attractive presentation (wasRe: [Sca-cooks] Vegetarians)

[johnna holloway]

Where is the documentation that all dishes must
be dressed or garnished? Sweetmeats and sugarworks
that appear as part of the banquets... yes... but
how many references are there to serving say 14th
century foods with herb garnishing??? Tables are
dressed and best tableware is used, but must every
dish be "garnished" for every table and every diner.
Were the nobility served garnished dishes and the
lower classes not???
Regarding feasts in general---
It's not only time as a factor and the rush to serve.
It's often an artificial limit that the feast must only
run an hour or 90 minutes... that court must start at 7:45.
There is always a lack of experienced fresh help that can help
at the end of the day. It almost seems worthwhile to recruit a
second crew that takes over at 5 pm and works until midnight,
so that the original cooks that started at 8 am can have a
break and actually see or experience the event. Also...
If every dish goes out in a separate bowl to avoid cross-
contamination and food allergies, then multiply the dishes
served times the number of tables and you can run into feasts
needing 150-200 bowls and platters plus serving spoons and knives.
That often means having to wash dishes between courses.
How many bowls and platters are the 400 person 12th Night feasts
going to take??? Anyone care to comment???
And you probably are not given time to setup early because the
feasthall during the day also served as the fighting arena or
the merchant's area. It's often a matter of what priority the
feast is assigned in the scheme of the event. Is it as valuable
as the court or the tourney or the revel dancing or the merchants
who are making their living hawking goods during the day?

Johnnae  llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway


Gorgeous Muiredach wrote:
> Granted, I haven't been to many feasts at all, but none seemed to have had
> an effort made for attractive presentation.  I suspect it's often the rush
> of serving that limits things.  Perhaps it's arrogant of me, I think that
> with proper planning, the majority of the last minute problems can be
> avoided.  Of course, there *are* always unforeseen problems.  It has been
> said that "the best laid battle plan never survives first contact with the
> enemy".snipped   ................
 Time to put in a few branches of fresh herbs here, a tomato skin rose
there, and
> other small easy items to enhance presentation.  Just food for thoughts :-)
> > Gorgeous Muiredach