Serving xmas dinner for 17 - tips please

[arinkydinky]

We always host Christmas dinner and have cooked for this number of people for a few years. Mix of 3 older children and the rest adults. We’re sorted with the prep and cooking - our issue is serving it all up. We’ve tried bowls on the kitchen island for everyone to help themselves and tried serving directly onto plates but it always means things go cold and people not eating at the same time.
Does anyone successfully serve a hot meal for this number to all eat at the same time. We have a double oven that will both be in use until serving. TIA XX

I take my hat off to you all. Having to host and feed large numbers like that I would die from stress. Plus the lack of space. How do folks in small houses manage? We will eat in the kitchen as dont have a dining room and its bad enough cooking and serving around a small number.

I regularly host Christmas dinner for, coincidentally, 17. I don’t understand how you get problems by putting it all out for people to help themselves - that's how we do it and it doesn’t take long for everyone to serve themselves and we all eat together.

Rather than have all the dishes of food in one place, have two or three 'serving stations' - maybe meat in one place, veg in another and extras like gravy and bread sauce in another. Or the extras could be on the dining table. If two people at a time can serve themselves from each one, that will only take about 5 minutes for everyone to get all their food and be sitting down together.

This looks brilliant, but do you need to put protective mats down underneath it, if placing on a wooden table?

My mum had a hostess trolley in the 70s. It was her pride and joy. I can still see it sitting in stately splendour in the dining room.

For big numbers I think that the solution is to do half and half.

Firstly get all plates and serving dishes really hot (dampen them and then put in microwave is the easiest way).

I would buy half of the Turkey deboned and rolled and I would serve this in the kitchen plus a small whole one to carve on the table. So, Turkey comes out of oven to rest.

Then half of all veg and sides goes into serving dishes and then back into warm oven. Mix the serving dishes so there are 3 sets with a mix of veg rather than 1 potatoes etc.

Carve the kitchen Turkey, get all the kitchen plating elements ready. Have one serving helper. Choose what you plate for speed so, perhaps, Turkey, pig in blanket, roast veg, 1 green veg.

Seat everyone, table Turkey goes to table for carving. Then serving helper takes anything you aren’t plating - gravy, hot sauces, if you’ve got veg you aren’t plating etc to the table.

Meanwhile you plate a small serving of the same thing for everyone (no requests!) and serving helper takes it to the table. This is the time critical bit, you need hot plates and hot food.

Then once all plates are out you add the spare veg etc to the table.

Good luck!

Is the dining table(s) suitable for a lazy Susan ?

I'm feeling stressed just reading this.

I cook for 17/18 each year.
I put the plates on a quick cycle in the dishwasher and they come out hot.
DH and I dish up 6 plates at a time on the kitchen island and someone else will take them to the table. Once there’s space we start on the next batch. We’ve got it down to a fine art, all very quick and only about 5mins later we’re all sitting down. All food is hot.

We do - a stack of plates and carved meat on the side, people queue up, put what meat they want on a plate, sit down, and veg, potatoes and gravy are in multiple dishes on the table and get passed around. It still takes ages but is the best we’ve come up with so far.

Plate warmers help, and for this year I’ve bought a few of these serving dishes to help keep the veg hot on the table. Not used them yet so will see how well they work!

we have always had big christmas lunches, but we always also managed to get everyone sitting down round a table, sometimes with the table going on out into the hall, and people sitting on all sorts of things instead of chairs.

Then food is on the table in bowls. Bowls are warm before food goes in, or have been keeping warm in the oven. plates are warm too. It all goes out onto the tabel and we serve ourselves and pass the bowls round until everyone has everything.

warm bowls and food mean it is all still piping hot.

Sounds very much like the set up in our house @steppemum We use coffee tables as stools at one end of the dining table and guests bring cutlery, plates and glasses with them otherwise we wouldn’t have enough. Who has 17 plates??
Loads more responses than I expected. Thanks all for some great ideas xx

Thoroughly recommend a hostess trolley if you don’t already have one. Mine is dusted off and ready to go!

As long as meat, gravy and plates are piping hot you don't need to kill yourself over the rest. Serve some sides (say 3 large plates / dishes / platters, not 10) that are delicious at room temperature. Enjoy

We're only 12, but find that it's much more relaxed if everyone just helps themselves from the kitchen island. It's what I do for all large meals. I dont think 17 would be much different. Putting veg and sides into multiple serving dishes sounds like a pain to me. And it's much harder for everyone to serve themselves when they are sat down. When my parents hosted xmas for about 12 they put everything on the table except pre plated turkey and it was always chaos!

Dont serve 17. Serve three groups of six or similar.

Properly hot plates. Properly hot pre heated serving dishes with hot lids wherever possible. Boiling hot gravy. In several jugs.

Can preheat plates and serving dishes by putting them all in a very very hot bath if needed. Sink of very hot water or partially filling them from kettle also works.