[Sca-cooks] Imaginary list was Re: Irish Stew recipe

[Decker, Terry D.]

Shades of the first Calontir Crown Tourney.  The Mid-Realm chose Lincoln,
Nebraska as the site for the dissolution of the bonds between them and
Calontir--in December.  So we had a blizzard and sub-zero temperatures.  To
add to the fun, it was a new group, which had never put on an event for more
than about 50 and didn't know how to plan and prepare for 200+.

About 11 am, the cook fell apart and Erlich du Battenhelm and I wound up in
the kitchen trying to save the feast.  The original plan had been to cook
the roasts on grills and we could not dissuade the grill master from his
course and let us roast the beef in the oven.  They were using charcoal
where they needed a blast furnace.  The ambient air temperature was sucking
off the heat, the roasts were still frozen and were in 10 and 15 pound
chunks.  They came into the hall seared and bleeding, which was how the
grill master liked his meat, but wasn't too pleasing to the feasters, most
of whom didn't get to eat it anyway, because the local group hadn't taken
into account how they were going to serve the feast with the tables packed
so close together you couldn't move.

The head table and the people nearest the kitchen got served (where the
aisle was).  The people on the far side of the room got nothing.  The
kitchen was not informed of the problem, so their experienced feast cooks
were not able to provide their expertise in getting people fed.  It was a
salutory lesson in how not to do a feast.  You at least got people fed.

Bear

> I recently served as co-Head Cook for an MSR event (for those of you
> unfamiliar, Medieval Scenarios and Recreations is a splinter
> group local to
> NYC and environs). My co-chief decided we (a) HAD to serve roasted
> hunks-o-beef and (b) HAD to make them onsite. No problem -
> except our site
> is a (magnificent) old 19th century castle (one of those
> "I've got lots and
> lots of money so I'm gonna live in a recreated castle" things) with NO
> KITCHEN. She showed me a grill out back made from half an old
> oil drum, two
> bags of charcoal (Match-Light, no less), a bottle of Lowry's
> Seasoned Salt,
> and 40 lbs of top round of beef. Yes, I spent the entire day outside
> grilling - in February in New York! Well, guess what - a
> liitle prayer, a
> LOT of cussing and a whole lot of more-or-less-constant turning and
> rearranging, and it was a smashing success. I managed to get
> almost every
> piece off the fire at just about medium-rare, and 80%+ got eaten. Her
> roasted chicken (she was smart and bought parts and cooked
> 'em at home, then
> just reheated them on the grill) was appreciated too, but not
> as much as the
> beef. Sadly, the rice in almond milk (20 quarts!) burned and had to be
> tossed (it was inedible, the whole pot tasted of the burn).
>
> Avraham