How to warm plates before serving?

Question

I realize that serving on warmed dishes is preferable to serving on cold/room temp dishes, so as not to leach the heat out of your freshly-cooked food.

How can I warm my plates?

I have two kinds of dishes: ceramic (cheapo from a department store) and Noritake china (circa 1955-60).

Neither says "oven safe" on the bottom, but would a warm oven do the trick? Or microwaving? Or a hot water bath?

I'm not sure how to achieve warmed plates, but I'm tired of eating cold fish.

Asked by JustRightMenus

Answer

We do this regularly with regular dishes and fine china. Neither say "oven safe". My mother has also done it for years. The process is fairly simple:

• Put our oven on it's coolest setting (about 175F, I think)
• Wait for it to reach temperature
• Turn it off
• Put dishes in and close the oven. We just stack the dishes. As Joe points out, they'll warm faster if you don't stack them. However, I usually do this when I've got 6-8 dishes, so stack is easier.

Be careful when taking the dishes out. They'll be hot. We've never had a problem with dishes using this method. However, if you don't think your dishes will stand getting hot, use your own judgement as there's a wide variety of quality and materials used in place settings.

Answered by yossarian

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