[Sca-cooks] 12th Night

[Elaine Koogler]

Morses3 at aol.com wrote:

>I commend the lady for taking on the challenge of cooking for 12th night in 
>what some of us would consider to be challenging circumstances.
>
>How have others in the past overcome the limitations of such a setting and 
>what suggestions do they have to a future cook about problems to anticipate for 
>a similar setting in the future and possible solutions for them. As a new SCA 
>cook (but with lots of mundane kitchen experience), I would find the 
>information helpful for future reference.
>
>Geoffrey de Warenne
>  
>
I guess my biggest suggestion is to make sure you, as head cook, have 
final refusal on any site where the kitchen is not adequate...and 
"adequate" can vary from event to event.  IMHO an outdoor kitchen would 
not be a bad thing if you're cooking an informal, simple feast and/or if 
you're cooking for a smaller number.  Whatever you agree to, make sure, 
secondly, that you plan your feast around the facilities you have.  For 
example, if you have a school kitchen that doesn't have any stove-top 
burners, make sure you can do without...dishes that could be cooked in a 
convection oven rather than stovetop, for example. 

I know that, particularly here in Atlantia...though I'm sure the 
situation exists elsewhere as well...sites are becoming prohibitively 
expensive.  Sometimes we have to make compromises in order to get sites 
that are large enough to accommodate events like Twelfth Night.  The 
site that's being used for our Twelfth Night is quite elegant, and 
definitely large eenough to handle a Twelfth Night crowd.  Perhaps, dare 
I say it, we should consider not having a formal feast in this case, but 
rather an informal sideboard with finger foods that permits "grazing" 
over a long period of time.  I dunno...as the King of Siam said, "Is a 
puzzlement!"

Kiri