[Sca-cooks] What class would you teach/take?

[Tara]

Butchering!  Especially small critters.  The butchering classes I've
seen have focused on pigs or lambs, which a) I'm not likely to do at
home anyway, and b) are too expensive to let everyone try their own hand
at it.  Chickens on the other hand, everybody could try right there in
class.  Also, field dressing game, just in case one of us ever manages
to hit a rabbit instead of a stump with an arrow.  Or that god-darned
groundhog who ate my garden...

Period table manners, food service and table settings.  I know a bit
about each, but not enough about any one.

Introduction to Humoral Theory, so we can apply appropriate humors to
our feast planning :)

Intro to Period Feasts for Eaters.  i.e. Cook or chef, not feastocrat.
Course, not remove.  We all love honey butter, but it Just Ain't
Period.  Period food isn't scary!  Not all medieval people tore into
food with their bare hands and splattered their tablemates with sauce.
Table settings.  Hrm... maybe I'll offer to teach this one at the
upcoming Schola in our Shire...

How to balance pre-prepping food with preparing food on site to preserve
your sanity, without everything tasting either rushed or like it came
out of your freezer.  I've seen people kill themselves to prepare
everything fresh right there on site, only to have the feast go off two
hours late, missing a couple of dishes, and the cook a frazzled wreck.
On the other hand, I've seen things that could easily have been made
fresh come out of freezers broken or freezer burned, or sauces that
seperated and became yucky upon reheating.  So, how do we choose what to
pre-prep?  How do we plan for what can reasonably be prepared on site -
based on number of assistants, work space, time etc?

-Magdalena