[Sca-cooks] Loooooong night for Head Cook at 12th Night

[David Friedman]

Olwen wrote:

>Grace had lots of good help and lots of "Grace! Go sit down!!" 
>Bless her heart, she kept getting up to make sure everyone working 
>was comfortable doing what they were tasked to do, and happy doing 
>it.  That seems to be always a way she has of going about things.
>
>It was a well organized kitchen affair that, I hear, was spoken of 
>on this list while I was off it.  Since it was a caterer's hall, 
>cooking had to be done outside, but the day was not unfair, although 
>a bit windy at times.  There were different stations in the long 
>prep hall and everyone seemed very comfortable and happy with their 
>assigned or volunteered for tasks.  As in many feasts, some items 
>were prepared in advance and portioning and plating were the task at 
>hand that was done in one area, for the most part.
>
>Servers were well lined up in advance and very friendly and 
>gracious.  As I went in to collect the last bits of my things, Grace 
>was all smiles and clean-up was well underway.
>
>Then she went and had her daughter!

Congratulations to Lady Grace!

That would be an interesting organizational challenge. Suppose you 
discovered that at the (large) event for which you had agreed to cook 
the feast, you would be either (1) about 9 months pregnant--unable to 
reach the cutting board or the sink and easily exhausted, or (2) in 
the maternity hospital, or (3) a brand-new parent--exhausted, 
sleep-deprived, and with a newborn infant in arms. How would you do 
your planning?

The obvious things are to have everything--recipes, plans, timing, 
equpment--written down in great detail, to have a person in charge of 
each dish who has cooked that dish before, to have a deputy ready to 
take over at any time, to have a plan in place for getting from the 
site to the hospital that doesn't involve anyone essential to the 
kitchen. What else?

Elizabeth/Betty Cook