What do you serve soup in?

[Innisfree]

We have a couple of ceramic tureens, but they're so cumbersome to wash that I always worry about breaking them as I wash them. Frankly I find them a nuisance, so I don't use them. 

We have a bunch of useful but ugly pots, aluminum or stainless steel. I cook in these, but don't really love putting them on the table and serving from them.

I'm wondering about something like a Lodge enamel pot that would work for cooking and serving. 

On these winter days when soup is the main item on the menu for lots of meals, how do you serve it? 

[eagleynne]

I have a couple of differently sized enameled cast iron dutch ovens that work very well for both cooking soup and look good enough for serving it.

[HomeAgain]

We have two different sized enameled cast iron dutch ovens.  Actually, we have 'his' and 'hers'.  😄  Dh and I have each gravitated to our own style/size for dishes we make and since they're not dishwasher safe we know who gets to clean what.

[ashfern]

I just serve out of the pot from the stove. 

[mmasc]

Count me as another who uses the enameled Dutch oven that the soup was cooked in. Not only is it functional, but I find the pot pretty to serve in. (And mine is a cheap tramontina, so we’re not talking le creuset here😆)

[G5052]

I have an aunt who is the ultimate hostess, and she owns a tureen that she always says will be mine one day. I will use because it was hers, but I've otherwise never owned one and don't plan to buy one.

I usually do soup in the crockpot or Instant Pot, and just put those right on the table. LOL.

[lmrich]

I put in individual bowls and put it in front of them. 

[alpacawalker]

We plate or bowl for soup in the kitchen then place them on the dining table. I generally don't transfer food to a separate dish just to then transfer to our bowls. It saves dish cleanup for me. I will if we have company, but not for daily family meals.

[Innisfree]

If I tried to leave the pot in the kitchen, everyone's soup would be sloshed all over the plate before it got to the table.  We're clumsy.

Last night I just put the old aluminum pot on the table. Makes second helpings easier. So, my standards are not really very high, but I aspire to better things, lol.

[J-rap]

I like to keep the soup on a warm simmer to keep it warm, so we rarely put it on the table.  I ladle directly into the individual bowls at the stove.

Now and then when I've prepared soup in a slow cooker, I've brought the whole slow cooker pot to the table.  (Not the heating element part.)

 

 

[KrissiK]

1 hour ago, Arctic Mama said:

I literally serve soup in the pot.  I don’t own any tureens, it comes straight out of the cooking vessel.  But we don’t put dishes on the table for serving, they stay in the kitchen and people go over to them to serve themselves.  Less mess and more table space that way!

This is the way I do it. I serve the first helping a few minutes before we sit down, anyway, so it cools a bit.

[bolt.]

I’m a stove-to-bowl person for soup.

1. It gives each serving a little time to cool down during serving and on the way to the table.

2. It ensures that I oversee a roughly fair distribution of meat / noodle / veg per bowl.

3. I can keep leftovers simmering.

However, in general, I put most of my cooking vessels directly on the table (on a pad) without caring that they aren’t attractive. That’s not something that bothers me unless we have guests.

Edited January 17, 2019 by bolt.

[itsheresomewhere]

Out of the instant pot into a bowl.

[Innisfree]

12 minutes ago, WendyAndMilo said:

Bowls.  I've found that plates don't work so well.

Yeah. Agreed. But bowls on plates, so there's room for a roll. And to catch the sloshes. 🙃

[Bambam]

Yeah, I'm with those who serve in bowls on plates (for your cornbread, roll, cracker, whatever and to catch any drips, sloshes, etc) from the pot still on the stove, or crock pot/Instantpot on the counter. I don't like washing extra dishes! If we were having a fancy dinner party, I'd probably just not serve soup. Family and friends can just walk in the kitchen and dip more up.  And more steps are good, so I'm helping you stay healthy too!

[Innisfree]

Just read the care instructions for the enameled cast iron. I may just stick with my old pans... 

[Lady Florida.]

Another one here who serves it from the pot on the stove. In fact all meals are "served" that way. The only time I put food in serving dishes on the table is on holidays or any other day when we have company.

[KungFuPanda]

Big blue cast enameled lodge pot. I really enjoy cooking in it and it looks decent on the table. It also keeps the soup warmer than a tureen or thinner pot.

This pot is also great for baked casseroles that you want to take from oven to table. I use my corningware for cooking/baking/serving too, but those dishes are all square and that feels wrong for soup.  

[Melissa in Australia]

16 hours ago, lmrich said:

I put in individual bowls and put it in front of them. 

this

[Suzanne in ABQ]

If I wanted to place it on the table for company or something, I'd probably use the crock from my slow cooker.  It's ceramic, so it'll hold the heat in, and it's more attractive than my stock pot.

For my family, we all just serve from the stove.  When the kids were younger, I served in a bowl, let it cool awhile, then brought it to them.

[Carol in Cal.]

We warm up the bowls with hot water, and ladle the soup into them at the stove, and then bring them to the table on dinner plates.

Or very occasionally I pull out my tureen that is shaped like a big white ceramic pumpkin and serve from that at the table, but usually not.  I never really know what to do with the lid while I’m serving from the bowl, and the soup cools off, and it’s a smooth ceramic surface like porcelain so I’m always afraid it will just slip right out of my hands and crash to the floor.

I have a tureen in my bone China pattern but have never, ever used it.  Not even once.  It is SO slippery, and doesn’t really have handles to speak of, so I don’t think I could manage it.  Also, it’s a great heat conductor which means that A). It would heat up a lot if I put soup in it, and be hard to handle, and B).  The soup would cool off pretty quickly in it.  (These insights are gleaned from my use of the gorgeous coffee pot in the same pattern, which led to guest complaints that the coffee was too cold.). I actually inquired here a few years back about how in the world anyone ever used a fancy soup tureen and was told that you put it on a cart, preferably an attractive tea cart, in the kitchen, wheel it into the dining room, and never move it onto the table.  That sounds like a great idea, and I might try it sometime, but it just goes to show how tricky this can be.

[Chris in VA]

Another vote for leaving the soup in the pot and ladling it into bowls there. We used to eat in the dining room, but now we have a table in our kitchen and eat there,  and it is literally two steps from the pot on the stove to the table. We put plates under bowls. Dd thinks that is a waste of dishes. 

[gardenmom5]

a stockpot.  I have a beautiful tureen my mother bought.  I hate washing it as it is huge.  I might use it for company, but probably not.

[Pawz4me]

We're simple, casual folks. Soup stays in the pot on the stove (or in the crock pot) and everyone fills their own bowls. The same is true for other food. Life is too short to wash more dishes than necessary. Plus my theory is that leaving most of the food in the kitchen and having to get up for seconds makes it a little less likely that we'll overeat. The only things that typically go on our table are rolls or cornbread if we're having them (and the butter bay), fruit (our dessert) and a pitcher of water and/or iced tea.

[Jean in Newcastle]

The ceramic insert for the crockpot. 

[Innisfree]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

Plus my theory is that leaving most of the food in the kitchen and having to get up for seconds makes it a little less likely that we'll overeat.

This is an aspect I had not considered, but should. Food for thought, so to speak.

[fairfarmhand]

23 hours ago, bolt. said:

I’m a stove-to-bowl person for soup.

1. It gives each serving a little time to cool down during serving and on the way to the table.

2. It ensures that I oversee a roughly fair distribution of meat / noodle / veg per bowl.

3. I can keep leftovers simmering.

However, in general, I put most of my cooking vessels directly on the table (on a pad) without caring that they aren’t attractive. That’s not something that bothers me unless we have guests.

This. Exactly. 

But particularly #2. Because one of my kids would have a bowl of meat chunks, no veggies, and a drip of brother otherwise. And the rest of us would get green beans and broth.