[Sca-cooks] Adjusting your Feast budget for Comps

Nick Sasso franiccolo at mindspring.com
Wed Apr 20 09:37:12 PDT 2011


Greetings from a far and strange voice of experiences many, fra niccolo difrancesco :o)

You do have a badger by the tail on this one.  It has been some eight years now since I last donned a tunic in the forges of culinary craft.  I gave it up for a restaurant in a small town.  I digress.

Aldyth, it really is a no-win situation that I've read in this thread.  There is a lot of partial information and lack of communication all over the place, and it seems you get to catch it all.  I can recommend to you that you can do a feast on a shoestring budget, but it does take a lot more time researching recipes, and a lot more work and skill on your part to develop the menus and working recipes.  Making a $3 feed look and feel like more is where the mastery/artistry wells up out of you.  You'll be looking at boiled grains, some fresh vegetables, maybe the last of the dried fruits from winter . . . and probably making the staples like bread and pie crusts from scratch.  You'll end up eliminating nearly any convenience product that makes our lives easier.  

Things like animal proteins and cheeses will be more condiment than focus.  Just the way it will be.  You may get away with one course that is a roasted meat or something like that, but you'll need a sale.  Root vegetables will be your friend, as will spices/seasonings.  In the more frugal menu, flavors and seasonings become the absolute bedrock of the taste experience . . . sometimes we can lean a little on that nice roast to carry some of the taste load . . . not now.  Techniques will also stand up and carry some load for you . . . developing strong crusting/caramelizing on meats before braising, "cheating" a little with some tomato paste or other umami condiments here and there (like fish sauce or anchovies).  STAFFING with skilled and trustworthy cooks is a requirement on this.  The more talent you can get involved and prepared before "The Day" the better cooking will go on site.

It won't be the funnest way I can think of to feed 200+ people, but if you do it, you will be a legend.  I stand with some of the other opinions before me that if you can make a strong stand and show how the guests will be given the short end of the stick, then maybe you can wrangle more financial support.  DO NOT spend your hard-earned money to prop up a potentially poorly executed venture by the Kingdom and Steward.  They get to make the calls, then they get to make the sacrifices to that end.  Find a way to do honorably to your guests, and if you find you simply cannot do so with the situation given, then it is admirable and honorable to let the people running it know you cannot.  Then let them find a sucker who'll play it their way.  You are a courageous woman to be taking this on and sticking in this far.We will just hope that the $750 is an advance for early purchasing.

pacem et bonum,
niccolo difrancesco


-----Original Message-----
On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 6:12 PM, Deborah Hammons
<mistressaldyth at gmail.com> wrote:
> I wish I had negotiated this one.  I was asked to cook, and after thinking a
> day, said yes.  The event steward was waiting to hear what was going on with
> the financials from Kingdom, because she had found a site, and needed the
> deposits, etc.  In the beginning, she thought cooking for 300 was the plan.
>  Well, the hall only seats 250, and that is in presentation mode.  The write
> up says  I will feed 250 or how ever many paid reservations I have up to
> that number by May 1.  I told them I needed $5 a head, and they delivered me
> a check for $750 which covers feeding 150.
> Aldyth
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