do you have christmas dinner displayed on the table help yourself style ?

[littlepaddypaws]

i wonder about this when i see this onads or in shows when all the food is on the table and dishes are handed round to god knows how many people. doesn't the food get cold ? do people rush to put it in the microwave ?
when i plate up a normal dinner, if it's cooling it has a quick blast inthe microwave, however roast is very full on.
so what do you do ? cold food or get in the queue and heat it up ?

Ours goes on the table in dishes for a 'help yourself' dinner... the dishes have all been in the warmer drawer beforehand so the food stays hot in them.

sorry didn't mean to press voting

Ours is put on table to help yourselves but that is normal for us and 99% of our meals are served that way anyway

Help yourself style all the way.

The key is:

1. timing (have everything due to be ready at the same time so nothing is hanging around for ages getting cold).
2. very warm serving dishes and warm plates.

Ours are served in hot bowls so it keeps the food warm and the plates are hot too to help.

I always serve platters. I’m in Australia so there are a few salads but I find that if the potatoes and gravy are piping hot, it doesn’t matter about the rest.

Make sure everything goes out at the same time- keep things warm in their serving dishes in the top oven if they are ready first.

No microwave involved!

Yes and in warmed serving pots with lids. Not the turkey though, that gets left on the side. My aunt does it like a school canteen where we each have to get up and serve ourselves while walking around her kitchen island which I cannot stand as the first person who goes round takes everything and is finished before the last person gets to sit down with their one small parsnip

Every family roast is served up in the middle for each person to dish up. Xmas dinner is no different.

I would be pretty miffed if my xmas dinner was plated up for me...I dont want someone else rationing my meal!

I make sure all the serving dishes and plates have been warmed and I do 2 dishes of everything so there's one at either end of the table.

Yes, dishes on the table all prewarmed. If it’s a crowd we have two dishes of each food so it gets passed round more quickly. Having hot plates and hot gravy helps. Inevitably it’s not the hottest meal we have all year but it’s still lovely.

I hate if other people plate food for me.

We warm the dishes and keep bowels and platter warm by placing them on portable warmer. Only the meat is cut "to order" and placed on a warmed up plate and then wrapped up in the kitchen keeping warm until DH goes and does a second carving.

It survives everyone getting a second helping.

It never gets cold, put it all out, call folks to thr table, they help themselves.

Food doesn't go cold in a couple of mins.

My worry is keeping everything hot. I don't have oven-proof plates and can't use mine in the microwave as they are white with a platinum trim. Searched for oven-proof plates I like but only really Denby around and none I particularly like.

I used to carve turkey and whatever other meat we are having and put that on a plate with everything else in bowls. This is 1st time I've hosted in a while and I'm not sure what to do. My relatives check what we like and serve it up on the plate normally.

Anybody got ideas for keeping things warm - old-fashioned hostess trolley?

We have all the plates piping hot ready for everything coming out of the
the oven and time everything to come out roundabout the same time we all carry something to the table incl the roast and veg to the table and carved at the table and everyone puts the veg on the plates whilst being carved and passes the sauces and stuffing.

It would be lovely to have a heated trolley, but it works well anyway and it is all v lovely on the table.

Don’t you know it’s terribly working class to plate food up on the kitchen? I don’t do it. Anymore. Because now I’m aspiring to be better than my origins. It’s just ruined by my parents looking at all like wtf and making a fuss over serving spoons

You don’t have to have oven proof plates to warm them - you are not putting them in the oven at a high temperature, just warming them up a bit.

I'm another who hates having a meal "plated up" for me.
Not so much because I feel rationed but a large pile of food overfaces me rather.
I much prefer to take some, eat it and then have seconds (thirds...?) if I want. Probably end up eating more than I would have if I'd been given one big plateful
And I do think it looks nice, all laid out.

Always put in the middle, means you don't need to have the food get cold dishing up for 8!

We have it on the side so people can choose how much they want to eat. We warm plates.

I don't have enough room for all the food as well as our plates/ glasses on the table

We do plates in the middle or on a side table for all our meals. I've never noticed feeling as though the food was cold.

But I don't mind if the food isn't piping burn your mouth hot as I eat it. If you go for seconds then it's definitely cooler anyway and no one I know seems to mind.

Sounds funny to say it's considered working class to have it all served on the plate and then others say it's laid out on the side and you queue for it. Sounds like going to a carvery rather than being served in a restaurant.

thanks tutti, anyone else ? oris the displaya myth and another reason why people get stressed over THE dinner ?

For roast/Christmas dinner I usually do a hybrid.

Carved meat, potatoes and roasted veg go on the plate with a little gravy so they leave the kitchen hot, moist, aromatic and nicely presented, straight in front of people. There should still be plenty of room on the plate at this stage.

Other stuff on the table, incl spare gravy and meat, for people to help themselves. Potatoes keep themselves hot for long enough in a big bowl; greens need something with a lid ideally (I usually just end up sending the pan to the table with lid on), yorkshires don't even keep their heat while on the plate and are warmed up anyway when you make a forkful of meat. gravy and yorkshire or whatever.

Dunno if that helps at all?

I'm not massively fussy about roast dinner being piping hot tbh; I'm more interested in it being cooked right and having the right textures and colours. Reheating/keeping warm is to blame for a lot of the tough roast beef and yellowed french beans in the world! But clearly stone cold food that should be hot is horrid.

It does all need to be ready fairly simultaneously, but it works for us. Ideally the plates would be heated but I don't always manage it. I tend to do translucent meat juices rather than thickened gravy so don't have the problem with it separating if the plates aren't properly hot. Never had a complaint or microwave dash from kids or oldies alike ... yet!