[Sca-cooks] Serving Soups

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/3/2004 2:27:15 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com writes:

<<What do you mean by a "tureen"? Is this just a big pot? Or a particular 
shaped pot? Perhaps taller than wide? How big are these ones that you 
are using? Why are these better than simply a large soup or stock pot?>>

My shire also has soup tureens, courtesty of a shire member who used to work 
at Wilton Aremtale (the fake pewter folks) and was able to get seconds for us 
quite cheaply.
A tureen is, essentially, a serving bowl which usually has a fairly small 
base, swells out in the middle, and comes in again to make a fairly small opening 
at the top.  Ours are 2.5 quart tureens.  They have a handle on each side.  
The idea is that you fill a tureen for each table and give it to them with a 
ladle, and they serve the soup to themselves.  Reasons they are better than a 
soup or stock pot: 1. They are designed for serving rather than cooking; withthe 
smaller opening it makes it harder to spill while carrying.  2. Unless you 
have a bunch of small soup or stock pots, using a single large pot requires 
sending the whole pot around the hall; this way your servers transport one tureen 
to each table and leave it there. 3. It's almost impossible to loose a ladle 
into a tureen because of the smaller size of the opening.

<<Does having a lid actually help keep the soup hot? Or does it just end 
up being something that has to be continually opened?>>

No idea; ours don't have lids.  But since it's only served to one table, they 
can all serve themselves and lid the tureen again until someone wants 
seconds, which might help keep the heat in.  The lid would also help to guard against 
spills while transporting them to the tables.

<<Are your tureens insulated? Or is it just the mass of the soup which 
helps keep the soup hot?>>

No, ours are made of the Armetale fake pewter.  If we warm the metal before 
putting the soup in, it helps to keep the soup hot for a while.

Brangwayna