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?

You don’t need new equipment. You need better guests.

Anyone who cooks for 11 in someone else’s kitchen deserves a massive gold star not perfectionist moaning!

It's not impossible, but it does take practice and organisation. I do regular Sunday lunches for extended family - usually between 10 and 15 people and its always hot. I do have the advantage of an Aga to keep everything piping hot until it goes on the table. I let people serve themselves/others all the veg etc, while I am still getting stuff out. It also helps that the big table is in the kitchen so oven to table dishes don't have to be carried far.

I also have a couple of trivets for the table that you can put a small candle in to keep things warm, however I only use those occassionally when I want to keep something warm for longer.

Cover it in tinfoil till everyone sits down. That's what I do and it's all hot still

You can keep gravy hot in a flask - easier than a gravy boat if not quite as pleasing to the eye!

We have two ovens with keep warm settings and a warming drawer, and it’s still a bit of a challenge. You have to dish up speedily - I send a child round with an order form so that I know what goes on each plate. People sit down whilst DH and I dish up, and drinks sorted in advance.

Did you put everything in serving dishes and serve everyone? If you use serving dishes, everyone helps themselves and there's no one served "last". Otherwise you plate it up direct from the oven in the kitchen.

Put serving dishes in dishwasher 30 min setting, and keep door closed until ready to serve, so you have hot plates / dishes

Do crackers , toasts, fill up glasses etc before serving food

Don't put dishes on table for people to serve themselves. they chat and dont pass food around quickly enough

We lay it out carvery style, for people to help themselves.thats quicker

And bring really hot gravy to the table last, in a few jugs so everybody gets it quickly

So, it's not impossible to do hot food fo 11 people, but they were v rude to criticise and I'm sorry they didnt appreciate your hard work. I'd feel hurt by that

Exactly

And next year, when you go to hers on Christmas Day, ask for your meal to be reheated

Revenge is a dish best served cold 😃

I just use the hot gravy to warm it all up. 😂

Am I alone in not actually liking my food piping hot?

No!

Hostess trollies are the bees knees! I also have electric plate warmers. Heat the dishes and plates up in the oven before putting them in the trolley to keep warm. Hot sauces at last minute and crackers between pudding an main course.

Sounds like you did a sterling job, OP.

My top tip is nothing to do with the food, it’s to do with the guests. Having a former FiL who always used to wait until everyone was sitting down to announce he needed one of his epic toilet visits, my top tip is to give a 5 minute warning in pointed terms, ie if anyone needs the loo before lunch this is your chance, and then get someone to usher everyone to the table before you even start to dish up.

Gosh, that's genius! Slow cooker gravy next time I have to cook.

I cooked for 16 yesterday and have 12 for dinner today and everything was hot, I mean I think it was as no one complained or microwaved anything. BUT as other pp have said you don’t need new stuff you need new guests.

I store everything in the cooling oven whilst I make the finishing bits and gravy, it all stays hot.

And yes, as per a PP, gravy in the instant pot keep warm function or slow cooker. And no tiddly delicate gravy boats, you need massive jugs.

and politer guests

I stand boiling water in my gravy jug then at the last minute empty and fill with gravy and cover the top with foil.

It's not impossible, but it does take practice and organisation.

This. It's entirely possible but you have to be super-organised and disciplined. having a helper / sous-chef to carry things quickly to the table also helps so you can finish things off while the first plates are going out.

A friend and I used to host a Christmas dinner for 24-30 people every year. Think tiny house with everyone squashed round various borrowed tables on random chairs etc. One regular oven, one small microwave. We never had problems with cold food. But we are both incredibly organised (our jobs depend on it) and I used to work in function catering regularly cooking roast dinners for 100+ people.

Some people's brains just don't work that way though. My father's partner makes such a big drama out of cooking for 3 (and my Dad did the turkey, and I did the roast potatoes so she didn't have huge amounts to do) and just seems unable to even work out that if I want to serve food at 1pm, I need to start doing the vegetables at 1pm - x.

They sound rude OP I’d not want to host them again. I was worried about cold food yesterday because my family member said they would lead on cooking this year but then typically they leave the ingredients out on the various serving plates and it’s often cold. So these are the essentials as PP suggested or it will be cold:

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.

also like to highlight this same poster’s excellent point:

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

And I then go round once people are served, quickly shoving the serving plates back in the oven so that the seconds weren’t cold. It’s essential that people need to start eating their food right away if they care about eating hot food at Christmas dinner and I really encourage that. It’s still a stress though!

Oh that must have been awful for you cooking bloody Christmas dinner in someone else’s kitchen but with their beady eyes on you and bellowing instructions at you .

However, hats off to you for even doing it in the first place. Well done op!

I would not be spending my Christmas Day with this person again and definitely not doing any cooking in their kitchen either.

Put your feet up today and try not to give it another thought.

@MusicstillonMTV most certainly not alone! Piping hot food is rubbish. You can’t taste anything if you’re busy burning the roof of your mouth, the food needs to cook slightly so you can discern the flavours. And the lengths people go to on this thread are completely mad! Although I don’t have room for a hostess trolley in my flat so maybe that’s where I’m going wrong😂 So yes, your relatives were rude and life is too short.

I mean cool not cook! I do like my roast dinner to be cooked.

It is possible just not the usual way.

I keep food hot for up to an hour outside the oven before getting it to the table. The oven is for for the potatoes and Yorkshires after everything else is cooked.

I use bigger deeper oven trays and cook food in their chosen cooking dishes sitting on the tray.

Once it's cooked, the dishes and the tray are hot. I lay a folded towel on the worktop and put the tin with the dishes in on top, i then put a sheet of foil over and a large folded towel. When the next item is ready that goes directly on top of the last item, under the towel. Trapping the heat in.

You are creating an easy version of a hay box. This insulates the hot dinner.

It's important your plates and serving bowls are hot. Fill the sink with clean hot water and put everything in. Boiling hot gravy helps too.

My family are particular about piping hot food so this is the way we've always cooked big meals for up to 14. It works. I save non precious towels for this purpose.

We had 9 of us yesterday, 7 adults, toddler and weaning baby.
I put everything out on the side, didn't warm plates, everyone served themselves and started eating as soon as they say down. No toast, just a quick thank you for the cook (me) and that was it.

I always find it easier serving it buffet style as people can have as much or as little as they like and there's not 1 person dishing up everyone's plates.
Plus, always make sure the gravy is the last thing out so it's piping hot

It's not easy and you did well so don't give it any more headspace.

Our house is fairly small so with all the extra guests it's easier for everyone to stay at the table after the starters I cleared away with help from Ds. I then had everything hot out of the oven and dished up each plate while ds brought over one at a time and served the gravy which was piping. I had it hot in a saucepan and kept topping up the jug. Told them all to start and not wait. It worked but probably not the done thing. No-one complained though as I think they were just glad to be waited on. I would love a hostess trolley but no room.

When I take everything out of the oven, I cover it all with foil. I only lift it, to serve up. It keeps everything hot.