[Sca-cooks] Cooking & Serving...

[Olwen the Odd]

>Our available kitchens generally have between 2 industrial burners 
>available (really four, but only 2 accessible with big pots) and 4 
>residential burners (2 stoves of 4 burners each, with only 2 per stove 
>accessible with modest stock pots) and 2 industrial to 4 residential ovens. 
>This works fine for our size of feasts.

We have sometimes cooked for over a hundred on less than that!  But between 
Bright Hills Cooks Guild and some of it's members personal stuff we have the 
very biggest traveling kitchen I've every seen.  (If you have visited our 
camp at Pennsic you have seen some of it.)

>
>So i'm wondering, how the heck do you cook for 400!?!? There wouldn't even 
>be enough room in most kitchens for 3 courses of 3 dishes each for 400, let 
>alone trying to cook that much food in one.
>
>And - plating? You mean, you actually serve each course onto each diner's 
>plate in the kitchen? Doesn't this take an awful lot of time?

Plating, meaning putting foodstuffs onto serving dishes.  Some folks have 
very modest ware, some very fancy ware.  In Bright Hills we are known for 
our serving presentation.  Garnishes are figured into the cost and really 
don't add up to all that much.  A bit of parsley or kale or decorated egg 
and such don't cost much.  We have a core group that seem to put on these 
final touches just as plates are going out.  We were asked several years 
back to "go for the spiff" and we have tried to out-do ourselves every time.
>
>We generally have 8 people sitting per table - there is one server for one 
>or two tables, who just bring out serving dishes with enough of each food 
>for all the diners. The food gets on the tables quickly, then people help 
>themselves.
>
>How does this work? Will i have to visit with a notebook?
>
>Bemused in Berkeley
>Awestruck in Oakland
>Ruminating in Emeryville
>
>i remain,
>Anahita
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