[Sca-cooks] Cooking & Serving...

[Michael Gunter]

>There are no West Kingdom level feasts (although i kinda cooked one for 
>150). Most feasts are on the Shire or Principality level, and a "big" feast 
>is 80 people - most are smaller.

Sounds kind of like how things were in Atenveldt. When I came there
and said I'd cooked for anywhere from 300 - 500 they were shocked.
A BIG feast there might be 200.

Ansteorra seems to do everything big. Yeeee Haw!

>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.

It's kind of a pain. Lots of pre-cooking helps. But not necessarily, I've
done the Pennsic Chili Party for 500 on coleman stoves and turkey
cookers. Having pre-made food allows for less time in preparation. But
you do a lot of work the weeks prior to the feast.

>And - plating? You mean, you actually serve each course onto each diner's 
>plate in the kitchen?

Yep. That way you avoid the "a piece of chicken is served...5 minutes
later a dollop of salad is served....5 minutes later a bit of quiche is 
served..."
syndrome. I like presenting the whole course as a real meal.
Family style serving is also an option that I've used. But that has problems
as well.  There are pluses and minuses with most serving methods.

>Doesn't this take an awful lot of time?

Not as much as it seems, nor as much as it should have this last feast.
Someone timed from when the first person with a platter came forward
to when the last one left as 15 minutes. Not bad, but a hell of a long
time if you were the person standing there with 8 plates waiting to get
served. It should have gone faster.

>
>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.

But sometimes you want to have the food served a certain way or topped
in some way that the diners may not understand.

>How does this work? Will i have to visit with a notebook?

Nah.

>i remain,
>Anahita

Gunthar