To serve hot food on cold plates?

[PerspicaciousGreen]

I've been chuckling my way through this thread and the desire for hot plates thing keeps cropping up: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1651633-Omg-such-anality-from-pil-Come-and-share-your-anal-behaviour-stories-lighthearted

My parents got a new kitchen and had a special plate warming drawer installed in their oven. For the two of them. They put it on every night to preheat the plates before they carry them two steps to the kitchen table. Before that, they used to turn the whole oven on to heat the plates! My mother thinks hot food on cold plates is "disgusting", which is one of the reasons they are no longer invited round for meals if we can help it. (Believe me, there were many other complaints, it wasn't just that.)

But the reason they need to warm the plates is because they piss about so much between dishing up and eating! They've got to clean half the kitchen, load the dishwasher, wipe the counters, lay the table, wash their hands... Whereas in our house it's out of the pan, onto the plate, sit down, start eating.

They also distribute microscopic portions of food across enormous plates. They could practically just eat off side plates but have the most enormous dinner plates John Lewis could sell them. We have smaller plates and bigger portions so the food keeps itself hot.

I cannot be the only person who thinks it's actually more disgusting to use good energy to heat up plates every single night when it's your own fault the food gets cold.

I heat plates. I know the food stays warm better on a hot plate (very basic science). However, it comes across in your OP there are clearly other issues here.
I can't get worked up about it.

I warm plates in the microwave before putting hot food onto them, who wants cold food ....

Hot food on cold plates is not nice at all. I always warm the plates. Obviously if cold food I wouldn’t.

I don't see the point in heating food if it's going to be put on a cold plate. I find putting a plate under the grill warms up sufficiently while food is cooking.

Always warm plates for hot food. Takes one or two minutes in the microwave - no big deal.

My granny is the only person I've ever known do this . To be fair it's quite nice eating off a warm plate (I'm far too lazy to do this myself though!).

My parents heat every plate. We don't because we are greedy pigs and DC and DH can finish an entire meal before my mother has taken her first sip of wine and put her napkin on her lap, so the food never has time to cool down.

YABU. Hot food on stone cold plates? No thanks!

I know some people don't bother with warming the plates but I've always found that, unless the food you're serving is searingly hot, a cold plate cools the food on contact - and tepid food that's supposed to be served hot is not very appealing.

I just pop the plates in the switched-off oven to take the edge off while I'm taking the main and side dishes to the table. The residual heat from the oven is enough for that.

I always warm plates for hot food. To me it's routine, something I just do as I'm cooking, learned from my mum.

I hate being served hot food on a cold plate. Obviously if somebody is being kind enough to feed me and doesn't heat the plate I wouldn't dream of saying a word, but I'd be thinking how much nicer it would be on a hot plate.

Hot plates, like “piping hot food”, is picky bullshit.

Your food is cooling down all the time and you’re absolutely fine with it.

In fact, the time between your food leaving the hot oven or pan and arriving in your mouth for the first time is way less than the time it takes to eat it.

So unless you leave half your dinner every night because the final mouthfuls have become too repulsive to eat, you are kidding yourself that scalding hot food is either necessary or desirable.

Apologies if this is a duplicate, it a warming drawer, while being useful for plates, can actually be used as a slow cooker.
I had one in my previous house and that was it’s primary function. Leaving a casserole in it all day ( and adding plates towards dinner time) . I would have another when next I do my kitchen

Seriously, what is this mystery food that loses all its heat in an instant? Or do you all eat everything outside?

I heat plates and have a warming drawer which I use solely for that purpose. I love it.

Fil comes for Sunday dinner every week (in exchange for childcare duties during the week). He warms his plate in my microwave. He’s very old fashioned, so I’m assuming it’s that rather than being odd.

I’ve not got a huge issue with warming plates but my god the faffing when/after playing up leading to serving up luke-warm meals is bloody infuriating.

My mum’s like this. Although I don’t think she’d go so far as to get a special compartment to warm them. She’s fine with the oven or microwave. But I don’t get it. It’s not like she’s a slow eater. Drives me mad. I like to be able to start eating asap not wait even longer for the damn meal to cool down enough.

Generational thing. My mum still does it.

Finally my mum muttering about me not heating the plates when she was staying at ours makes sense - totally thought it was just her being a pain but turns out it must be a generational thing.

*YABU. Hot food on stone cold plates? No thanks!

I know some people don't bother with warming the plates but I've always found that, unless the food you're serving is searingly hot, a cold plate cools the food on contact - and tepid food that's supposed to be served hot is not very appealing*

Jeez some of the language in this thread is ridiculously dramatic. Who has "stone cold plates", unless you're keeping them in the fridge? Hot food that's touched a room temperature plate is not tepid, it is slightly cooled.

Il think I am the odd one though as I really don't mind my food not being oven hot, I thought that was quite normal.

My DM was obsessed with heating the plates. I can't be bothered & I've never noticed my food going stone cold in the time it takes to eat it. Un necessary faff is my pet hate.

Haha - I could have written this OP.

I think it's perhaps a generational thing. I've given up trying to change anything except point out that my mum only need put the oven on low to heat up plates. She's one of these who believes that if you set the thermostat higher, it heats up quicker. Sometimes the plates come out so hot, that the food is still cooking when we're eating it at the table!

I put the plates into the sink and run hot water into them, leave for a few minutes to heat through whilst getting the food ready to plate up.

I prefer a warm plate for hot food but I'm too tight with both water and electricity to warm them in the oven or dishwasher. 30 seconds in the microwave is fine for me. I was brought up in a house with an AGA always roaring away so everything got thrown in the bottom drawer including wellies to dry, slippers to warm and dough to prove.

I'd love a warming drawer for proving more than warming plates.

I am pretty desperate for a proving drawer (or airing cupboard which is what my old ma always used for dough). I’m kind of managing with light turned on (gas hob but electric oven here) and big bowl of boiling water but it’s a bit hit and miss and struggling to find oven thermometer which includes eg 75degrees which is I think the perfect temp.