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)

Always warm plates for take away , that's the law!

You've just reminded me of another reason why I hate inviting ILs to dinner. Cook the plates!

My father is OBSESSED with having a hot plate. The gravy should bubble when it hits the plate according to him. It's completely insane.

@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.

Ha! Hot plates don't stop my mum urging you to eat up before it goes cold. Which is slightly annoying when you're trying to teach your child not to start stuffing their face before everyone's been served.

I much prefer heated plates if the food is hot.

This so much. My mum asking everyone if they want her to microwave anything and us having to wait for the fffffing plates to warm in the oven before eating. I do it sometimes, especially in winter, but most of the time I can’t be arsed / think good tastes nicer a bit cooler. God forbid my soup is anything but scalding though, that weirds me out.

Generational, my mum is the same.

I do notice however that green veg are not at all able to retain heat on a Ceramic plate

We tend to microwave plates for 30 seconds

@pennysays

This so much. My mum asking everyone if they want her to microwave anything and us having to wait for the fffffing plates to warm in the oven before eating. I do it sometimes, especially in winter, but most of the time I can’t be arsed / think good tastes nicer a bit cooler. God forbid my soup is anything but scalding though, that weirds me out.

I’m the same anything other than boiling hot soup gives me the shudders. I never ever have soup out of the house for this reason.

My mum too, absolutely obsessed. I prefer a cold plate!

My Mum was obsessed with hot plates. She was forever cracking them heating them up too hot. I never hear plates

My mum is exactly the same. I am not

Plates should be warmed IMO.
PIL always serve hot food on cold plates and unfortunately the food has usually been sitting around ready anyway so everything is at best the cold side of luke warm.
Worse they also never have ice or put drinks in the fridge. I thought I'd be prepared and took chilled champagne and tonic for Christmas Dinner only to be served warm Prosecco and G&T's. They saved the champagne for when BIL arrived in the evening and served that warm too

I agree with your mother. Food like gravy and eggs gets cold the second it touches a cold plate. But I won’t heat the plate for food that’s already very hot because I want the cold plate to suck the heat out and cool the food.

Can't stand a cold plate. I zap mine in the microwave for a minute with a cup of cold water. @mafta I cant stand warm cold drinks either.

@mafted

HNRTT but was her parents house centrally heated when she was a child, OP, or could the room temperature at her parents when she was a child have been so cold as to require pre-heating?

My mum does. So annoying as no one else we know does it or thinks to do it. Then she gets the hump

My parents like to warm the plates (as do I) but then they faff around plating up their food, ensuring that they have precisely the right quantity of condiments, pouring drinks etc for 10 minutes before actually starting to eat. Then they declare that their food is too cold and put it in the microwave Meanwhile everyone else has almost finished eating ("don't wait for us!") It's sort of hilarious and infuriating in equal measures

I've never given it much thought, but after reading this thread I'm going to start warming them! I warm all the plates and serving dishes at Christmas as it takes me bloody ages to serve it all! I used to laugh at my friend, who in her late 20's got a hostess trolley, now I'm thinking that's the way to go!

My dad has passed away now bless him but he was the same - I think it's from a time when the house was much colder

My mum! Likes her plate to be volcanic level of hot.

Are you my son? I am like this (well not QUITE this bad) but I loathe and detest lukewarm food. I blame my parents who always heated their plates, possibly because they were slow eaters. I drive him nuts calling him to the table.

@Kite22

It wouldn't be so bad but if we go out to dinner somewhere and the plate is cold she will moan on and on about it. It then spoils the experience for me

Odd to make it about you, when it is the fact the service is poor is making her experience of eating out, less than it should be.

A hot plate is not an indication of poor service. A hot plate is a preference. Not everyone is in agreement on this thread.

My Mum won't complain but will sit there and moan to me. So yes, it is about me because what should be a nice experience is ruined by Mum farking moaning on about plates not being to her exacting standard. Will she speak up and say something? Oh no, don't be silly............

I always warm my plate, because I dish mine up last and by the time I've sat down it would be stone cold.

It keeps food warmer, definitely, but we do have a chilly kitchen.

I'm in my 30s and hate hot food on a cold plate, I always heat plates. Spoils my meal when veg etc goes cold halfway through eating it.
DH is the opposite, he never even bothers to reheat his evening meal when he gets in late from work and it's been plated up for an hour.