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Original poster

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

140 replies

Brightun · 25/12/2022 23:27

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?

OP posts:
Judgyjudgy · 26/12/2022 01:25

Next year get SILs to host

MissTrip82 · 26/12/2022 01:27

The only acceptable response to someone cooking a meal for 11 is effusive thanks.

Ladywiddio48 · 26/12/2022 01:29

I have a hostess trolley,bought it from eBay several years ago,it makes cooking Christmas dinner for a lot of people a doddle.

caringcarer · 26/12/2022 01:31

We use a hot buffet server. It keeps food piping hot. Just plug it in and as food cooks load it in. When everything cooked serve up. Aldi does one for a little over £35. Amazon £40.

SouperNoodle · 26/12/2022 01:45

We went to my parents for Christmas lunch today and the way my dad does it is he puts the food in dishes with lids and he puts the dishes themselves in the oven so they're ridiculously hot.
He then puts it all on the table and you serve yourself (and make sure not to touch the dishes as you'll lose a layer of skin 😂)

PaperBagsAreUselessInRain · 26/12/2022 02:56

That was rude of her to comment!

Just make sure gravy is boiling hot and pour it all over the food - that's what we do when we do big roasts. Meat normally has to rest a bit anyway so isn't piping hot.

mattyprice4004 · 26/12/2022 03:14

Purplechicken207 · 25/12/2022 23:36

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!

You’ve answered your own question - a hostess trolley would solve it.
’Older ladies’ are often worth listening to, as they have some excellent solutions to modern-day problems!

sashh · 26/12/2022 03:44

bellac11 · 25/12/2022 23:29

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

I have an electric version, it must be 30+ years old.

BarbaraofSeville · 26/12/2022 04:24

Hostess trolley would be good but few people would want to store a bulky item that is only used annually, if that.

I also cooked in someone else's (very small) kitchen yesterday and I admit that the food wasn't piping hot, it was OK and I did think about offering anyone a minute in the microwave but didn't bother and wouldn't be insulted if they had done.

I just wouldn't take any notice, your meal sounds lovely and you did more than enough. I'd just not cook for them ever again for a while and if they ever mention it being 'your turn' I'd just breezily say 'oh I wouldn't want to inflict my cooking on you again after how disappointed you were when I cooked because of your injury'.

MyMumSaysALot · 26/12/2022 04:33

We do ours buffet style and use slow-cooker-style warmers.
It took awhile to figure out, but we got tired of cold meals. There’s usually 13-14 of us, including 4 kids.

Jonnywishbone · 26/12/2022 04:37

Just let them serve themselves like a buffet and sit down at the table after! No need to remember who doesn't like xy and z food that way.

TheDuchessofDukeStreet · 26/12/2022 04:41

Your dinner sounds lovely and so do you for cooking it.
i would not be cooking for this lot again.
I hope you did not microwave the food for them but pointed them in the direction of the kitchen.

WiddlinDiddlin · 26/12/2022 04:48

Warm room (I really noticed in the sub zero of last week-ish, just how quickly food and hot drinks cooled in our livingroom!)..
HOT plates
HOT serving dishes - both so hot you hand them out with oven gloves and warnings DON'T TOUCH...

Honestly if you haven't got two ovens/warming drawer or dish warmers/hostess trolley and even then, lids on everything, ceramic dishes that hold heat well, tinfoil hats on stuff...

It is bloody impossible! It's not so much the number of people, its the number of dishes + lack of space.

When I last did a huge dinner, I did it at my dads - acres of worktop, double oven, warming drawer, woodburning stove with a huge top and 'wings' to put things on... I cooked for 15, all mouth and finger-burningly hot.

4 in my poxy tiny galley kitchen with single oven, a postage stamp of worktop ... lukewarm at best.

ivykaty44 · 26/12/2022 04:53

I use a hostess, plates that are to hot to hold without a napkin and hot gravy.

the plates being hot is the must important, Luke warm plates and the food will be cold in minutes

FaazoHuyzeoSix · 26/12/2022 05:08

i guess all you can do is wait and see what she does differently when she hosts 11 people and work out why (if) you get to eat your own food piping hot then.

if she doesn't host then her opinion is worthless anyway and can be ignored.

similar to pp I used to be fussy about having my food hot but the toddler years cured me of that and I got used to putting up with whatever temperature was given. we had 9 at our roast yesterday and I think serving up was relatively swift but somewhat chaotic, and my dinner was warm enough in my view. there was enough space around the table for several adults to be moving around so while grandpa was serving turkey others were making sure each plate had a spoonful of everything wanted - if we'd all been carefully polite about staying seated and waiting our turn for the carrots and passing things this way and that I guess it would have taken longer.

knittingaddict · 26/12/2022 05:28

Like others have said, skip the toast and crackers. We've never down either of those at the start of Christmas Dinner for the very reason that food will get cold.

It's the hardest thing about cooking for lots of people, so don't beat yourself up about it too much. I would be fine with guests asking to zap in the microwave, but moaning is very rude.

If I had room for a hostess trolley I would definitely get one, but I don't want to have something that only gets used once a year. I might get one if those tabletop heated things one day, but they don't really hold much. Certainly not enough to serve 11. I do use insulated dishes sometimes, but they aren't the prettiest.

Most of my serving dishes are vintage tureen with lids, which helps a bit.

I also sometimes hold back a proportion of things like roast potatoes and parsnips in the turned off oven. The residual heat keeps them hot enough to bring out for the last few people serving themselves.

There's only so much you can do and you aren't a restaurant. Guests should just be grateful that someone else has cooked them the most demanding meal of the year.

knittingaddict · 26/12/2022 05:33

Forgot to add. We bought a heated plate warmer a few years go and it's a life changer. Plugs in and you sit the plates between heated padded fabric. It can probably heat 6 to 8 plates and works brilliantly. Relatively inexpensive too.

Oblomov22 · 26/12/2022 05:43

She was rude. I struggle with 4 roasts, so 11? Silly woman.

FancyFelix · 26/12/2022 06:28

After two decades of hosting I'd bite your hand off for a lukewarm meal with hot gravy that I didn't have to shop/prep/cook and imho the people most apt to criticise are the buggers who've never actually hosted on that scale before

This is so true. Your SILs are rude arseholes OP, let one of them see how they get on next year

Zanatdy · 26/12/2022 06:31

A few of us popped it in the microwave too. I was on warming duties, I kept alternating the things we cooked earlier to heat them but by the time everything’s out it’s not that hot. Don’t feel offended, it’s hard to do. I would just say in advance if anyone wants to warm theirs up let me know as hard to get it all out and stay hot when there’s a lot

mrsbitaly · 26/12/2022 06:33

If it was me and my food was cold I would have sucked it up and not mentioned anything as I would have appreciated what the host had to do to cook for that many people and get it to the table. It was a bit rude I think but don't let that get you down you did a fantastic job

Purplechicken207 · 26/12/2022 06:39

mattyprice4004 · 26/12/2022 03:14

You’ve answered your own question - a hostess trolley would solve it.
’Older ladies’ are often worth listening to, as they have some excellent solutions to modern-day problems!

Show quote history

I didn't have a question, and I'm definitely not about to source/buy something so massively bulky when as I said I have zero plans to ever host so many 🙂 (and honestly whenever I've been served from a hostess trolley the veg is massively overcooked from sitting in there hot and waiting 🤷‍♀️)
2 little kids here, we have enough stuff filling our space, and I suspect many won't have space for something like it 🙂

Caspianberg · 26/12/2022 06:41

Roasts yes.

If I’m hosting 11 I wouldn’t even attempt a roast. Too many dishes and timings.

My go to lots of people sit down meal:
Beef bourginion ( on hob in large le creusent type pot with lid), potato dauphinois ( large dish in oven), garlic butter green beans dish ( or other similar veg) also done on hob. All one pot type things, all stay hot.

EllieRosesMammy · 26/12/2022 06:45

Sounds like she was just being rude. Food goes cold fast, if I left food on the gantry at work with no light on it would be cool in minutes. If I was serving that many I'd of just popped each plate in the mic for a minute before sending it out, and I'd of definetely said crackers and toasts after dinner not before :)

TheaBrandt · 26/12/2022 06:45

Last year we were 15 and we put all the food on the counter covered and you helped yourself like a hotel in a line. Worked really well and freed up counter space.

Anyone that criticises food another person has made for them for free is an utter knob though.

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