Planning and Cooking an Event Feast
Or the SCA Chefs' Guide to Sanity
by Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia and Mistress Maysun, edited by Mistress Maysun
(copyright Micaela Burnham and Missy Pankake 2000)
Introduction
I believe in period style feasts. This is not to say that I think anyone could or should do a "completely authentic" feast. Not only is this probably impossible, but it would also be unsanitary, unpalatable to modern tastes, and unbelievably expensive. Medieval and Renaissance feasts were extremely long and had dozens of courses or removes. There was no modern concept of a balanced diet or nutrition. Food preservation was limited, and many foods were salted, preserved in vinegar, and dried. Fresh foods were available only in the short growing season--not year round. Cooking methods frequently led to dishes that were overcooked by modern standards. There were few sweets. Furthermore, in period labor was cheap, and there were hordes of servants to help with preparation. [1]
Despite these inconvenient facts, the doughty SCA chef may forge ahead in planning and preparing a "period style" feast. By "period style" I mean using foods found in period and recipes that are derived from period sources. When possible, period cooking methods and presentation of dishes should be incorporated. The feast menu may (and should in my mind) come from a single time and place, and all recipes and foods should be documentable to that time and place. However, certain allowances for our mundaneness must be made. A balanced menu that is nutritionally sound, sanitary methods of preservation and preparation, a shorter serving time, fewer kitchen helpers, a smaller budget, and so on. The SCA chef spans the best of two worlds--a caterer with historical research skills. If this is something that interests you, read on.
Menu Planning
It is not any harder to cook a "period style" feast than it is one that is not historical at all. The extra work comes only in the planning stage. This is where your research skills are used and needed.
You cannot start planning too soon. Many SCA groups line up chefs one to two years in advance. As soon as you know you are doing a feast, begin the planning phase. Even on short notice, you will need at least a week to adequately plan a menu. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time at each phase of preparation for your feast.
Before deciding on any actual recipes, the chef needs a game plan. When putting together a plan, you will need to consider the following factors: the budget (total and per person), how many will be served, type of service (will you have servers or will you use someone from each table come get food?), the size of the hall, the type of event, and the theme of the event. If there is a theme, the feast should be consistent with that theme.
If there is not a theme, the chef should come up with one for the feast. I believe every feast should be set in a historical period and place. Others may disagree, and I know that many SCA chefs like to mix times and places. To my mind this is not a "period style" feast. In period you would not find stuffed grape leaves, sauerkraut, and fancy Elizabethan desserts on the same table. There are many dishes that are found in a large number of times and places, but there are many that are not. Your research will tell you the difference.
Once you have a good list of your factors and have decided on a theme, you can decide on some basics: how many removes, how many dishes in each remove, how many meat dishes, whether there will be palate cleansers, whether there will be a soup, and so on. These may be flexible and can be changed as you decide on individual recipes, but it is a good idea to have an idea of where you are going ahead of time. Once you have decided on the basics, you can begin the really fun part--researching your meal and recipes.
Researching The Feast
There are a number of different schools of thought on researching period dishes. Some SCA chefs prefer to use recipes that have been redacted[2] (and hopefully tested) by others. They use period style cookbooks--and there are many good ones available. Others like to go to the period sources and redact and test the recipes themselves. Still others (I am one of these) like to research both period style cookbooks and original recipes, and then develop totally original recipes that are based on the foods, spices, cooking methods, and recipes of a particular culture. None of these is wrong, and you can use all three methods in a single feast. While you are doing your research, be sure to make notes on particular dishes that catch your fancy. Be sure to research other related aspects of the culture, such as types of dishes and serving vessels, common beverages, the importance of food to the culture, whom they traded with and what was traded, and any other things that would impact on your menu and add to the period feel of the feast.
When putting together recipes to make up a menu, there are a number of things to keep in mind. First, make sure there is a variety in each remove--different colors, tastes, textures, spices temperatures, and preparation methods. Second, make it a well-balanced meal in terms of the ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables, fruits, and sweets. Make sure that you have protein dishes that vegetarians can eat and include some high fiber foods. Try to balance unusual recipes with Anormal@ foods that most people will eat. Also think about the labor involved for each recipe--balance work-intensive dishes with simple dishes. Last, make sure that you do not have a particular ingredient or spice that is in all or even a majority of your dishes. This may be easier than you think with common spices like black pepper, cinnamon, or garlic. Not only is this good for variety, but it helps people with allergy problems. Now, keeping all this in mind, pick out your recipes and group them into removes.
Beverages
I have made this a separate section because it is so often neglected. Chefs automatically serve iced tea without considering other possibilities. (This may not be common practice above the Mason-Dixon line, but in the south it is a staple.) I tend to avoid iced tea because it is an out of period beverage. Research beverages and try to do at least one that is in a period style. Granted, alcoholic beverages were by far the most common in period, but there are others, and there are ways of doing non-alcoholic versions of wines and liquors. SCA policy no longer allows alcoholic beverages to be a part of a feast.[3]
There should always be water served at feast. Regardless of whatever else you provide, water must be included. It is by far the most efficient way of keeping hydrated and is especially necessary in hot, crowded halls where most people may also be drinking alcohol, colas, and tea--all of which cause fluid loss.
Make sure you have enough beverage servers. Children (ages 8 and up) want to help at events and may have trouble sitting through a whole feast anyway. Serving beverages gives them a way to be of service, learn about the importance of service, and to move around. If you have enough pitchers, another option is to put a full pitcher on each table and assign several people to refill them as necessary.
Soltelties
Soltelties (or “subtleties”) are special Ashow off@ presentations during feast. They can be edible or non-edible food soltelties or non-food soltelties. They are generally presented between removes, and the feastcrat can have as many or as few as he or she wants.
An edible food solteltie can be something like marzipan sculpted into a chessboard and pieces or fantastic animals made by assembling parts of various cooked animals. Large fowl, such as turkeys or geese can be decorated to look like swans or peacocks. Cakes, marzipan, and aspic are easy to carve and may be turned into anything the heart desires. Vegetables and fruit, likewise, can be made into flowers and animals with the help of simple garnishing tools.
One famous example of a non-edible food solteltie is A four-and-twenty blackbirds@--live birds released out of a large pie shell. In period, many soltelties were gilded, and gold leafing is still an elegant option. Although gold is technically edible, the adhesives used in the gilding process are not. Gold or silver leaf can easily be laid on pastry, nuts, fruits, and many other foods.[4]
Non-food soltelties can include dances, songs, or stories. The way you present a dish to high table may be a solteltie itself. The way in which your servers bring out the food can also be made into a solteltie.
Some period style cookbooks include sections on soltelties, and there are many extant examples described in period literature. Whatever soltelties you choose should complement the feast theme. Be creative and have fun.[5] Testing the Menu
Test your recipes now in small quantities. Four to eight servings is sufficient to give you an idea of preparation time, techniques, equipment needed, and any problems that you might run into. Whenever possible, test all the recipes for a single remove at the same time. The whole feast would be ideal, but is not always possible. While cooking your dishes, make notes on the recipes you have written out. Note any special equipment that you need, preparation times for the various processes involved, even what color something should be, or how finely chopped an ingredient should be. Make the recipe as detailed as possible so your kitchen help at the event can easily follow your recipes without asking you questions.
Serve the test dishes in the same combination as the feast whenever possible. Try to have people with varying tastes to help you taste test the foods. You may love an ingredient that everyone else thinks is really weird. Make sure your tasters know that you want honest opinions.
Make notes of any adjustments you are going to make to the recipes immediately so you do not forget. You will find that seasoning adjustments are by far your most common, followed by cooking times, amounts of liquid, and sweetness levels. Any recipe that requires major adjustments will have to be tested again. Some may be scrapped entirely and a new one substituted. This is not a failure; it is part of the process.
Beware of having a lot of recipes that are labor intensive. You will make yourself crazy if this happens. What is "a little bit of trouble" serving four may become a major nightmare when cooking for two hundred. Try to keep to mostly simple preparation methods and/or plan to do a lot of advance preparation on the more complicated dishes.
Increasing Amounts
Large quantity cooking would be much easier if you could just multiply all the ingredients by the number of people you expect to feed, and it ended there. This is always where you start, but unfortunately it is not that simple. There is likewise no hard and fast rule on increasing amounts where multiplication will not apply. Below are a few hints, but that is all they are.Multiply out your amounts by the number of people you expect to feed. When you do this, take into account that people will eat less of each dish if there are a lot of dishes provided. Many recipes may need to be reduced by 1/3 to 1/2 to account for this. This is especially true of side dishes. You can also serve smaller portions in later removes than in earlier ones. People fill up, and do not want as much later on in the feast. Also, sauce amounts can usually be reduced by as much as a third, depending on how they will be served. Use common sense. Anything that looks too big or too small probably is.
Look at the recipes with the increased amounts. Does anything stick out, or look out of place? Example: If you were boiling noodles for four in one quart of water, you are now boiling noodles for 200 in twelve-and-a-half gallons. This is not necessary. The water amount can be reduced for quantity cooking as long as you stir frequently to keep anything from sticking to the pot. (Note: This does not apply to rice where all the liquid is absorbed!) Check for other things along these lines.
Meat amounts will generally be reduced, especially if you are serving more than one meat dish. A recipe that calls for 1/2 lb. of meat per person assumes that this is the only meat in a four to six dish meal. Generally 1/4 to 1/3 lb. of meat per person is sufficient in feast recipes. All of the meat portions added together should not be more than ½ to 1 lb. per person for the entire feast. You will reduce other ingredients in the recipes accordingly, but not necessarily all of them. For instance, in a stew you could leave the vegetables and liquid the same while reducing the meat alone. In other dishes, you may reduce the seasonings and salt (especially if they are meant to season the meat which has been reduced in amount) but leave other ingredients in the larger amounts.
Very strong spices, such as garlic, may need to be reduced because increasing the amount increases the strength multiplicatively and not arithmetically. (It increases by a power--is that clearer?) You may need to reduce some of these by as much as half or more. On the other hand, subtle herbs may need to be increased by a third or more to avoid having other flavors overwhelm them. Salt and pepper generally remain the same, but may need to be increased in very bland dishes such as lentils and some vegetables.
As you scale up your recipes, put ranges on your seasonings that you suspect will need adjustments, i.e. "1/3 to 1/2 Tablespoon to taste." Then be sure to taste while it is being cooked at feast to get the amount right. The final adjustments come during the preparation of the feast. Seasoning adjustments may change every time you make a dish depending on the weather, how strong that particular batch of spice or herb was, etc. Organization
Organization is the key to stress free (O.K., stress reduced) cooking in the SCA. In the organization phase, you will be making lots of lists, flow charts, and generating other kinds of paperwork. Every detail you pay attention to now will be one less headache you have later, so don't rush it. Be methodical and thorough.
First write out all your recipes in the full amounts you will be cooking at feast. Include all the notes you have made and any seasoning ranges. At the bottom, list any special equipment that is needed in preparation of the dish. (Note: if you are doing a poultry dish where the poultry is whole or in large pieces, you should always have an instant read thermometer on this list. Poultry should never be served without checking each and every piece to make sure that the internal temperature is at least 180 degrees F.) List food processors, blenders, kitchen scales, thermometers, funnels, colanders, graters, egg slicers, cherry pitters, apple corers, etc.
From this recipe list, you will generate several other lists. One of these will be your equipment list. This should include not only the special equipment you have noted, but also what pots and pans you will need, dish washing materials, food storage products like zipper bags and foil, and so on. Be sure to check with the site and your group to find out what is already available and make notes next to those items; "provided by site," or "group has in stock."
You will also generate your shopping lists now. Have a separate list for each store that you plan to shop at. Don't forget to include any equipment that needs to be purchased after checking with the site and group. Before finalizing these lists, call around for the best prices, especially on the high priced items like meat. Depending on what's available in your area, you may shop at a number of different stores such as discount stores (Sam's or Wal-Mart), a wholesale produce market, a food co-op, a butcher, a gourmet food store, a liquor store, a regular supermarket, a restaurant supply store, etc. Don't be afraid to check with members of your group for the best places to shop.
The next thing you will do is develop a cooking schedule or flow chart from your recipes. Starting from the time the feast will be served, work backwards, inserting what activities should be done when. Remember to take into account increased time for cooking large quantities. Give yourself breathing room--don't cut anything too close. Remember to allow time for the food to be put on serving dishes and moved to the staging area.[6] Note on your schedule what type of serving dish should be used for each food dish. Check on the kinds and amounts of serving dishes, bowls, and platters that are available to you through the site and the group. Make sure in advance that you will have enough for the dishes when you need them. This will help eliminate confusion during the feast when you are at your busiest.
If you are doing ornate presentations or garnishing, allow ample time for this. Nothing is too small to be put on the schedule. If it is a necessary operation, include it. This will help you remember not only when to do things, but what needs to be done. Do not have too much time between the serving of removes. Twenty minutes should be ample time to get the next remove out. If it isn't, your menu is flawed and will need to be altered.
Make a list of those recipes that will be totally prepared or prepped in advance of the event, and another for the prep work that you will do on Friday night. Do not forget to include these foods on your flow chart as well--they still have to be thawed/warmed/garnished, put on plates, and served. This schedule is very important. It will keep you and your staff organized and will show you your busiest times, so that you can plan ahead to have extra help when you need it. Once you get to the site, tape this schedule to the refrigerator door or some other convenient location. As things are done, cross them off. This way you will always know where you are and what needs to be done next.
Be sure to go to the site in advance of the event and check the kitchen facilities. Make sure that all the equipment that should be there, is there. Make sure that all the burners on the stove work, and check the ovens, refrigerators, and so on. Make notes so that you can look at your recipes and flow chart later and know for sure that you will have enough burners or ovens at the times you need them. If you find that you need more than is available, you will need to make arrangements to borrow or rent electric or gas cookers, pre-prepare some dishes, or change your menu.
Check your lists and charts several times. Then have someone else check them to make sure you have not forgotten anything. Check with the group about any expenditures on rental equipment and any other special needs you will have. Start getting a list of volunteers to help you with feast.
The final lists you make should be a menu and a list of ingredients for each dish. These should be put into formats that are easily followed and readable. You will give copies to the autocrat for publication in the event flyer that is handed out at Troll, and you will post copies in a prominent place in the feast hall. This is required to protect the SCA from liability. The ingredients list allows people with food allergies or other health problems to check what dishes they can and cannot eat. If you are using packaged products, list their entire ingredients list. Make particular note of herbs and spices, preservatives, artificial colors, MSG, and sulfites as these are particularly common allergens. It is not the chef=s responsibility to accommodate everyone with food allergies or special diets (although it is becoming traditional to have enough foods to satisfy vegetarians.) If someone makes a special request, it is up to the individual chef to determine whether or not the request can be accommodated. It is nice to do when possible, but no one expects an SCA chef to be a short-order cook.
Advance Cooking and Shopping
Many dishes can be made up to two months in advance of the feast if you access to enough freezer space. Some foods, such as breads, do especially well with freezing. If you intend to bake your own bread, I strongly recommend that you make it in advance and freeze it. Many types of pastries and pies also do well with freezing, although this will depend on the type of filling. Some other foods may also freeze well.
Some foods may be made in advance that do not require freezing. Pickled vegetables must be made in advance (or they won't pickle). Other foods may be canned in glass jars, especially if you have access to a large pressure cooker. Almost any food may be canned under pressure and will keep for a long time. Get a good book on canning before you decide to do this, and keep in mind that canning will change the flavor and texture of your foods.
There are many period methods of food preservation that are also useful to the feastcrat. Submerging foods in olive oil or honey may be used with cheeses and fruits. Meats and fish can be dried, salted, or smoked (as can many other foods). If you choose to use one of these methods, be sure to consult modern books on the subject to insure that your foods will be properly preserved and sanitary.
Some foods may be made in advance that require no special preservation, such as vinegar and oil salad dressings, spice mixtures, and so on. Some chefs find it useful to mix seasonings in advance and put them in labeled zipper bags. This can eliminate a lot of measuring at the event. How you do your shopping will determine if this is practical for you.Much of your shopping can be done in advance of the event if you have enough storage space. Most meats and fresh produce, of course, will have to be bought the Friday of the event. Make sure to plan enough time to get your food. When doing your Friday shopping, arrange to get the things that spoil the quickest last.
Remember that unfrozen chicken can start to grow salmonella bacteria very quickly, and that produce will begin to wilt in about 45 minutes when not refrigerated. Unfrozen poultry must be kept cold if it will travel for more than 15 minutes in your car. Know your transportation times and have coolers if you need them. Be sure to put plenty of ice over the foods to make sure they are kept cold. If someone else is transporting food for you, make sure that they know what to do as well.
Pre-Preparation at the Event
It's Friday--you, the food, and the equipment that you need are at the site. Now is the time to get really organized. Set up the kitchen so that you know where everything is, and so that the things you will need the most are accessible. Work with the breakfast cook so your things will not be in their way and vice versa.
Now, do everything that can be done the day before. Peel and chop vegetables, thaw meats and breads, make sauces and condiments, mix spices (make sure to label these well so they do not get mixed up), and make any dishes that will be served cold that will keep in the refrigerator. What you do on Friday night is limited only by how much refrigeration space you have available. Try to do as much as possible. You will be glad you did.
Cooking the Feast
The cooking will start sometime after breakfast is cleared away. Exactly when will depend on your schedule. It will continue until the last remove is served. If you have planned well, it should run smoothly, and there will be plenty of time to relax and take breaks until serving time nears.Stay calm and follow your schedule. Check and recheck your recipes when assembling ingredients. Stay organized. Delegate tasks to your staff. Be sure to taste as you cook and adjust seasonings as necessary.
Keep your work areas clean. Floors must be swept, counters wiped, and pots washed throughout the cooking process. Have someone on your staff do these things. Anything that has touched raw chicken should be washed with a mild bleach solution immediately, and all raw meat products must be handled with care and cleaned up after. Make sure your kitchen is a sanitary one.[7]
Occasionally something will happen, and a dish will go totally wrong. When this happens, throw it out. If it cannot be salvaged, it must be scrapped. Never send out a dish that you know is bad. If it is a matter of an undercooked main dish, move the dish to a later remove, delay the feast if necessary, or announce that there will be a delay between removes due to problems with the ovens. If you burn it, it's garbage.
Staff
You should have your staff together well before the event. It is a good idea to have different people signed up for different times. This avoids overworking your staff and also avoids mistakes due to fatigue. Have one group of folks to help with pre-preparation before the event, a different group for Friday night, another for Saturday during the day, and a different one for actually serving up the feast--your most hectic time. Encourage people not to try to do everything, though you can have a number of the same people in more than one of these groups.
Keep in mind that the busiest time for you will be while the feast is being served and just before. During this time have people with SCA and/or mundane food service experience. You will need people who can move and act quickly without getting panicked. Assign two or three people whose sole job it is to put food on the serving dishes in the staging area.
You need to have a large enough staging area for all the food platters and dishes for a single remove. The food will be put into the serving dishes, garnished, or sauced if appropriate, then picked up by the servers in this area. Keep the area clear of clutter and wipe it down with a disinfectant cloth regularly.
You will also need one to two people in the kitchen who do nothing but wash dirty pots, pans, and returned serving dishes. If your group is like most, there are never enough separate serving dishes for an entire feast, so they will have to be returned to the kitchen and washed after each remove so they can be used again later. Furthermore, there is just no excuse for leaving a filthy kitchen. Things should be kept clean all during the cooking process. Floors should be swept regularly, counters wiped, grease cleaned up and pots and utensils washed. Not only is this more sanitary during the cooking process, but will make life easier for those that come into your kitchen afterwards to clean up. After all, you have to live with these people long after the feast is over.Make sure that your staff is familiar with the lists and schedule you have posted. That way they can check to see what needs to be done next without having to interrupt you. I always include the type of serving piece that a particular dish will require on my schedule. This lets everyone know what platters to get for the next remove and streamlines the staging process. It also enables you to review your schedule in advance and see what pieces will be needed when and where; this is very important when you have to wash serving pieces between removes.
Be kind to your staff. Do not yell at them. Be polite. You are not paying these people for their services. They have volunteered. Send thank you notes after the event, and verbally thank everyone--repeatedly. You might want them to help you again on your next feast.
Serving the Feast
The type of service you have should be decided in advance and will affect how your food goes out. If you have a person from each table getting food, then you will need to have a platter and dishes that can actually sit on the tables. If you have "professional" servers, you still may want to do this, but you also have the option of having each table served from a platter or dish, which is then returned to the kitchen. You can also combine the methods, having a person from each table get most of the food, but having some dishes brought out by servers. This is frequently done with soups. High table should, of course, have special servers just for those sitting there. High table is often a different size (usually bigger) than the other feast tables. Make sure you plan accordingly. You should always have separate servers for beverages unless you have enough pitchers to have one or two sitting on each table.
Make sure that you coordinate with your servers before the feast starts. Let them know what is expected of them. Let them know where their stations are, how things will be served, what the dishes are (people will ask), how hot or cold the dishes will be, etc. Do not ask children under twelve to carry anything heavy, hot, or easily dropped or spilled. Be patient with your servers. Be calm and polite and remember to say thank you.
Timing and Entertainment
How long should a feast take? My opinion is that any feast that lasts longer than one hour will bore the populace, and they will leave early. I try to keep my feasts to 45 minutes, but it may stretch out a little longer if there is entertainment or court between the removes. We have all been to long feasts, and we all dislike them. If there is too much time between removes, people will fill up on bread and leave. Fifteen to 20 minutes between removes should be your goal.
In other Kingdoms, it is not unusual to get half the feast, then have one or two hours of court and entertainment, then have the rest of the feast. This can be a very pleasant way of feasting, and probably is more period in flavor, but it has not been the tradition in Meridies. Anyone wanting to try this would have to coordinate well in advance with those holding court and the entertainment coordinator.
Having entertainment between removes is a lot of fun and adds to the enjoyment of the feast. You may wish to arrange it yourself (but only if it is very brief and involves presentation of dishes or in other ways complements the feast directly--otherwise turn it over to an entertainment coordinator), or just work with someone in the group who will coordinate it. Do not let the entertainment interfere with the serving of the food or delay it. The food and/or service of it may be entertaining themselves. This is the case, we hope, with soltelties. Food may be served (especially to high table) with flair or by a jester. Witty servers are universally enjoyed.
Make sure that your entertainment is appropriate to the theme of the feast/event, the size of the hall when it is full of people, and the service of the food. Do not let the entertainment drag. The middle of a feast is not the time for all forty-seven verses of "Matty Groves." Make sure the entertainment volume is appropriate. People do not like being repeatedly shushed during a feast. Entertainers, for the most part, should be able to hold their own against quiet background noise. On the other hand, bagpipes or cymbals might be too much in a small or crowded space. Clean-Up
Chefs should not be in charge of clean-up. Once the feast is over, you will be dead tired. However, the chef or a delegate should provide someone to let the clean-up crew know what should be saved and what thrown away. They should also be available to answer any questions the clean-up staff might have during the cleaning. That doesn't mean they have to sit in the kitchen--just that someone should be readily available.
As I stated previously, there is no excuse for leaving a really dirty kitchen. You should have been dealing with clean-up all throughout the preparation of the feast. All that should be left to clean is serving dishes, last minute cooking pots, pans and utensils, left over food, and things like sweeping, wiping, and taking out the trash--all of which you have been doing as well.
Sanity
If you cannot stay calm under pressure, give up the idea of SCA feast cooking. As any professional chef will tell you, it gets hectic in there--if you can't stand the heat...you know the rest.
Here are some tips for staying calm and healthy:
1. Pre-planning, pre-planning, and pre-planning. Let others make fun of your copious lists. You will be calm while less organized cooks are wondering who forgot the coriander or why there isn't a colander or who was supposed to pick up the bread.
2. Sit down and put your feet up every hour or so. Drink a lot of water. Avoid excessive caffeine. Eat lunch on Saturday. You will not have time to rest once the feast starts, so conserve your energy while you can.
3. Get enough sleep the week before the event, especially on the Friday night of the event. Staying up all night just increases your stress load.
4. Start small. If you have never done this before, start with an event for fifty or less or do a few breakfasts first. Practice by doing feasts for your household, local group, or family. Confidence and quality come from experience.
5. Make sure you have enough staff. You do not have to do everything yourself. Delegate tasks and have the personnel you need to do it effectively.
6. Make copies of all of your recipes and lists. Have them available in the kitchen for reference. Make sure your staff knows where to find them.
7. Wear comfortable, closed-toe shoes. Wear comfortable clothes that do not have trailing sleeves or trains. Have your staff do the same. Wear aprons. Keep hair pulled back away from your face.
8. Minimize your alcohol consumption until after the feast.
9. Have fun in the kitchen with your staff--tell jokes and stories, sing songs, be silly. (But no food fights!)
10. After the feast, make notes about things that you think could be done better next time. If your group holds a post mortem after events, ask for feedback on the feast. Don't make the same mistakes twice. Also listen in on comments about the feasts others have done. Note what was done right and what was done wrong. Learn from others.
11. If you don't know something, ask someone who does. There's nothing wrong with getting information from those who have come before you.
12. Expect something to go wrong. If you have done proper planning, it shouldn't be anything big or important. I have never done a feast where everything was perfect. Perhaps you forgot to garnish one dish, or a burner went bad and wouldn't heat up. Do not run in circles and scream and shout. Deal with it.
Conclusion
SCA cooking should be something that you decide to do out of pleasure, because you enjoy the challenge and rewards of preparing and serving an excellent feast. Keep this in mind throughout the process of preparing for and preparing your feast. Never lose site of the fun, of the people who are helping you, and those who will be eating your finished product.
Endnotes
[1]. For sources on medieval and Renaissance dining, see the following sources. Many of these also have redacted recipes.
Pleyn Delit, by Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler; ISBN 0-8020-6366-7 (very usable, gives original recipes--recipes are alright but nothing special).
Apicius, Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome, edited and translated by Joseph Dommers Vehling; ISBN 0-486-23563-7 (excellent extant source on Imperial Roman cuisine--gives original recipes in translation with commentary--no redactions).
Savoring the Past, by Barbara Ketcham Wheaton; ISBN 0-8122-1146-4 (French cuisine throughout history--it is a history followed by original recipes and redactions--it=s a little hard to put time periods with the recipes).
The Medieval Cookbook, by Maggie Black; ISBN 0-7141-0583-x (mostly recipes--originals and redactions--well thought out).
A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption, by Ann Hagen;
ISBN 0-9516209-8-3 (excellent translations of extant sources--very user friendly--no actual recipes).
Dining with William Shakespeare, by Madge Lorwin; ISBN 0-689-10731-5 (bizarrely organized, but excellent source on late 16th century English dining with original recipes and sources and great redactions).
Food in History, by Reay Tannahill; ISBN 0-517-57186-2 (interesting, but not much that=s usable--a good base for understanding the history of cuisine and how it developed).
Seven Centuries of English Cooking, by Maxime e la Falaise; ISBN 0-8021-3296-0 (only one chapter on medieval and Renaissance, but has good background information and gives the original recipes and sources along with the redactions).
Mediterranean Cuisine, by Barbara Santich; ISBN 0-90732-559-9 (lots of information and good recipes--gives the original recipes and translations along with the redactions).
The Classical Cookbook, by Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger; ISBN 0-89236-394-0 (interesting information and organization--gives translations of original recipes and redactions)
The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast, by Jeff Smith; ISBN 0-688-11568-3 (wonderful source on ancient Jewish cuisine--the recipes are unnecessarily complicated and no originals are given).
To the King=s Taste, adapted by Lorna F. Sass; ISBN 0-87099-133-7 (an SCA staple--gives original recipes and history--recipes are simplistic and there=s a question of whether this was a book of recipes for regular dining or recipes prescribed for health problems)
The English Housewife, by Gervase Markham, edited by Michael R. Best; ISBN 0-77351-103-2 (early 17th century recipes with chapters on cooking, dairies, and bread).
English Bread and Yeast Cookery, by Elizabeth David; ISBN 0-96436-000-4 (lots of historical information--a must for anyone interested in bread).
A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food & Drink: Production and Distribution, by Ann Hagen; ISBN 1-89828-112-2 (Good source of information on foods of the period, no recipes).
Fast and Feast, by Brigit Ann Henisch; ISBN 0-27100-424-x (general information on food in England 13th--15th centuries, no recipes).
Curye on Inglusch, Constance Hieatt & Sharon Butler; Oxford Univ. Press, 1985 (original 14th century English recipes).
Elinor Fettiplaces Receipt Book, Elizabethan Country House Cooking, by Hilary Spurling; Viking Penguin, 1986 (many recipes circa. 1604).
Food and Cooking in Medieval Britain, by Maggie Black; English Heritage, 1985 (redactions with original, good basic information).
[2]. "Redaction" is the process of taking an extant period recipe and turning it into something you can follow with modern units of measurement and cooking methods. Many of the books listed above have excellent examples of redaction.
3. The Corporate policy states that no SCA funds may be spent on alcoholic beverages of any type except those actually used in the cooking of a feast. Alcoholic beverages may not be served at feast if the SCA has paid for them with funds from any official source. Alcoholic beverages may be donated and served at feast to those over the legal drinking age.
[4].Martha Stewart has a technique for gilding fruit that keeps it edible. Look among her Christmas recipes.
[5].Some examples of soltelties from the last 20 years in the SCA: a fire-breathing dragon cake (with real fire); in marzipan, a Mycenaean goddess, skulls, and arms of people in the group; an ice sculpture swan on a lake of gelatin with fruit leather flowers, the arms of the group in caviar, hard boiled eggs and other chopped foods; the Kingdom seneschal=s head sculpted in chopped liver (really); a sugar paste cathedral with stained glass windows and gingerbread trim; Arats on a stick@ made from sausage, pepperoni and beef sticks; a basket of fruit where nothing was made out of what it seemed; and a treasure chest of gingerbread filled with treasure of nuts and gilded marzipan coins.
[6]. The staging area is the space where all your serving dishes and platters are put as you get ready to serve up your feast. It is the area that the servers will go to to get the food and beverages.
[7]. Many people believe that every dish should have its own utensils, and that knives and cutting boards must be bleach water cleaned between each type of food that touches them because some people have serious allergies. Although this is a good practice, it is difficult to impossible in most SCA kitchens. People with food allergies serious enough to cause extreme reactions should not be eating SCA feasts. They are responsible for maintaining their health problems--not the SCA chefs. However, bleach water should be used regularly on all surfaces and utensils to kill bacteria.
APPENDIX
Planning and Cooking an Event Feast
I. Planning the Menu
1. Determine your budget, type of cooking facilities on site, and the number of people who will be eating
2. Determine a theme for the feast (should compliment the event theme)
3. Research period foods and recipes
--Begin by using good sources for period food (see annotated bibliography in endnote 1.)
--Use original recipes, original recipes that have been redacted, and/or develop your own recipes based on your knowledge of the food available
4. Determine the number of removes and dishes
5. Make sure it is a well-balanced meal
II. Testing Your Recipes
1. Test your recipes is small quantities (4-8 servings)
2. Try to test the entire feast together. If that is not possible, try to test each remove together
3. Invite people with different tastes over and ask for honest opinions
4. Make detailed notes of how the recipe is prepared, including special equipment needed
5. Expand your recipes to feed the proper number of people
III. Planning the Feast
1. Take your expanded recipes and use them to determine
--your cooking equipment list
--your shopping lists
2. Create a cooking schedule that outlines what foods will be prepared when
3. Determine the serving equipment to be used
4. Try to schedule an on-site visit to look over the facilities
5. Create a menu to give the autocrat and to post at feast
6. Develop a comprehensive ingredients list to post at feast
IV. Before the Feast
1. Pre-cook and freeze or preserve as many foods in your feast as possible
2. Shop for non-perishable items ahead of time; arrange to purchase perishable items the day before the feast
3. Arrange for transportation of the food, making sure that foods that might spoil are kept cool
4. Coordinate menus, space and possible food purchases with the breakfast cook
5. Organize your kitchen staff.
V. Cooking the Feast1. Set up and arrange your equipment and supplies
2. Prepare food that will be served cold and do as much prep work as possible Friday night
3. Post your cooking schedule and follow it
4. Delegate, rest periodically, and have fun
5. Clean the kitchen and dishes as you go
6. Organize your serving equipment and staging area
7. Serve feast
VI. After the Feast
1. Make sure the clean-up crew knows what food to save
2. Personally thank your kitchen staff and follow-up later with a written note of thanks
