There’s no way to serve food hot for 11 diners

i guess all you can do is wait and see what she does differently when she hosts 11 people and work out why (if) you get to eat your own food piping hot then.

if she doesn't host then her opinion is worthless anyway and can be ignored.

similar to pp I used to be fussy about having my food hot but the toddler years cured me of that and I got used to putting up with whatever temperature was given. we had 9 at our roast yesterday and I think serving up was relatively swift but somewhat chaotic, and my dinner was warm enough in my view. there was enough space around the table for several adults to be moving around so while grandpa was serving turkey others were making sure each plate had a spoonful of everything wanted - if we'd all been carefully polite about staying seated and waiting our turn for the carrots and passing things this way and that I guess it would have taken longer.

I use a hostess, plates that are to hot to hold without a napkin and hot gravy.

the plates being hot is the must important, Luke warm plates and the food will be cold in minutes

Warm room (I really noticed in the sub zero of last week-ish, just how quickly food and hot drinks cooled in our livingroom!)..
HOT plates
HOT serving dishes - both so hot you hand them out with oven gloves and warnings DON'T TOUCH...

Honestly if you haven't got two ovens/warming drawer or dish warmers/hostess trolley and even then, lids on everything, ceramic dishes that hold heat well, tinfoil hats on stuff...

It is bloody impossible! It's not so much the number of people, its the number of dishes + lack of space.

When I last did a huge dinner, I did it at my dads - acres of worktop, double oven, warming drawer, woodburning stove with a huge top and 'wings' to put things on... I cooked for 15, all mouth and finger-burningly hot.

4 in my poxy tiny galley kitchen with single oven, a postage stamp of worktop ... lukewarm at best.

Your dinner sounds lovely and so do you for cooking it.
i would not be cooking for this lot again.
I hope you did not microwave the food for them but pointed them in the direction of the kitchen.

Just let them serve themselves like a buffet and sit down at the table after! No need to remember who doesn't like xy and z food that way.

We do ours buffet style and use slow-cooker-style warmers.
It took awhile to figure out, but we got tired of cold meals. There’s usually 13-14 of us, including 4 kids.

Hostess trolley would be good but few people would want to store a bulky item that is only used annually, if that.

I also cooked in someone else's (very small) kitchen yesterday and I admit that the food wasn't piping hot, it was OK and I did think about offering anyone a minute in the microwave but didn't bother and wouldn't be insulted if they had done.

I just wouldn't take any notice, your meal sounds lovely and you did more than enough. I'd just not cook for them ever again for a while and if they ever mention it being 'your turn' I'd just breezily say 'oh I wouldn't want to inflict my cooking on you again after how disappointed you were when I cooked because of your injury'.

I have an electric version, it must be 30+ years old.

You’ve answered your own question - a hostess trolley would solve it.
’Older ladies’ are often worth listening to, as they have some excellent solutions to modern-day problems!

That was rude of her to comment!

Just make sure gravy is boiling hot and pour it all over the food - that's what we do when we do big roasts. Meat normally has to rest a bit anyway so isn't piping hot.

We went to my parents for Christmas lunch today and the way my dad does it is he puts the food in dishes with lids and he puts the dishes themselves in the oven so they're ridiculously hot.
He then puts it all on the table and you serve yourself (and make sure not to touch the dishes as you'll lose a layer of skin 😂)

We use a hot buffet server. It keeps food piping hot. Just plug it in and as food cooks load it in. When everything cooked serve up. Aldi does one for a little over £35. Amazon £40.

I have a hostess trolley,bought it from eBay several years ago,it makes cooking Christmas dinner for a lot of people a doddle.

The only acceptable response to someone cooking a meal for 11 is effusive thanks.

Next year get SILs to host

I like my food hot. We tend to keep everything warmed in oven in dishes or hob or slow cooker. Heat plates in microwave then plate up directly in kitchen and take each one through as plated (usually have 2 adults going back and forth)

Thank you op for your post, it’s cheered me up after spending all day running around cooking and moving food to keep it hot to an electric warmer (Aldi special) and using a plate warmer only to find a mythical cold breeze has reduced the temperature of 8 dinners. Ive just been drawing pictures of how to cook next years dinner until I read this. Thankfully my guests were happy, so sorry you had bad mannered SILs. Good tips for next time in other replies; cooker for gravy heating, help yourself may be better than dishing up, or microwaving each plate before handing it over.

Completely normal! We were talking about this today: every year we go through the rigmarole of putting serving dishes and plates in the oven and foil over the first things on the table to be whisked off when it’s all there, but that much food is inevitably going to get cold once you factor in X people needing to sit up to table then serve themselves X different types of food, cutting small kids’ food, enforced sprouts on every plate, saying “has everyone had the gravy” and “did we not do cabbage – oh, there it is” and pouring drinks and doing toasts and crackers and someone putting their sleeve in the candles and fishing the party popper entrails out of the bread sauce.

Don't worry about it x

Here it is!

I did Christmas dinner for 7 today, it's been 8 or 9 some years (we've lost a couple over the last 2 years). My Mum and MIL have hosted several times too. It's never piping hot at any of our houses, and no-one has ever complained, although it's become a bit of a tradition for the host to apologise and cue a conversation about how impossible it is to keep food hot. All of us know what a challenge it is and we're all bloody grateful for a cracking dinner and the chance to all be together.
Plate warmers could well be your friend here but guests need to remember that they're in your home, not a restaurant.

Anybody needing a laugh have a listen to the latest Marian Keyes chatty thing on Radio 4. Is it ‘We have to talk’? It’s hilarious and does pose the question, Why?!!

Thinking about it though. I did yell at the dog quite a bit too. And I never yell at him! People yes. Ddog. Never!

I cooked my first Christmas dinner ever today and my head is still spinning. For 5 but it was still so hard! I did start snapping at people as I was trying so hard to get it all out hot and on time. Despite meticulous planning including a timeline we still sat down 2 hours after it was meant to be ready. Was supposed to eat at one. We had to break after starters to watch the King at 3! Plates were sizzling hot - but not by the time we ate it - actually thinking about it nobody moaned that it was cold though. They all loved it. I just can’t believe how stressed I got about it. I did snap at someone who shut the back door. I was boiling and had sweat pouring off me! I did apologise after for yelling. But they do know me well and took the words out of my mouth when they suggested I might have ADHD. I was fine planning and preparing everything on my own however. It was when other people were there that I just really struggled. I guess it’s always going to be a challenge to deliver the bloody thing with all the trimmings… so many trimmings!! No wonder it’s such a stress. Some stuff didn’t faze me at all. When my unwatched cooked ham leapt of the side and bounced across the kitchen floor me and dsis just laughed! And got the dog to clean up the mess!

We use a hostess trolly and there were only 5 of us!