[Sca-cooks] German Feast Success - long

[upsxdls_osu at ionet.net]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2001 12:42:37 -0500 you wrote:
> >  We had reserved or sold
> > only 85 feast
> > reservations as of noon.  We had planned for 100 with 20 additional
> > compensated; royalty, servers and musicians.
>
> Bear's first mistake:  I understood this to be 120 with 20 extra, so I wound
> up baking for 160, so there would be a little extra.  Ooops!
After feast, there was no semmel left over.  There was quite a bit of rye, but
we surmise by the third course, folks are starting to fill up.

> Which is why preparing for 140 is a good idea.  At least you will be able to
> feed the people who actually paid.
We think there were more than 100 feasts sold.  But we fed 'um all!

> This is why you need someone on site first thing on Friday to check the
> facilities.  I knew within ten minutes of arriving there was no water in the
> kitchen and notified Rick who had to make a trip to Stillwater to get parts
> for the repair.  I lost 3 hours to this problem which pushed baking into the
> feast preparation Saturday morning.
I was glad you got there early.  I had to work part of the day, then pack, make
purchases and wait for my young son and friends to help me pack.  Next time,
I'll take all day Friday off, and pack on Thursday evening. Did I say "next
time?"

> I was awake with the first clattering.  I didn't get up until the coffee was
> cooking.
Sorry, I was trying to be quiet!

> What is really necessary is for me to know I need breakfast.  Scratch
> cinnamon rolls are fairly easy and they help keep the scullery satisfied.
Hey, I planned to cook breakfast.  Your cinnamon rolls sounded better than my
French toast, that's all!
>
> > Bear finished the Spanish Pastries for dessert and went to
> > take a nap.
>
> Second Bear mistake:  I should have taken over that back table for the
> baking.  That would have left the table opposite the sink (which I was
> using) for prep and the table opposite the range for stove and oven prep.
> The finished bread should have been moved into the pantry which would have
> left the steel racks open for holding the trayed Spanish pastries for pre-
> and post-oven storage.
This makes sense to me.  Too bad I didn't think of it.

> The raviolis were made on site.  I would recommend next time they be
> prepared over the weeks before the event and frozen, so that there are
> enough of them.
>
> When cooking them on site, they should probably be partially cooked just
> before the feast starts, then held in a cooler in table portions until
> needed.  Have several pots of boiling broth or water on the stove.  Basket
> the portions, finish the cooking, bowl and serve.
I think we could have cooked all the raviolis in two stockpots, with enough
broth.  I suggested this, but was veto'd.  I could have pulled rank, but I
figured the cooker would take the suggestion and run.  Oh, well. Next time I'll
pull rank.
>
> I want to see if Spanish pastries can withstand freezing and reheating.  If
> so, preparing them off site will save time.
>
> In this particular case, the pear tarts should probably have been served
> first, followed immediately by the ravioli and red cabbage together.  That
> way the tables would have been happily munching on the tarts and not noticed
> the delays in getting ravioli and red cabbage to the table.
Side note:  I thought there was a long delay, too, but several feasters stopped
by on Sunday morning to thank us for allowing them time to eat and chat between
courses. "You can please some of the people some of the time...."
>
> BTW, cold dishes, such as the cucumbers, red cabbage, and apple sauce can be
> portioned out to bowls early in the preparation and stowed in the cooler on
> baking pans.  That way they can be pulled out prior to a course and simply
> be added to the serving tray to cut the set up time.
Now you tell me!

> Okay, now it's time for critique.  Yah done good on the food.  Planning for
> the service needs more work, but you did the right thing in getting Gwennan
> to handle prep and service.  Next time you need to make her life easier.
> You also need to think about the kitchen tricks you need to get the dishes
> ready together for the service.  I think almost all of us make logistical
> errors on feasts and we need to think about how to correct those errors.
I could give some excuses here.  I had not worked the prep for servers portion
of the feast.  Gwennan is great, and I am encouraging her to write up her
tricks of the trade.  I kept checking back in the kitchen, but mostly was in
the way once the food was prepared.  Gwennan allowed me to walk around during
feast and see how people were reacting. Another thing we could have done is
slice the pork roladens, put them in a steamer pan with leftover juices, and
kept them warm in the oven.  Then, she'd only have to use a spatula to place
them on a platter.  As it was, the rolls didn't make it to the table in one
piece, so lost the presentation value. Thank goodness, I learn from my mistakes.
>
> The blackboard schedule was a good idea.  Keep it.  In addition, you need a
> longer schedule with greater detail so the blackboard can be updated.  Plan
> equipment use, including scullery, to get as much slack as you can in the
> schedule, so you can handle surprises like the water pressure problem.  Ask
> the baker for his schedule. :-)
Oops, I plead computer virus.  I had a lengthy schedule prepared, but couldn't
get it off my computer.  That's also why my documentation wasn't ready.

> While serving individual items is very period German, keeping the
> complementary dishes together is a good idea.  Let the schedule show what
> foods need to go together, that way we will be able to enjoy our apple sauce
> with our rouladen.
With my new experience, I'm going to be more help during the serving process.
I'll be able to assure service the way *I* want it done.

> The hall layout was interesting, but needed aisles wide enough to allow the
> servers access.  For the arrangement used, two rows of tables and a five to
> six foot aisle followed by two more rows of tables and another aisle, and so
> on, would have allowed the servers to reach the full length of every row of
> tables, a necessity for fast and efficient service.
Didn't take long for me to realize the tables were too close together.  I would
also have had three tables to a rank, rather than two.  People set up extra
tables without asking anyone.  Not that it was a problem, but we could have
kept from having one table of three, and another table of 14.
>
> Your documentation should have been ready as a hand out for the feast.  It
> lets the feasters have the fun of looking at the recipes while eating the
> food.  Playing with one's food is fun.
They didn't need my documentation to have fun with the food.  There were
doughball fights made from your semmel.
>
> You really needed to have an ingredient list at the gate, so people can do
> an allergy/dislike check.
Well, OK, yep, so sorry.  A couple of people asked about ingredients and I gave
them the info.  No ovolacto vegetarians showed up, and no one wanted the
Knackwurst NOT cooked in beer.

> The food was properly cooked and other than the ravioli and the applesauce
> arrived in reasonably good order.  The only noticeable problem was the
> shortage and coolness of the ravioli.  Despite glitches, the service was
> creditable.
>
> In my estimation, you did better on your first try than many people who
> regularly do feasts have ever done.  You have a good crew.  I'd be happy to
> have them on board when I do another feast.
We accept bribes! ;>

> Right now, you probably don't want to think about food or feasts.  In six
> months or so, you will forget about the pain and you will start thinking
> about doing it better, so what's it gonna be; 14th Century English, Italian
> Ren, Elizabethean?
Hem, we're having a cooks' guild meeting next month.  The challenge to the
group is "We're going to have a war at a primitive site.  Feast for 100 (does
NOT include comps).  Oh, and you only have a $500 budget.  Extra points for
documentability. I was already thinking about this before feast on Saturday.
Wanna build a beehive oven to bake bread in?

Liadan
PS. With your permission, this email will be included in a Cooks' Guild
Handout, tentatively titled, "First Feast: How to survive as Feast Steward."
Gwennan told me she'll write a chapter on expediting service and servers.