[Sca-cooks] Cooking contest

[Karin Burgess]

Here in Caid, a shire holds an Iron Chef contest every year .  This year, at my suggestions, they will be staggering the start and stop times (and Selene's idea of keeping the "secret" ingredients hidden)  This at least helps a bit with the serving and presentations. The 2 times I entered, I was 2nd (there are only 2 entries) and though I did win, I was unhappy that things weren't as hot/cold or as crisp I would have liked
   
  -Muiriath 

Anne-Marie Rousseau <dailleurs at liripipe.com> wrote:
  hey all from Anne-Marie
hmmm. I'm a laurel who cooks. I'm also a pelican who cooks ;). I have entered 
competitions and done fairly well with my food stuff (including a couple research 
papers, one of which became a CA on French food in the Renaissance). I have cooked 
feasts, written cookbooks, taught a jillion classes on all kinds of stuff, catered 
parties in the SCA and in the real world...

part of the issue is that food is transitory. it is a very unique site which will 
allow cooking to happen at it, and the kitchen facilities are often taken up by the 
events dinner plans.

if you do manage to finagle some sort of kitchen arrangement (and I've done 
everything from a campstove to a firebox in the parking lot ;)), then there's the 
matter of timing. for many food entries, for them to be presented at their best, 
you need to know WHEN you will be judged. in my experience A/S events are often 
ahem fluid? in scheduling ;). I know when I entered my pastez en pot (lamb stew 
from le Menagier), I ended up being judged three hours late. Fortunately I had 
planned for this, and had the stew sitting happily in a crock pot so that I could 
dish up at a moments notice.

unlike a costume or a sonnet or a sword, food doesnt do so well with sitting around 
until the judges get to you.

also, food tends to be more subjective. you can look at documentation, application 
of technique, etc but when it comes down to it, does it taste good? and if, for 
example, the entry is that pear and anise stew from the german source, I wouldnt 
even be able to smell it (ugh. anise.) and so wouldnt be able to grade it very well 
if I was judging it. the fit of a costume? that is objective. it fits, or it 
doesnt. the balance of a sword, the layout of a scroll, etc. are judged very 
differently.

does that make sense?

--ANne-Marie, who tends towards art forms that are difficult to squish into your 
standard A/S competition format. like food. or horses ;)

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