Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Very carefully not panicking...

[Morgana Abbey]

I've been enjoying the posts, so I'll add my tale of Kingdom Twelfth
Night (Aethelmearc, to be specific).

#1  Make your staff tell you if they have *any* problems heading into the
event.  One of my cooks neglected to tell me he'd been hospitalized some
weeks earlier and, thus, had to bow out half-way through cooking the
pasta.

#2  If one of your staff who is *supposed* to be researching the table
service (This was 16th cen Venetian) is less than forthcoming with
progress reports, don't be nice.  Fire the bum and get someone else.  My
cat would have done a better job than that overblown drama queen.  My
staff took turns keeping me in the kitchen during the feast because I'd
have killed him if I'd gotten the full picture of that mess he did.  (Now
I did not research Venetian table service as I *had* someone doing that,
but I know it doesn't look like a Mongolian cluster-f**k)

Now, how to keep up spirits:  Start an informal betting pool of
"stupidest complaint about the feast"  Our top two were "the fish is
cold" (Cold Trout in Orange Marinade, ok?) and "why isn't there any sauce
on the pasta?" (Pasta with lemon olive oil and garlic)

One other helpful:  make sure your reservations clerk knows that children
count in the feast numbers.

Morgana LeCouer
--yeah, and I'm cooking a kosher-style feast for baronial Masked Ball in
Dec...

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