Food is usually brought to the table in a serving dish: a pot holds heat better, but it is heavy at the table, its handles are hot, and everyone dips a serving spoon into the same food. Fill the serving dish only partway, leave the food in the pot untouched, and replenish the dish from the kitchen as it empties. Serving from the pot makes sense only at a small family meal, using a pot that is suitable for the table and set on a thick trivet.
The thick bottom and sides of a pot hold heat for a long time, so bringing food to the table in the pot may seem sensible at first. In cast-iron and thick-bottomed pots, food continues to cook for a while even on the table; a thin steel pot loses heat quickly and does not offer this advantage. That advantage can also cause problems: heat at the bottom of the pot can make food stick, break down vegetables, or cause meat dishes to dry out. A pot continues to give off heat at the table; a serving dish only holds the food and stops it from cooking.
A pot is awkward to use at the table. It is heavy, its handles are hot, and it can spill when lifted so someone can reach across the center of the table. Use a thick trivet to protect the table; do not set a hot pot directly on a tablecloth or polished surface. At a crowded meal, the pot cannot be passed from one person to another; it stays in one place, and everyone has to reach for it. A serving dish is lighter and can be passed from hand to hand; you can also place 2 separate dishes, one at each end of a long table.
The main difference is what happens to the food left in the pot. When the pot is brought to the table, everyone dips a serving spoon into the same food, the lid stays open, and the food sits at room temperature; after the meal, the food left in the pot can no longer be considered untouched. With a serving dish, the pot stays covered in the kitchen and only the amount to be eaten is brought to the table. Why the portion brought to the table and the portion left in the pot are handled differently is the subject of a separate tip; for now, the key point is that nothing from the table gets into the leftovers as long as the pot stays in the kitchen. Still, refrigerate that portion within 2 hours of cooking (1 hour above 32°C / 90°F).
Fill the serving dish only partway and replenish it as it empties. Start by putting enough food in the dish for everyone; if anyone wants a second helping, take the dish to the kitchen, refill it with hot food from the pot, and bring it back. This keeps the food at the table hot and prevents cooled food in the serving dish from mixing with fresh food in the pot. Preheating the serving dish helps the food cool more slowly; a cold dish absorbs the food’s initial heat, which is noticeable from the first serving of a saucy dish.
There is also a place for serving from the pot. At a small family meal, when everyone fills their plate at the same time and no one is expected to come back for seconds, serving from the pot is practical and keeps the food hot. Casseroles, earthenware dishes, and cast-iron pots taken from the oven are already made to go to the table; they are served in their own dishes and set on a thick trivet. Even then, the rule does not change: before the food reaches the table, move the portion to be stored into a separate container and cover it. Remember that a cast-iron dish stays hot on the table for a long time; do not put it where children can reach it.