[Sca-cooks] Serving and High Table

[Elise Fleming]

Greetings.  I wonder if we could start a discussion about the
"couth" way to serve High Table, especially with Royalty seated
there.  What have folk done?  Several areas to comment on would be
the following.

1) Who is served first, especially if all the Royals are present?
2) As a server, do you serve them or put the dish in front of them
for them to pass?
3) How many of each dishes is ideal?  (One?  Two, one for each side
of the table?)
4) Should the meats, chicken, etc., be presented whole or cut up?
If whole, who do you think should cut them up?
5) What about having one or two "servitors" standing behind High
Table to assist those Head Table folk in retrieving dishes that are
out of reach?  (Would solve the dilemma of having to say "Your
Majesty, would you please have the Baron pass the pickled
mushrooms?")
6) For serving the populace, how many of your groups provide serving
utensils for each dish?  (Or do we expect folk to dip in with the
spoon/fork they've already had in their mouth?!?)
7) Anything else?

Years ago I "specialized" in serving Head Table and partnered with a
young man who had flair for shtick.  We either brought one bowl out
(the server led, the bowl holder followed) and served in order of
precedence, or we brought two bowls and each of us took one side of
the table, starting with the two highest guests and working down the
side we were assigned.  We offered announced the food item and
offered to serve.  (Your Majesty, pickled mushrooms with garlic and
anchovies.  May I serve you some?)

At some events, the young man (whose knees worked better than mine),
knelt with raised bowl while I served.  Sometimes we offered the
guests to serve themselves.  We usually asked the end folk if they
wanted us to leave the dish there.  We often found that the
decorations and place settings left little room for bowls to be
left.

As a soon-to-be regular at High Table, I'm wondering what others
have done to help with problems that came up when I used to be a
server.

Alys Katharine