[Sca-cooks] feast centered event

[Stefan li Rous]

Perronnelle asked:
> I just joined this list and would like to get some advice.  I'm sure
> this has been discussed before, but the archives are so large that
> scanning through them is somewhat fruitless.

Welcome to SCA-Cooks! I hope that you might find it interesting
enough to stick around even after you do your event. We talk about
and have folks with all levels of cooking experience. From folks
that have been professional chefs, folks that have cooked several
hundred people feasts, to those who have only cooked for small
numbers of folks and family to folks that are just now learning
period or even modern cooking.

As for the size of the archives, yes they can be overwhelming. Since
most of the period recipes and I like to think, the best of the
commentary eventually ends up in the Florilegium, perhaps that
might be a useful resource for you.

> I'm autocratting an event where the main focus of the event is the
> feast.  I'm not a cook, but I am an autocrat so I thought it would be
> fun to do an event and let the cooks play.  Our feasts run 150-300
> people; this event will be 50-75 which will allow for dishes that are
> usually too time-consuming or expensive to do.

> I was thinking of having a cook or set of cooks each do a "segment"
> (what is the correct term?  I've heard that neither course nor remove
> are accurate terms for "a set of dishes") with a head cook to coordinate
> everyone.  How have you selected dishes?  Three possibilities that come
> to mind are:  a tour through time with each segment being a different
> time period; a world tour with each segment being a different
> geographical location; recreate a documented period feast.

I tend to be cautious of such "tour" type feasts as they overall,
do not resemble anything that would have been done in period. However,
they can be fun.

Right now, it is rare enough to find a feast from a coherent time
period or culture.

For some fancy feast ideas, but something that I think you would
have to do an entire event around, check this file in the FEASTS
section of the Florilegium:
Good-Fd-Feast-art (26K)  3/30/98    Description of a fancy feast done in Lochac.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/Good-Fd-Feast-art.html

I'm not sure how many events that you have been autocrat/event steward
for, but perhaps this file, also in the SCA-EVENT-PLANNING section might
be of use to you:
evnt-stewards-msg (55K) 10/ 2/00    Suggestions for event stewards. (autocrats)
http://www.florilegium.org/files/SCA-EVENT-PLANNING/evnt-stewards-msg.html

> Someone suggested to me that spring would be a good time to do this
> because of the availablility of fresh herbs and produce.  Someone else
> thought summer would be good because it's hot (southeastern Texas) and
> an indoor, air-conditioned event would be welcolmed then.  Comments?

There have been some efforts to present feasts that would have been
served in a particular season, versus a hodgepodge of foods that
could not have been served together in period. I wish I had more
info on this, but here is one file:
food-seasons-msg  (11K)  9/21/00    When various foods were in season.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/food-seasons-msg.html

With modern shipping from the southern hemisphere and refrigeration,
much of these constraints have now disappeared but still a food is
often of the best flavor and cheapest price when it is in season
locally.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****