The restaurant of home comforts

Before you begin

• You’ll need to decide who’s cooking and who’s doing other important jobs like designing menus and welcoming guests. Unless your group is small, it probably won’t work for everyone to cook at once.
• Choose a date for your event in advance.
• Decide who you’ll invite, and make sure you give guests plenty of notice and all the information they’ll need (including about parking and access). Give them the chance to let you know about any dietary needs, too. For the Scouts Skills Challenge Award, each cook will need to cook and serve two courses for at least four people.
• Set aside time to plan everything a few weeks before your event.
• Think about the logistics – how many guests will you invite? Will everyone cook their dish for all of the guests, or would that be too much cooking (and too much food for the guests to eat)?
• Remind yourself about food safety in Scouts, camp food safety, and gas safety at our members site.

Plan the cooking

1. Everyone should review major allergens and common intolerances. They should check whether their guests have any other dietary requirements, for example, because of their faith.

Use the linked resources to help – perhaps you could display them in the meeting place. Everyone should take part in this step, even if they won’t be cooking. If you’ve got any doubts, don’t take risks – you must be able to make food safe for everyone eating it.

2. The cooks should choose two dishes that they think of as ‘home comforts’. It could be anything that makes them feel warm and comforted, or reminds them of home. Perhaps they could think about national dishes or family favourites.

Remember to be realistic, too. People should choose things they’ll be able to cook – it’s probably not wise to choose a recipe that cooks meat for 24 hours!

3. The cooks should plan what facilities and equipment they’ll need to make their dishes. They may want to jot down a list so they can check there’s enough of everything.

Remember any allergies or requirements from step one – how will you keep everyone safe?

4. The cooks should plan the ingredients they’ll need. They should get exact, as whoever does the shopping will need to know how much of each thing to buy.
   
5. The person leading the game should work with the cooks to decide how they’ll get the ingredients and equipment. It’s a good idea to coordinate so people don’t buy more than what’s needed (for example, if more than one person wants to use a certain spice or some tinfoil, you probably won’t need to buy two of each).
   
6. The cooks should think about how they’ll store all of the ingredients safely. Check out this factsheet for more information.

Plan everything else

1. Everyone should join together to review allergens and dietary requirements as above.
   
2. Everyone who isn’t cooking should think about what else is involved in making a successful restaurant. Who will greet guests? How will they know what they’ll be served? What will happen while they’re waiting to eat? What about drinks?
   
3. Everyone who isn't cooking should work together to create menus. These are an important way to share all of the ingredients in each dish – all allergens should be listed in bold. They should also add other information (for example, if a dish is spicy) so people can eat what they’re comfortable with.

The people who aren’t cooking could ask the cooks for some information about their choices. They could include pictures or anecdotes to explain why the cooks chose the dishes they did.

On the day

1. Everyone should wash their hands (whether they’re cooking or not). They should follow this guidance – perhaps the person leading the activity could print, laminate, and display it.
   
2. The cooks should prepare the cooking area. The areas they prepare and cook food must be tidy, hygienic, and fit for purpose. They should understand which cleaning products are safe to use on different surfaces (for example, the worktops and hobs) and plan how they’ll keep everything clean and tidy once they start cooking. They may need to wash their hands again after cleaning.
   
3. The cooks should double-check that they have all the equipment they need and it’s all working. Now’s the time to check knives are sharp (and sharpen them if needed), for example – it’s much more stressful to find these things midway through cooking!
   
4. The cooks should double-check they have all of the ingredients they need (and that they’re being stored properly). Are they ready to meet all of their guests’ dietary requirements?
   
5. Meanwhile, the people who aren’t cooking should make sure there’s a clean and hygienic place to eat. They should set up a space for everyone – do they need to create a seating chart or place names? What should be on the tables, for example, cutlery and menus?

Welcome guests

1. The cooks should get stuck in to cooking and preparing their food. They should have planned when they’ll begin – it may be before the guests arrive.
   
2. As the guests arrive, everyone who isn’t cooking should welcome them and show them to their seats. Is there somewhere for them to store their coat? Do they need to know where the toilets are?
   
3. Everyone who isn’t cooking should make sure the guests are comfortable. They could answer questions or talk them through the menu, and make sure they have some water. If anyone in the kitchen’s running late, someone who isn’t cooking could pass the message (and the cook’s apologies) on.

Dish it up

1. When each dish is ready to go, the cook should come and introduce it to the guests. It’s up to them how much they talk – they could just say the name and suggest that guests can look at their menus for more information, or they may want to talk a bit about it.
   
2. The cooks could sit and eat with their guests, or they could go back into the kitchen to prepare their other dish or start tidying and cleaning.
   
3. Once everyone’s finished eating, someone should thank all of the guests. Perhaps some of the guests would like to share stories about their own home comforts and family recipes?
   
4. Everyone should work together to clear the tables, and thoroughly clean and close down the kitchen before they go home and rest. Phew!