There’s no way to serve food hot for 11 diners

[Brightun]

Overheard my SILs bitching about me.

Hosted today for 7 adults and 4 kids. Classic Christmas roast and trimmings. Despite my best efforts, after getting everything to the table and doing crackers and saying a toast it was not piping hot and the last couple of people (before me and DH) actually asked to pop their entire plates in the microwave for a minute which made me want to die in a hole of embarrassment.

I don’t know how to do it! I’d got everything out of cooking dishes/pans into warmed serving dishes, warmed the plates, made sure gravy was piping hot but the food just wasn’t by the end of serving.

Am I missing something or is it just not possible and I have bitchy SILs who won’t be invited again?

Ignore it, its fine for plates to go in the microwave, but for future get some dish warmers for the table, I dish up everything in little dishes or trays and they sit on that bubbling away, they are lit by tea lights.

Theres never enough room though and the odd thing is a bit cooler/colder by the time you get round to putting it on the plate

Very hard with that many people and the amount of different food to go on each plate.

No it's impossible. That's why restaurants keep food on hot plates under heat lamps on the pass.

Never invite SIL again.

We have a proper old school hostess trolley. People give them away on marketplace. I got mine about 4 years ago and only use it at Christmas. It’s life changing 🤣

I don't think mine was piping hot either - I was also serving 11. Everyone was complimentary and no one asked for the microwave. I just made sure the gravy was piping hot but filling the gravy jugs with boiling water and exchanging for gravy straight off the stove at the last minute. People were being way more complimentary than my cooking deserved because cooking for 11 is knackering and people were grateful. If your sil's were moaning behind your back they're ungrateful CFs..

Doing crackers and toast before dinner is bound to lead to colder food... having said that, some people just like their food piping hot. My sister can't bear it if her food is just hot l, it has to be a scalding!

Your guests just want it piping. Not a problem to stick it in the microwave. Don't be embarrassed!

Well, SILs can host next year can't they, and you can ask to put your meal in the microwave Don't sweat it.

I agree it's impossible, but I wouldn't be embarrassed about it.

And what’s wrong with having to microwave some food for a minute? Were your guests the Royal Family or something?

It’s a roast dinner. Nobody will die from having to reheat it slightly.

Don’t invite them again. Do they ever host you?

She is rude. You're not a restaurant.

Hostess trolley 😂 Very 80s. I do know a few older ladies who still use them.
I despise cold food and prior to it becoming the norm after having kids, would happily microwave food briefly. DC1 cured me of that as for months I ate 1 handed so it inevitably wasn't my preferred nuclear temperature.
But, not roast dinner. You just kind of expect bits will have gone lukewarm and that's fine. Especially Christmas, because part of the enjoyment is all the other bits, and the passing round of dishes etc. We don't do toasts but as you say, once crackers are sorted and people have dished up their portions etc, it's not going to be piping hot. And to ask to microwave at someone else's house? Pure dick move. Screw them. Not sure I'd ever want to cook a sit down meal for 11. Not sure how they did it in all the big family celebration meals we had in the 80s and 90s. And with 1 oven too - we're lucky enough to have 2 and at Christmas I definitely need them!

It's pretty much impossible if you're going to plate it.

Best bet in a home setting is to put all sides either in large hot lidded dishes over warming plates or those thermos serving dishes. Then plate the meat onto hot plates and whisk it out or carve at the table.

I wouldn’t do crackers and a toast while food is sitting there getting cold. I would also tell people to start eating as soon as they were served. I think it was fine to ask for plates to go in the microwave too no one wants a tepid roast dinner!

Your SIL was very rude to bitch though. Tell you’re looking forward to the piping hot Christmas dinner she’s making next year.

Did you plate up each individually, or did everyone serve themselves? The latter is faster.

Either way, mine is never all hot at the same time as my oven isn’t big enough. Nobody has ever complained. No more invites for the rude guests.

God. I cooked for two today and a good 2/3 of it was vaguely sort of warm-ish. I’m in awe of anyone who can cook for 11!

I’m pissed off with your SIL on your behalf!

Those hostess trolleys to keep the food hot ?

No more invites for rude guests, but there's really no need to feel embarrassed if the foods warming up in the microwave.

Everyone served themselves from dishes in the middle. I honestly thought I was a genius for having two dishes of potatoes and two gravy jugs.

Was hard because I cooked but was in one of the SILs house because she’s incapacitated due to an injury so she was trying to give me armchair tips the whole way through (I am definitely a better cook).

I cooked for 4 and still had to microwave the adults dinner before serving. It's just too difficult to keep it all piping hot. I wouldn't have asked for it to be microwaved though.

So it’s not really like I can’t invite her next year I suppose…to her own house.

Carve meat onto plates so hot they are passed out with a health warning attached.

Everything else serve yourselves in similarly nuclear hot serving dishes.

Gravy very last of all into jugs warmed with boiling water.

Cooking Christmas dinner for any number in a single oven is nigh on impossible, tbh. Guests need to be fawningly grateful because the difference to your day between being the cook and being anyone else is huge.

I have a line of electric hot plate/warmerthingies that every dish gets put on to as soon as it is ready. It keeps everything hot or warm..depending on what setting you use. people who are fussy about the temp of their food should serve themselves last and use plates so hot they have to hold them with a tea towel

but she was rude… you get what you get and you dont get upset, they teach that in nursery. If she wants it differently she can host

I hope she wasn't the complainer. I really wouldn't like cooking in someone else's kitchen, cooking Christmas lunch for a group is already difficult enough.

We use electric warmers and everyone serves themselves like at a carvery then starts to eat as soon as they get their plate back to the dining table. Crackers and toasts sound like a faff. I put crackers on the table and we pull them when everyone has eaten.