To ask how you serve food to guests?

[sweeneytoddsrazor]

Do you put the main part of the meal on the plate, then all the accompaniments in serving plates for people to help themselves? Do you put things in separate dishes so each person has their portion of peas in a ramekin or somesuch.? Or do you put it all on their plate?

Just kidding of course. Sometimes
I dish the whole thing up or put the main on the plate then sides on the table

Not sure what the vote means here..but I HATE the way my MIL does it. Each item is served individually - she comes round the lot of us (8-10 at least) with the beef, then peas, then carrots, then potatoes, then yorkshires, then stuffing, then gravy... after 8 people the food is stone cold and she finds it offensive when I stick it in the micro!! I much prefer having it on the kitchen counter/ wherever and you can take what you want!

Depends who is eating. If it's just me, dp and ds, I plate up most meals, asking how hungry they are and there's always food leftover for seconds. Guests, I usually do something that can be plonked in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves, pizzas or a buffet style.

People saying they always have the food on the table seem to be talking about meat/fish and veg. What if you're having pasta or curry. Do people serve themselves the pasta and then the sauce?

I serve it on a plate unless it’s a buffet or bbq.

If people come for a roast I will plate it up after checking everyone likes the veg etc. Gravy on the table to self serve.

"Each item is served individually - she comes round the lot of us (8-10 at least) with the beef, then peas, then carrots"

Isn't this how silver service is done?

Depends what it is.

If I'm doing 3 courses I'll usually plate up the stater/pudding to make it look pretty (and frankly I just find it easier).

As for the main I'll usually plate the main ingredient but put sides on the table for people to help themselves.

For Sunday dinner all the veg/trimmings/Yorkshire's/gravy are put on the table for every to serve themselves whilst I'll carve the joint and let everyone take as many slices as they want.

For something more casual with friend/family then I might do a "theme" eg Mexican, Indian, Persian, Scandi etc and just put out a variety of dishes and sides for everyone to help themselves.

All in the middle of the table to help yourself. Curry separately to rice but pasta would be pre mixed with the sauce and in a big bowl with salad, bread etc.

Salad, bread etc in their own bowls/ baskets not mixed in with the pasta and sauce 😂

really depends on whether we are eating at the table, I would tend to serve the main and then have the extras for folks to DIY

I would only really plate an entire meal if I was doing fancy dining (wanky chef effort) with chums!

If we are eating off our laps like savages :o ...last night it was sausage, mash, onion gravy and beans so I set it all out on top of the cooker, everyone helped themselves, and as the cooker had been on there was not much danger of the cats getting in amongst it and it kept warm for seconds.

Depends. If it's my friend over for dinner before we work on a project as we do relatively often I just plate up. If I'm having a dinner party then I put the bowls on the table and people can serve themselves.

Put everything on the plates in the kitchen. I hate food on the table. It's not a buffet, to me if you serve a meal you serve it all on the plate, not expect people to help themselves