[Sca-cooks] be a cook! was crown tourney menu

[Bonne de Traquair]

--- Patricia Collum <pjc2 at cox.net> wrote:
 I have not seen any of our feasts here
> done as fund-raisers.

Most feasts I have ever been involved with are not
done as a fund raiser, but the hope that funds might
be raised was part of the planning.   The feast is
priced so that they won't lose money due to bad
weather or other event catastrophe, which  conversely
allows for a small profit if all goes as planned, and
a notable profit if  feast sells out and was well
organized.


>  It's just
> that so many of my good friends are starting to talk
> about not going to
> feasts any more, and I haven't even gotten a chance
> to cook one yet!
> Cecily


Don't let the idea of the perfect feast you will do
someday prevent you from stepping up and doing a good
enough feast sooner.  If you feel you can do better
than some feasts you've eaten, likely you can.  If you
are already cooking historical recipes for friends and
family, your next step is finding out how one becomes
a feast cook in your area and putting yourself on the
road to be asked or for your request to be taken
seriously.

Study the Florilegium articles on planning and running
a feast.

Make a point of putting in volunteer time in every
kitchen at every event you attend.    Fighters don't
get to be fighters by watching from the sidelines.  So
it is with cooks.    The only way people will think of
you as a cook is for you to be seen cooking with the
cooks.  And cleaning up.

When you are in the kitchen, ask plenty of questions
about the how and why of components of this feast.
Be ready to discuss, and make yourself known as one
who knows about period cooking.  If need be, study
some books on professional or bulk cooking techniques
and try to apply them in your volunteer time.
Practice teaching skills on other volunteers where
appropriate, as teaching and directing is a bigger
part of being a feast cook than actually cooking that
day.  Knowing how to cook it all yourself won't take
you very far in the feast kitchen.  You have to have
help and know how to tell the help what needs doing.


OTOH, Be careful not to come off as 'period police' or
the annoying woman who tries to take over the kitchen.
 A 'what you should be doing' lecture at the wrong
time or to the wrong person will not advance you.  The
point is to be seen as a competent cook and potential
kitchen boss, not a know it all.

Volunteer to be a deputy cook.  Offer specific
assistance based on ideas in the Flori. or suggestions
from friends.  Don't be disappointed if all the head
cook wants from you is an all-day committment in the
kitchen.   It's good practice for your own.

Away from events, ask a friend to suggest a theme, and
put yourself through the motions of planning.  Not
just the menu, research the shopping, the schedule of
cooking in a particular feast hall, the number of
pots, pans, spoons.  Find out what else the feast cost
has to cover, this varies greatly over the Knowne
Worlde, and plan for that.  Plan your storage and
transportation.   Find out where the bargains are, and
how to get discounts from merchants.  Do this a couple
of times, so when you are finally doing a feast, the
advance part will be as familiar as the kitchen will
have become from all the time you spent volunteering.
  Find someone with whom you can discuss your practice
plans, just as you would ask a teacher for comments on
a draft writing assignment.  (This alone may do the
trick, for someone needing a cook to hear you have a
feast needing an event! )

My first feast was about 18 months after joining and
was a pretty good attempt at period, I thought.  I
wouldn't cook it that way now, but it was pretty good
for the circumstances.  Others have cooked their first
feast even sooner.   Depending on what you have
already been doing to establish your face and skills,
you could certainly have cooked a feast by this time
next year.

Bonne

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