[Sca-cooks] Documentation
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Mon Aug 20 09:27:20 PDT 2012
I would say that food should always taste good, it just may not be to the
individual taste.
I gave up competing many years ago when I decided that the uneven quality of
the judging made the evaluations worthless. In one instance, a judge graded
the product down because I had used refined sugar, and "everyone knows they
didn't have sugar." In another, I won because the judge liked the product
despite skimpy documentation. Now, I do research, teach, occasionally
display and sometimes prepare feasts.
I'm leery of being a judge because there are many things in which I have
little interest or knowledge and I would not like to stunt a potential
master with erroneous pronouncements.
Bear
----- Original Message -----
See...this is part of why I'm always afraid to enter any kind of
competetion. A competition is where you should be able to try the more "out
there" dishes, as they are often not appropriate to serve at a feast. (Feast
is where the food should taste good to the majority of people...competition
is where you should be able to display specific period dishes that might
not.)
Ceara
________________________________
I recently did a Rumpbolt cooking entry, which included head cheese. I love
head cheese. Two of my judges did not. The documentation warned them it was
made with toes and tails and snouts and doubts (with some pork loin thrown
in).
One basically said "I don't like it and food should taste good so I have to
dock you on it". The other basically said "Well, I will be honest, I would
not eat this again, but I am glad I got to try it. Based on what I am
reading it looks like it turned out the way it should have, so good work."
Go figure. At least the one (who does not consider herself a cook) could see
what I was getting at with it. The other (who fancies herself a cook) was
very close minded.
Documentation should not be so scholarly that it confuses the judge who is
not so "into" that area as the presenter is. You never know when someone was
swooped off the street (so to speak) to fill in a judging area. I remember
being grabbed for map-making once just because I was a calligrapher and
illuminator!
Side note: The hunters at the event who tasted it loved it. ;)
Cailte
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list