[Sca-cooks] Food Safety in the SCA

[Stefan li Rous]

Gwen Barclay said:
<<< If food is being pre-prepared and brought to another site  - be  
aware that certain cooked foods are a possible catastrophe waiting to  
happen.  Mashed potatoes - even partially mashed, rice and beans of  
any kind are very difficult to transport.  >>>

Hmmm. Okay, but what makes these particular items difficult to  
transport?  Is the problem in transporting them? Transporting them at  
safe temperatures? Or is the problem in warming them up again, safely?

<<< I will never forget when a helpful volunteer decided to start   
heating 10 lbs. of cooked beans in a steam table!  I found them  
bubbling over the side and smelling to high heaven. I realize that  
some foods that are "suspect" may not be applicable to events  
connected to SCA but it is always wise to be aware of possible  
problems ahead of time. >>>

Is there a problem with warming such foods in a steam table? ie: Do  
you need to warm them up on a stove first because the steam table  
only develops enough heat to keep food and not warm it up from a cold  
condition? But in that case, why did the beans get hot enough to  
bubble over the side? And why were the beans smelling? Was some of  
them burning? Or had they started rotting? Or something else?

I do have these files in the FEASTS section of the Florilegium.
warming-ovens-msg (10K)  6/ 1/08    Using warming ovens for SCA feasts.

Is a steam table different from a warming oven? I thought they were  
the same. If not, perhaps I need some information on how to correctly  
use steam tables, when a site has them.

fd-transport-msg  (18K)  3/16/08    Transporting cooked and prepared  
food.

I'd appreciate any additional info for these files, either here or in  
an email.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****