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Two essential facts about me: I love Thanksgiving. And I hate lukewarm food. I know hate is a strong word, but I’m using it here wholeheartedly—I like my food so scalding hot it burns the roof of my mouth and turns my tongue into sandpaper immediately upon contact.
Thanksgiving tends to get a bad rap in this department. It makes sense: Most of us have limited oven space, resulting in a million dishes flying haphazardly to and fro as well-meaning guests and relatives wander aimlessly around the kitchen, halfheartedly offering up their helping hands. It seems inevitable that the stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, and, yes, even the turkey will be tepid at best when it finally hits the table. By the time you get up for seconds, that food will have cooled to the 71 degree temperature of your great-aunt’s house.
Fortunately, this was never the case at my family’s Thanksgiving meals. It’s not that my mom possesses some superpower that allows her to keep dishes hot, and no, we don’t use a carefully crafted timetable that dictates intricate oven choreography. The reason my love of Thanksgiving and my hatred of lukewarm food never clashed is because my mom has an electric warming tray.
An electric warming tray is exactly what it sounds like: A flat piece of equipment that plugs into an outlet and maintains a consistent temperature. You can set your casserole dish full of corn pudding, your heatproof gravy boat, and your platter of carved turkey right on top. The beauty of these things is that they do what those flame-heated chafing dishes you’ve probably seen on a wedding buffet do, except you won’t need to transfer your food into catering trays.
The warming tray my mother uses is probably as old as I am at this point, and fits two dishes side by side at most. When it came time to purchase a warming tray of my own (the true mark of adulthood?) I opted for something a bit bigger. Measuring 24x14", my tray is large enough to fit two 13x9" baking dishes with room to spare for a gravy boat or plate of veggies. It’s also lightweight (just over seven pounds) and has a slim profile, so it’s easy to stash away when I’m not using it. This year’s menu is still very much up in the air, and I’m not even sure who’s hosting, but I know that wherever I find myself and whatever we’re eating, my warming tray will be in tow—and the food will be hot, hot, hot.
