Anyone else obsessed with hot plates or is it just my mum?

[ditalini]

My mum is absolutely obsessed with keeping food hot and is convinced that hot food being put onto cold (or even warm) plates will make the food "freezing" in the time it takes for it to be brought to the table.

This caused much angst at Christmas when there was a constant juggle of needing space in the oven/microwave for cooking, and for endless piles of serving dishes and plates to heat up. (I am kind of with her on serving dishes although I wouldn't consider a meal ruined if they weren't red hot)

Both my brother and I have on separate occasions reassured her that no-one in our respective households is bothered by hot plates so if she needs the space she could just heat her and my dad's plates and we would be fine, but to no avail.

Obviously when she eats at my house I make sure her and my dad's plates are hot as this is her preference.

So, what is it with hot plates people? As I stood at a sink of very hot water on Christmas Day dunking plates I really was wondering.

(She also has a thing about pasta going cold and shrieks from the kitchen to eat up before it freezes as I'm carrying plates through)

Just. Fucking. Leave. What. You. Don't. Want.

Noooo. This type of logic doesn't persuade my parents. The establishment is simply not visited again. Although they do like pubs where you can order a small or pensioner portion so that's probably a happy compromise. My husband is of the opposite view and like a generously sized plate.

In their defence, they lived during the war so I suppose old habits die hard in terms of not wasting food.

That link for the Lakeland plate warmers posted earlier says they've been discontinued.

Stick them in the microwave for 2 mins, that’s what I do. Maybe I live in an unusually cold place (Derbyshire) but I find broccoli in particular a bugger for going cold quickly if plate is too cold.

Yes, as PP points out, why do people think restaurants bother with hot plates if not because the hot plates make the food nicer?

Yep dm is like this

Re restaurants the food can be sitting in the kitchen for a few mins waiting to be taken out / the rest of the meals finished so I can understand why they use hot plates, but in my house it is dished up and on the table within a minute.

@PuppyMonkey

That link for the Lakeland plate warmers posted earlier says they've been discontinued.

Stick them in the microwave for 2 mins, that’s what I do. Maybe I live in an unusually cold place (Derbyshire) but I find broccoli in particular a bugger for going cold quickly if plate is too cold.

Yes, as PP points out, why do people think restaurants bother with hot plates if not because the hot plates make the food nicer?

Yes a bit gutted about that as £14.99 seemed like a fair price for something that realistically would get used 2 or 3 times a year (most of the time the microwave or small oven does the job, it's just when there's loads of dishes on the go that my mum's kitchen starts to struggle).

Not sure if I'm up for paying £30+ for one.

Hot food, hot plates: yes. If plates are below room temp, sauces congeal. F&c on cold plates taste greasy. Do it right = like your mum and gran!

I don't like eating a hot meal from a cold plate. I like my food to stay hot while I eat. I'm surprised by the replies so far!

Same here. My parents heat plates, my husband doesn’t. I prefer to do it, he thinks it’s a faff. When putting food into serving dishes, it makes way more sense to have them hot but he doesn’t bother and the food goes cold too quickly,

But, it all gets eaten so, no point in making a fuss.

Depends on the food though? Sausage a bit cooled down no problem, congealing gravy ugh. Also I expect houses are warmer than they used to be and more people eat in the kitchen rather than lugging it all down a corridor

My exH was obsessed with having searing hot food on a plate that would blister your fingers. I'd serve out as quick as possible, and halfway through the meal he'd still have to get up from the table and bung it in the microwave to reheat it. He'd drink tea and coffee at practically boiling point as well.

Current MIL on the other hand... she takes absolutely forever to dish up, and the plates are always stone cold, so your food is tepid at best.

My very cool and hip brother in law asked if we were warming plates for takeaway. Well I’ve never done it before but he’s right. It keeps it hotter to eat!

The best/easy way to get hot plates is to get the dishwasher to finish as you want to serve. It’s the only way 😀

I hate cold plates with hot food, my mother was the same but for me food that should be served hot doesn't taste right (or of anything) unless it's piping hot, I mean I'll microwave the Chinese takeaway when it arrives and then put it on the plate I had in the oven, if it sizzles when it hits the plate all the better. But I can pick up plates etc that my husband say burn him, same when washing dishes, the water I use is too hot for others, my father says I have asbestos hands, maybe it's all linked.

Always hot plates here. I like to linger over my food and it still to be hot, rather than having to shovel it down before it goes cold.

MIL will pour boiling water from the kettle onto hers and leave them, just long enough for her to forget before I try to help plate up. I never remember that she does this either till I've picked one up and scalded myself.

DM uses a hostess trolley if people are round so you can delight in watching the veg sweat as you eat.

I prefer to pop batches of plates in the microwave and if it's a roast I heat any serving dishes then cover with a tea towel or foil while I serve.

Are you my sister?!

Yes my mil! In her world there are only two temperatures of food which are ‘lovely’ and ‘stone cold might as well not have cooked it freezing.’ She thinks anything less than licking the flames at the back of the oven is stone cold.

She’s lovely though just a bit bonkers about hot food and warm plates. I personally prefer mine lukewarm to aid me in shovelling it down.

I’m on your mum’s team!

“Eat fast, it’s going cold”. I don’t want to have to rush down my meal! A hot plate helps you not have to rush.

You've made me smile op. Long gone family who obsessed over this, nice memories thank you. (Although we have cold plates)

@CornishTiger

My very cool and hip brother in law asked if we were warming plates for takeaway. Well I’ve never done it before but he’s right. It keeps it hotter to eat!

I agree! It’s so worth doing for a takeaway!

Thick cold plates in a cool room and yes the food does go tepid very quickly.

If you want to eat a hot meal at a leisurely pace then hot plates are great. We got really thin plates for this reason so the food stays hot longer without needing to heat them.

My parents too! Everything MUST be hot, it's worn off on me so my kids are used to nuclear temp food you can't actually eat for 10 minutes!

My MIL is obsessed with dinner plates having to be hot. When we stay there we do the dinners now, as she's not physically capable of cooking a big dinner for us all. We still have to stress about fitting all the plates in to somehow heat them. I couldn't care less, but we have to do it

O God, the bloody hot plates debate!! My mother had this too, I'm sure it was a generational thing.
As a child, hot plates seemed more important than the food itself, and as I grew older, it was the one thing which would wind me up.
Now an older adult myself, I never warm my own plates although I do if guests come round. And I actually prefer food cold....left to myself, I eat cold meat/salad etc. even in winter. I think it was the effect of a hot plates childhood that did it.....

@SmolCat

I’m on your mum’s team!

“Eat fast, it’s going cold”. I don’t want to have to rush down my meal! A hot plate helps you not have to rush.

You really don't have to shovel it in though before it goes cold. If a meal is served on room temperature plates and eaten in a timely manner it should not be freezing cold before you've finished eating it.