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?

freed up table space I meant

I'm just amazed you managed to cook for 11 people in a kitchen your probably not familiar with either. Bloody well done lovely! To criticise the food you had cooked was rude of her.
Absolutely do not offer next year!

We had six. We covered all with tin foil then removed it at last second. We do crackers after the meal. Ours were lovely and hot.

We've always done crackers after the main course in our family. I'd be annoyed if I had to do them while food was getting cold, though I wouldn't say anything. Surely, they would feel rushed too as everyone just wants to eat?

What a rude, ungrateful woman. SIL could have used her own microwave to heat up her dinner in her own kitchen that you cooked for her.

@Beercrispsandnuts Where did I say it wasn't warm?

I feel like you have wrote this before somewhere 😂

Well, the meat shouldn’t be “piping hot”- it should rest after coming out if the oven. The rest I don’t really understand- how long were you doing crackers and toasts?

I am intrigued by the number of people who want things blisteringly hot. Reminds me of a French phrase book I had as a child that had a warning on the page for “going to a restaurant” that in France food is often served less hot than it would be at home. Made me imagine lots of angry Brits complaining that their soup wasn’t hot enough to scald them and sending it back 😭

At a meal for 6 and Both the adults microwaved before eating. It’s not an insult just food cools quickly.

All the people saying they couldn't cook for large numbers,you can you know it is just more food. (Probably more space). We had a hostess trolley for the first time this year and it was good. It was positioned between the kitchen and dining room so easy for helpers to access.

What you really need are non rude guests.
(Also try not to take offence too easily)

I think the best (only?) way is to do is to put the serving dishes on an electric hot plate.

Given that it was your SIL's house and she clearly doesn't have one then surely it's her fault! I don't see what your other options were. If I was you I'd be petty and try to slip that into conversation at some point when you get the chance. Or if you do have to host next year then make a point of it then. Other than that, just forget it.

I know you all served yourselves but I hope people helped you get it all on the table.

Do your serving dishes have lids?

I do the same as you, serve everything in hot dishes straight from the oven and people help themselves. to be honest, i can’t say it’s ever been cold but it’s never been to the point of something being too hot to eat. i think that you’d struggle unless you got a heated trolley or something.
make sure you heat the plates up too.

She didn’t criticise it. Didn’t you read the op? She asked to warm it up in the micro. The op herself says it wasn’t warm

ive never had food cool utterly quickly you don’t have five mins to do a toast or pull crackers. So clearly something else here caused this. As it must have been out for at least 20 to 30 mins for it to need reheating.

My SIL complained my serving bowls were too hot, some people are never happy. Every roast I've ever had at MILs is half cold though (not that I'd complain).

A roast is a terrible meal to serve to lots of people because there are so many bits that all need to be hot at the same time. I have a large stove with 3 ovens and 5 rings. We take the bird out to rest (covered in foil and blankets) and then have the big oven on low and put the roast veggies in their serving bowls in there while the last minute boiled veg and gravy are done on the stove top and the pigs in blankets and roast cabbage are done in the side oven. Plates warming in the third oven. Everything was piping hot when it was put on the table but my meal was cooling by the time I sat down because I was sorting out other people first.

Crackers and toasts were done before the starters which were cold and the pudding sat in the slow cookers until it was needed so it was warm as well.

Any other time i'm cooking for 12, I do a big casserole with just a couple of side veg. Much easier.

More help in the kitchen when serving up so that more can be done simultaneously?

If anyone bitches about Christmas dinner they automatically volunteer to cook it the next year.
When discussion turns to who hosts next year I'd point out you heard the bitching so am not hosting the next time.

Add in a subscription to Womens Weekly and you won’t care what your SIL says in the future…..

No crackers with dinner - they're for tea

Drinks poured before you sit down. No need for a wordy toast.

Everyone at the table before you start bringing food to the table and tell them to start serving themselves as soon as the first dishes arrive.

My 76yo mum did it for 12 yesterday. Everything was hot, but dad did get told off because he was still faffing with drinks instead of eating his while it was hot.

Very rude to comment or care if it wasn't quite hot though, although I'm not sure how some were "last". It sounds like there was a bit too much ceremony and not enough digging in?

We do crackers and a toast before our cold starters.

Then get out the dinner so it's piping hot. I plate up turkey then pass each plate down to helpers who plate up all the rest. Like a conveyer belt!! Works well.

I don’t do serving dishes for a roast dinner, myself and DH plate everything up and the plates are always put in order of age. Apart form one regular guest everyone else has everything.

Someone else is given the drinks to sort out, DS did it yesterday.

I bet your dinner was delicious and you were a thoughtful hostess. No need for a perormance microwave dig. They sound petty and jealous, determined to find a fault so they could pretend they could have done better.
No need to ever cook for them again.

The only kitchen big enough for piping hot cooking in my extended family for that amount of people has 2full size ovens plus a combo oven&microwave and 6gas burners to do all the veg together. No way that’s possible with a standard set up.

Not in my experience it doesn't. Food will cool down significantly in 10 minutes.

We did dinner for 11 too and some people popped their plate in the microwave for a minute but I actually couldn’t care less, but we’re very informal in general.

I’m really surprised by how many people decide/dictate when exactly you do crackers, we just do them whenever we like, why does that need planning??