Vegetarian from Hell Pt4

"BFH" was fast becoming a lost cause but we still had many other guests to look after and they were having a wonderful time and looking forward to Christmas Day Lunch and the rest of the festivities including the Grand Buffet. Christmas day for the guests is just one long procession of eating and drinking interrupted every so often with events, party games, carol singers and organised walks etc. All the staff are so busy that time passes by without really noticing it and all meals are served, cleared away and readied for the next session with out breaking step. The feed back from the guests is excellent and despite some teething troubles with "BFH at most meals it looks like we were on coarse for another successful Christmas package.

During and just before the Christmas festivities started the kitchen has been preparing for the Grand Buffet. Whole sucklings pigs, Sirloins & ribs of beef, turkey, Chicken, whole gammon for honey baked ham, partridge's, loins of venison, saddles of lamb, whole salmons and salmon fillets for home made gravadlax, lobster, crayfish, langoustines, prawns, crabs, and pheasants (ripple effect) were all cooked, roasted , baked and prepared for the Buffet. Many of the items would be decorated and coated with a beef or fish based aspic jelly to enhance the center pieces. As you may of noticed the buffet was not very vegetarian and vegan friendly but we had made arrangements to cover for this and the restaurant staff would serve them at their tables with their alternative food selections.

Also on the buffet would be hot and cold starters, soups, hot dishes and a sweet table to die for and a wide selection of cheeses. The buffet table would also be filled with a huge variety of salads and accompaniment's and that task fell to me. If you include the different bowls of lettuces I prepared 30 bowls of salads and only one of them contained any meat in it. Well we had to get rid of the turkey somehow. It was a turkey, ham, peppers, walnuts and saffron rice dish bound with mayonnaise.

The buffet tables were set out and once again a separate buffet table was organised as far away possible from where the meat and fish mirrors were to be displayed. There was also another area set aside for the sweet dishes, cheeses and fresh fruits. As the time for the buffet to be served approached the final checks on the buffet layout and positioning were carried out and the last items added to the tables were the salads. I personally arranged them amongst the center pieces and check everything was OK. I then arranged the salads for the vegetarians table and double checked that the one salad with meat in had not got mixed in with them and that the display was just as good as the rest. Job done and headed back to the kitchen.

Behind the scenes it was organised chaos in the final minutes before service as chefs and restaurant staff donned clean aprons, jackets, hats, etc while out front in the lounge/bar restaurant area the guest mingled in their fancy dress costumes chatting and sipping drinks. Last minute corrections and the Boss dressed in his best penguin suit declared the buffet was open. With so much food on offer and a bewildering amount of choice the inevitable queue started to form and being typically British most people accepted it as normal and took the opportunity to engage in conversation with their fellow dinners as they waited. After all there was no rush and there was plenty for all.

What could go wrong?

The ripple affect, 'If only', the wise old saying "You are only a strong as your weakest link" and 'Sods Law' can go wrong!