[Sca-cooks] Curious - catering for large numbers

[Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au]

I am the event steward for Lochac's upcoming 1st Coronation. (YES we are finally becoming our own Kingdom!!)

We are expecting between 5-800 people to dine on Saturday night.(and yes that is the people eating, we aren't offering an off-board option)  I am curious to find out who else on this list may have catered for this sort of number at an SCA event.  I have many friends who are chefs, but generally they are cooking in a very different way from the way an SCA event is catered, and I would love to hear tips from anyone with this sort of experience.  The largest event I have catered previously was 450.

We are currently doing entrement platters being handed around during court, two courses of approximately 6 dishes each, then a dessert course of a multitude of dishes. Much of these are able to be pre-cooked, and we are using a professional spit-roast company to provide the roast meats.

What did you find the most challenging part of cooking for huge quantities of people? What problems arose unexpectedly and how did you deal with them?  What was the most useful tool for you?

Any suggestions are gratefully accepted.

Kiriel