[Sca-cooks] cooks guild gear

[a5foil]

BAR MOPS! They are small cheap terry towels, they can be used to dry stuff,
or put wet stuff on to drain, or dry hands, or use as pot holders, or ...
They wash up in hot water and since they're white they can be chlorine
bleached. If you can get a big package from a warehouse store, they are even
cheap enough to discard when they get too grotty.

And a rack to put the clean-but-wet ones on to dry.

But the most important thing, IMO, is to make sure that what you DO have is
in good shape. It is really disgusting, not to mention unsanitary, to have
to deal with pitted stock pots and moldy beverage coolers.

What you need depends on exactly how you set up your service. If you are
going to have people from the tables come pick up each course, you need
trays large and sturdy enough to hold everything, and serving dishes small
enough to fit on the trays. If you're always going to have a serving staff,
you don't necessarily need the trays. What you need also depends on how many
courses you're serving and how much time you allow between courses for
washing up.

This is what we used for the last feast we cooked. We had enough time
between courses, and enough kitchen staff, to wash up the service pieces. If
you want to be on the safe side, have two sets of everything.

For service:
1 set large lightweight trays for bread
2 sets small bowls for soft cheese and nuts
1 set small salt bowls, because we put salt out on the tables
1 set large serving platters
1 set luncheon-size plates
1 set small sauce bowls
1 set medium bowls for veggies
2 sets serving spoons
1 set slop bowls -- we sent the servers around to collect anything left on
people's plates after each course
2 large insulated coolers, one for water and one for the beverage
serving pitchers -- we didn't have enough to put one on each table, so we
sent the servers around with the pitchers during each course

For cooking:
at least one of every kind of cooking utensil in a well-stocked kitchen,
because the site we use doesn't have anything, also because we travel with
it anyway
lots of knives
cutting boards -- large but portable ones are really handy
more than lots of big spoons
pot holders
oven thermometer
big stock pots, at least one for each course
small or medium stock pots, ditto
skillets or saute pans
big rimmed baking sheets, and don't forget to have aluminum foil to line
them
lots of medium-sized mixing bowls, they serve as all-purpose containers as
well
boat motor, er, stick blender
food processor
big mortar and pestle

I am sure there's other stuff but I can't think of it right now.

Aelfwynn