carnivores of Ansteorra.  I've
done a number of frumenties, but rice pudding tends to beat the rest hands
down.

As a guess, you served around 12 ounces of meat per person.  That should be
more than enough, if added to bulkier foods which help people feel full.
The fact that there were vegetables left over and you had people requesting
more meat suggests that you may wish to create a more diverse and appealing
group of vegetable dishes chosen specifically to go well with the meat.
This is what I did for the Protectorate feast and I'm still amazed at how
little came back to the kitchen.

You might also consider baking bread to be served with each course.  As a
baker, this is one of the hallmarks of my feasts and one that is greatly
appreciated.  If you are not a baker, there are some cheats that can be done
with frozen bread dough to provide the appearance of fresh bake goods.  BTW,
one of my great regrets for Protectorate was having to focus on the other
aspects of the feast to the extent I did not get enough bread baked.

Bear

> FIRST: Last year there were plenty of industrial size spoons and 
> ladles in the kitchen. This year... there were two industrial size 
> spatulas. We managed to make the feast with small spoons we found in 
> drawers and a couple wooden spoons that some of my helpers had 
> brought.
> 
<clipped>
> 
> Despite requests for More Meat! More Meat! i don't plan to make more.
> How to i get the diners to put grains and vegetables on their plates?
> 
> Anahita al-shazhiyya