[Sca-cooks] Atenveldt Coronation Feast - post mortem

[Michael Gunter]

>I am sure I am not the only person on the list waiting to hear about all
>the
>fun and excercise you got at Coronation over the weekend.  So fess up!  Or
>are you still soaking your blisters?
>
>
>
>THLady Olwen the Odd

Not really. It's just been busy. Yesterday I had to do
two courts and supervise the King's Champion tournament
so I didn't get home until fairly late and I was just
too bushed to go into any long details.

The menu and recipes are posted at:
http://scribe.atenveldt.org/feast/index.htm

The website was designed and created by HL Selene O'Malley.

Since Olwen brought it up I'll say that The Bright Hills
Cooks Guild that she is part of created some wonderful
subtleties out of marzipan. They sent a large bunch of marzipan
garlic both in cloves and heads to be put with the real garlic
I was presenting to the Crown. I'm not sure if I have told y'all
about me and garlic in Atenveldt. I also presented a gift of
a rather stylized version of the Arms of Atenveldt made of
marzipan and candied ginger. The Crown was delighted! Thank
you for the wonderful gift to our Kingdom, Olwen.

Let's see, now for the feast. Things were pretty much on
time. We were running a little behind but not much and it
was covered by two tournaments running a bit late. When
people were ready to eat, food was served.

I had a fantastic kitchen staff and the weather was good except
for the wind that kept blowing out the stoves. I had one person
who was my "Fire Dog" and who kept the stoves lit. He also grilled
the steaks.

This was done in a public park so the only facilities I had
was an electrical outlet and a spigot. Everything else was
brought in. I had six large two and three burner stoves, a
camp sink, several tables and some power strips. A lot of
coolers also. This was all done in a couple of portable "two
car garages".

I totally overestimated the pottage. We had tons left over.
If I had it to do over again I probably would have left out
the pottage. Or at least changed the ratio of water, greens
and oatmeal. I could never get it to taste right to me. It
was eaten but I think it was more because people were hungry
than it was really tasty. I feel I could have left it out
and still fed people well. And saved the considerable amount
of cash it required.

The rest of the meal went well. People raved about the chicken
and it was so easy to make. I made too much of the gravy as well.
The steak was popular as was the spaetzel. The cabbage and cucumber
salad was much spicier than I expected but I think it was a
nice spark to the meal. Many of the dishes changed people's thoughts
about period food being bland. The mushroom/leek crepe packages
were very good and popular. Unfortunately they aren't period.
Just something from my own fevered imagination inspired by a
dish by Jacques Pepin. The strudel came out good and the lady who
made the Boyled Creme recieved marriage proposals. Adding the
strawberry coulis to it also really set it off.

The period drinks, especially the Lemon Beer were a hit. I'm so
happy to get away from the usual feast drinks of lemonade, iced
tea and water.

Things I liked: The chicken was easy and popular. The balance of
crunchy/spicy/mild/sweet/sour/chewy was a good balance. People
were full. I liked the way it was served with servers going out
with trays and bringing back the dishes to be filled. This way
I could arrange the food in the proper order and there weren't
servers running around with a bunch of trays of just one item.
Offering three desserts impressed people. I deliberately did
not offer many traditional SCA feast items. No bread and honey
butter. No chunks of cheese. No glazed carrots. No roast beef
or poultry. I had several examples of people telling me thier
kids ate everything! I also was told by people that they didn't
like "X" but liked mine. Posting the website and having the
recipes available at the kitchen was also appreciated by those
with food allergies or dietary habits.

Things I would have changed: The pottage. Either change the proportions
or totally do away with it. Add bread to the pottage course.
Be more organized and know exactly what I wanted in the kitchen
and make sure it arrived. Some people that promised stuff didn't show
and I annoyed one of my main suppliers of kitchen gear because
I couldn't give an exact shopping list of what I needed.
Supervise the serving more closely. Head Table didn't get served
first as it should have too many times. And the people dishing
up the stuff were a bit to stingy with portions. I was too
busy to watch over that as well as I should have. Not doing
a feast when I had so many court and tournament duties.
Being more careful with the menu and watching the costs more.
I came in over budget. I HATE that!

But overall I'm happy with the feast. I think the menu was
well balanced and it gave some folks a few new ideas about SCA
feasting.

I was very lucky in that I had some totally fantastic people
helping me in all phases of the feast. I was just the director
and these people made it happen. Especially several people on
this list who showed up and worked their tails off. Thanks folks.
:-)

Because of my meal and the fact that I'm an evil person, I'm now
required to wear an apron at all times at events. So we are working
on several designs to be really, really bad.

I'm tired, but happy with it.

Gunthar

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