[Sca-cooks] Royal Buffet post-mortem

[Elaine Koogler]

We served chicken with the sage sauce for luncheon at a Coronation a couple of
years ago.  The populace loved it, using pieces of bread with the sauce when
the chicken was gone!  The sauce was a little thicker than sauces usually
are...and we did cut the chicken up into what resembled chicken"fingers".

Kiri

"Pixel, Queen of Cats" wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Jul 2001, Michael Gunter wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I managed to complete and serve my Royal Buffet
> > at Ansteorra Coronation last weekend. I learned
> > a few interesting things.
> >
> [snip]
> >
> > The carrot salad, lentils, chicken and camelyne sauce
> > were practically untouched. They were all very tasty
> > and I'm not sure why they weren't eaten.
> >
> > I know the Royals and entourage ate quite a bit of it
> > because they were starving by the time I had it set up
> > and I assisted them in describing the dishes and such.
> > I've heard that the Royals of Trimaris also ate from it.
> >
> > But I think that most of it was eaten by the children
> > that were running fairly unsupervised all through the
> > area. Most of the dishes eaten were things that could
> > easily be grabbed and eaten without a plate and it was
> > all slices of roast beef and the sweet items.
> >
> > Although fighters seem to have pretty much the same
> > tastes as children.  ;-)
> >
> > I had to attend duties in Coronation as Royalty and
> > Chivalry so I didn't get an accurate assessment of who
> > ate what. The food was left out for hungry courtiers
> > to grab when they had the chance. It seems that nobody
> > wanted to fill the plates I had provided. I've usually
> > not had this problem with buffets before so was surprised
> > that only "finger foods" were eaten.
> >
> > Too bad more people didn't try the other stuff. The carrots
> > were a wonderful fresh tasting summer salad and the lentils
> > were rich and smooth. The camelyne sauce went very well
> > with the beef as well.
> >
> > But at least people got fed and Their Majesties said They
> > recieved several compliments on it.
> >
> > Gunthar
>
> It sounds like the classic situation of 'we're trying to do five things at
> once, and a plate just gets in the way' that you usually get at events
> like Coronations. It is much easier to grab a nibble each time you walk by
> the buffet than to 'waste' the time taken to sit down with a plate and a
> utensil and actually eat. You see, eating wastes time which could be
> better spent doing other things. Nibbling on the run isn't eating. ;-)
>
> Was the chicken cut up into small pieces suitable for grabbing and
> nibbling, or was it whole breasts? In my experience with royalty rooms,
> buffets, and weddings, big pieces like breasts are a 'sit-down' type of
> food, and thus much less attractive than small pieces.
>
> Sauces tend to only get eaten if they are of a smooth and dippable
> consistency, you have to make it really obvious that *this* sauce is meant
> to go with *that* food item, and even then, over half the food in question
> will not be eaten with the sauce on it.
>
> Margaret FitzWilliam
>
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