[Sca-cooks] Outlands Coronation Feast-PSA
Stefan li Rous
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Thu Apr 23 00:49:50 PDT 2009
And I don't think anyone here has said this feast will be a disaster.
A feast does not have to be a period feast to be a good feast,
although in my opinion starting off not being a period one makes it
that much more difficult for it to be a great feast.
Nor do I have any concern that Shoshonna isn't up to the task, after
seeing some of her comments here in the short time she has been here.
Taking over such a feast in such a situation does say a lot for
Shoshonna. The comments here alone show it isn't an easy job and
comes with extra pressure. The combined knowledge on this list has
amazed me many times though and I suspect that if she needs help, she
can find help here.
On the other hand, I have problems with this original cook's
organization. The ability to cook is only one part, perhaps even a
small part, of the job of a headcook. Depending upon the cook's
skills and how "hands on" they are, they most likely will not cook
every dish. A lot of the work of a headcook is organization and
logistics. You can find quite a number of articles in the Florilegium
and elsewhere about how to cook a feast. I suspect very few of them
talk only about cooking the feast.
You can't put on a major feast alone, whether you prefer it that way
or not. And thinking you can is irresponsible. Even if you could cook
the entire feast alone, no one knows what might happen before that
feast gets completed. If you are cooking the feast alone, it means
you are even more essential to the feast. I guess that that is good
if you feel insecure, but headcooks, and really any manager, needs to
learn to get their sense of accomplishment from the team's success.
Sometimes things like Kiri's situation come up. I think I can
remember stories told here of headcooks being involved in traffic
accidents on the way to the event. Yes, as in Kiri's case things can
often still work out well. Sometimes making them work out takes such
fabulous effort and work that the story makes it in to my fst-
disasters-msg file. But isn't it better for everyone concerned,
including the "customers/clients/eaters" if there is a back-up just
in case something happens, someone who knows what is planned, where
the food is etc.?
How many SCA Kings (or Generals) walk on to the battlefield having
never discussed the/their battle plans with their subordinates,
thinking they are going to win the battle by themselves or not taking
into account that they, being a major target, might not be there to
direct the entire battle? Gunthar?
Okay, I'm stepping off the soapbox.
Stefan
=====
And this isn't always a disaster. Some years back, I was scheduled
to cook
a Far Eastern event...I was the only one in our Barony who knew much, if
anything, about this cuisine. I did all of the research, came up with a
recipe, did a pre-cook, got everything ready. Then a couple of days
before
the event, I got word that my step-mother has passed away. And I
needed the
other person who really knew what I was doing with me...my husband! Our
friends from our group and several other neighboring groups picked up
where
I left off and cooked what I'm given to understand, a dynamite
feast. So it
can be done...
Kiri
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Deborah Hammons
<mistressaldyth at gmail.com>wrote:
Just a little aside. The group Shoshonna lives in has cooks. Some of
them,
the prior cook to coronation being one of them, prefer to work alone. I
think the last time he cooked, Shoshonna did quite a bit of pre
cooking for
him.
She will do just fine. And there are a number of us who are ready to
help
if she needs it.
Aldyth
--------
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 ****
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