Early Morning Ramblings from a Feast Cook
Nov. 18th, 2008 04:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stitchwhichFirst, a question. Or rather a series of questions. Am I the only Feast Cook who files a report? And if not, what do you put in your report? What I'm thinking I should put in is:
Menu (with recipes, at least in our Cook's Guild files)
Cost of feast as advertised and the actual cost
Number of diners prepared for, actual number
What the kitchen was like and what might need to be prepared for if we use it again
Misc. Notes: what worked, what went badly, last-minute changes, who was in the kitchen as helpers
I don't know if I'll do it again. Something like childbirth, the blend of stress and worry capped by joy is tough to boil down to a simple "yes" or "no". Don't get me wrong - on the actual day I really enjoyed myself. That is the part that was like being given the new baby to hold. But the two weeks leading up to the event - not so much. I stressed out in a major way and knew that I was doing it. I have, in fact, slept more than 20 hours a day since Saturday. That's an excess of 'recovery'. For the first time in my memory I made several financial errors (double-entries, misreading of amounts) in our personal accounts as well as in the baronial advance during the weeks before the event. That it worked out was simply luck on my part.
In other words, I don't trust myself.
This has never happened this badly before. And I find that I don't really mind the idea of cooking for Bullfrog - the format is dead easy since it's an all-day food board with no specific dining time. But the feast format... well, I honestly don't know if I am up to it.
I have tried everything that I know of to reduce the stress.
- The menu was set, pretty much, over a month ago (although I vexed the Autocrat by not releasing it until the week of the event, thanks to doubts, that were borne out, in the supply of some of the dishes) and pared it down to mostly foods I could prepare in my sleep with only a couple of dishes I'd not tried before.
- I pre-shopped early to price the food and set up a program to compare all the prices at the different sources.
- I knew in advance I'd have a kick-ass crew I could absolutely count on even if something happened to me on the day, they could pull it off with no problem.
-What pre-cooking needed to be done was done in plenty of time.
- I stayed under budget, in fact added an extra table's worth of food just in case the feast sold out and there was a waiting list.
- I was familiar with the kitchen and planned the menu with it in mind.
Was there anything else I could have done? Barring taking valium everyday, that is? In the two weeks preceding the event, I read books, sewed new livery for Their Excellencies to present, visited friends, went to an event... in other words, stayed busy doing things I enjoyed. But what I didn't do, couldn't do, was relax enough to truly sleep or rid myself of the feeling of impending doom even though I knew intellectually that I had all the bases covered.
Perhaps that fades with experience. If so, the cure would be to keep going and get that experience. But I have a feeling that isn't what is happening and that I really am not cut out to be the Head Cook. I have a dear friend who is like that - she is the best 'second cook' in our barony but put her in charge of a feast and she freezes like a coney trapped by a snake.
I just don't know.
----
About those amount guidelines. Here's what I had saved and read (and actually used this time, going for the lowest amount suggested)
Here is an excerpt from "Feast Planner's Handbook" by Mistress Christianna.
Very often, the Autocrat will come up with a figure for food that fits in with the overall event cost, and then assign it to the Feastcrat. . . The average person's stomach holds roughly 32oz. of food. Plan on serving amounts that do not exceed a total of 32 oz. per diner spread out over all of the courses planned for the meal.
A general way to look at the distribution of the types of foods to serve is to look at the typical expenditures on meals, 40% on meat, poultry and fish; 35% on produce, beverages, and misc. groceries; 17.5% on eggs, butter, cheese, dairy; 7.5% on breads and desserts.
From a poster on the SCA Food & Feast List:
-I plan on 8-12 ounces of protein per person for an evening feast. This includes meats, cheeses, and eggs. It seems like a lot, but remember, this is supposed to be a feast, and not an ordinary dinner. You can fill them up on veggies and starches, but when it comes right down to it, if you skimp on the meat portions, they'll notice.
-When budgeting things like rice, pasta, etc. -- i.e., cheap filler -- your average person is generally going to end up eating a very small amount -- like 1/4 cup. However, two cups of rice spread out on a large serving platter looks silly. Budget in enough per platter so as not to look like you're skimping. It's cheap, and you can always bag up the leftovers and send them home with people.
- I usually try to budget somewhere between the two, say 1/4 to 1/8 of a loaf per person.
From Urtatim:
Usually when i plan, a course has at least:
-- a meat dish - and one or more sauces if the meat is not cooked in sauce;
-- a grain/pulse/carb dish;
-- a vegetable dish;
-- at least one other dish which may be a sweet or savory tart or a fruit dish or another vegetable or...
From another poster on the SCA Cook's List:
In my experience 20-25 oz. of food is about what people will eat on average.
Fighters can eat more, kids eat less... it averages out. (I will use 22.5 as an average value below)
----
I served two courses, with a total of 24 oz per diner and probably half of the second course was returned untouched.
Menu (with recipes, at least in our Cook's Guild files)
Cost of feast as advertised and the actual cost
Number of diners prepared for, actual number
What the kitchen was like and what might need to be prepared for if we use it again
Misc. Notes: what worked, what went badly, last-minute changes, who was in the kitchen as helpers
I don't know if I'll do it again. Something like childbirth, the blend of stress and worry capped by joy is tough to boil down to a simple "yes" or "no". Don't get me wrong - on the actual day I really enjoyed myself. That is the part that was like being given the new baby to hold. But the two weeks leading up to the event - not so much. I stressed out in a major way and knew that I was doing it. I have, in fact, slept more than 20 hours a day since Saturday. That's an excess of 'recovery'. For the first time in my memory I made several financial errors (double-entries, misreading of amounts) in our personal accounts as well as in the baronial advance during the weeks before the event. That it worked out was simply luck on my part.
In other words, I don't trust myself.
This has never happened this badly before. And I find that I don't really mind the idea of cooking for Bullfrog - the format is dead easy since it's an all-day food board with no specific dining time. But the feast format... well, I honestly don't know if I am up to it.
I have tried everything that I know of to reduce the stress.
- The menu was set, pretty much, over a month ago (although I vexed the Autocrat by not releasing it until the week of the event, thanks to doubts, that were borne out, in the supply of some of the dishes) and pared it down to mostly foods I could prepare in my sleep with only a couple of dishes I'd not tried before.
- I pre-shopped early to price the food and set up a program to compare all the prices at the different sources.
- I knew in advance I'd have a kick-ass crew I could absolutely count on even if something happened to me on the day, they could pull it off with no problem.
-What pre-cooking needed to be done was done in plenty of time.
- I stayed under budget, in fact added an extra table's worth of food just in case the feast sold out and there was a waiting list.
- I was familiar with the kitchen and planned the menu with it in mind.
Was there anything else I could have done? Barring taking valium everyday, that is? In the two weeks preceding the event, I read books, sewed new livery for Their Excellencies to present, visited friends, went to an event... in other words, stayed busy doing things I enjoyed. But what I didn't do, couldn't do, was relax enough to truly sleep or rid myself of the feeling of impending doom even though I knew intellectually that I had all the bases covered.
Perhaps that fades with experience. If so, the cure would be to keep going and get that experience. But I have a feeling that isn't what is happening and that I really am not cut out to be the Head Cook. I have a dear friend who is like that - she is the best 'second cook' in our barony but put her in charge of a feast and she freezes like a coney trapped by a snake.
I just don't know.
----
About those amount guidelines. Here's what I had saved and read (and actually used this time, going for the lowest amount suggested)
Here is an excerpt from "Feast Planner's Handbook" by Mistress Christianna.
Very often, the Autocrat will come up with a figure for food that fits in with the overall event cost, and then assign it to the Feastcrat. . . The average person's stomach holds roughly 32oz. of food. Plan on serving amounts that do not exceed a total of 32 oz. per diner spread out over all of the courses planned for the meal.
A general way to look at the distribution of the types of foods to serve is to look at the typical expenditures on meals, 40% on meat, poultry and fish; 35% on produce, beverages, and misc. groceries; 17.5% on eggs, butter, cheese, dairy; 7.5% on breads and desserts.
From a poster on the SCA Food & Feast List:
-I plan on 8-12 ounces of protein per person for an evening feast. This includes meats, cheeses, and eggs. It seems like a lot, but remember, this is supposed to be a feast, and not an ordinary dinner. You can fill them up on veggies and starches, but when it comes right down to it, if you skimp on the meat portions, they'll notice.
-When budgeting things like rice, pasta, etc. -- i.e., cheap filler -- your average person is generally going to end up eating a very small amount -- like 1/4 cup. However, two cups of rice spread out on a large serving platter looks silly. Budget in enough per platter so as not to look like you're skimping. It's cheap, and you can always bag up the leftovers and send them home with people.
- I usually try to budget somewhere between the two, say 1/4 to 1/8 of a loaf per person.
From Urtatim:
Usually when i plan, a course has at least:
-- a meat dish - and one or more sauces if the meat is not cooked in sauce;
-- a grain/pulse/carb dish;
-- a vegetable dish;
-- at least one other dish which may be a sweet or savory tart or a fruit dish or another vegetable or...
From another poster on the SCA Cook's List:
In my experience 20-25 oz. of food is about what people will eat on average.
Fighters can eat more, kids eat less... it averages out. (I will use 22.5 as an average value below)
----
I served two courses, with a total of 24 oz per diner and probably half of the second course was returned untouched.
