[Sca-cooks] OK, I have deputies... now what?

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> OK, this is going to sound like an odd question... but two of my friends
> wanted to be my deputies for my next feast. Which is really great, but I
> have no idea what to do as far as getting them involved beforehand - this
is
> one of those things that I know pretty much what I want to do already,
have
> already done the research, etc...so I feel kind of bad about saying they
> could be deputies...I'm one of those people that's very very bad at
> delegating anything... and "didn't play well with others" as a kid... lol.
>
> Advice?
>
> Generys

Well, Avraham having a deputy (me) pretty well saved the Tavern feast,
simply because when he was unable to meet his commitments, I was able to
step in and take over. My suggestion would be, depending on their skill
levels, obviously, to first, make them aware of the entire menu and intended
shopping list, so they know what's happening.

Obviously, they're going to have different abilities, and you, as a manager,
are going to have to put those skills into your service.

Before I did this feast, I had worked on quite a few other feasts. After I
had decided that cooking a feast was something I wanted to do some day, I
worked for Adamantius as his deputy, since his regular deputy wasn't
available. Before I went in, I knew one of my jobs was going to be to keep
someone out of his hair, and that other jobs would appear as he needed me to
do them. These included trying to keep other people out of his hair,
chopping and peeling assorted foodstuffs, grilling the pork roasts, and
trying to keep people calm and focussed through an asortment of the worst
sequence of feast screw-ups and eveny screw-ups I'd ever witnessed- trust
me- the man EARNED that Burdened Tyger ;-) From him, I learned that no
matter what happened, a calm attitude could solve the problem, and this
carried over into my feast- he wasn't there in flesh, but his lessons very
much were.

The second time I worked for him, he put me to specific jobs in his kitchen,
which he knew were in my preference range, and because of a misunderstood
communication between us, I learned how to ask questions and get answers
from him that would make both of us happy with the results.

I also worked a feast with Lord Ras. Ras put me to doing a specific dish
which was particularly time consuming, and had a deputy who had his own
ideas about how things should be handled in the kitchen. After the first
batch of a sequence of batches I needed to make, I had the timing down, so
I'd escape the kitchen for a set amount of time to let the food cook and
clear the decks, and this person was kind enough to turn off my pots for me,
since they weren't being, in his opinion, carefully watched. We had words-
his hands remained on the end of his wrists, barely.

When I worked for Iasmine, she gave me a specific responsibility- basicly
the veal, which I handled from purchase, through slaughter, butchering, and
transport to the site. She checked on me, and when time was running out and
I needed a couple pair of spare hands, gave them to me for the final
cutting. Essentially, I turned the calf into kebabs, lots of plain veal
stock, and a Crown roast (it was a Coronation) and again, she used my
strengths for her overall benefit.

Other Head Cooks I have worked with, or tried to, have been so hands on,
that there really wasn't anything I could do to help, and I really learned
nothing from them. One refused my help, despite my knowledge of what she was
doing, saying s/he had a full staff, and turned out the worst "feast" I had
ever tasted, on many levels. Another lady, doing one of her first feasts,
accepted my help where I could give it (I was CiC- had other
responsibilities) and turned out a very tasty feast, although OOP, but our
discussions while helping, got her really interested in how Medieval people
would have done it.

Now, don't misunderstand me- I'm not saying a feast will fail without my
help, or succeed because of it, but the best feasts I have ever had have
been by Head Cooks who are flexible and management oriented enough to use
what help they're offered to its fullest potential, rather than being set in
their vision of how things Must Be.

My best feast skill is management. Adamantius had told me, knowing my
physical weaknesses as he does, that I needed to avoid actual physical labor
as much as possible, and to delegate whatever I could, so that's how I did
it. I know I overworked Avraham, but it served him right ;-) But, I was also
able to explain to people what needed to be done, and have myself mentally
organized enough that I could break each job down into bits that my
assistants could handle with minimal supervision, whether the short-term
volunteer couple who cooked handled the (very heavy pot of) peas for me, the
dish washer who Actually Cooked my rice, Andrea, who did a wonderful job on
the Dayboard ( but who got checked with a couple of times, to make sure she
didn't need extra help), or Avraham, who chopped and mixed almost everything
that needed chopped and mixed, having been fool enough to bring his food
processor (I've never used one).

Look at your people, look at your needs, and try to match them. It might be
that they'll work better in charge of a course, or in charge of a particular
area- meats, pastries, sauces, whatever. Use them to their potential, and
you'll help them learn, and improve your own management skills.

Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....